A moving success
story...
 Nearly 20 years ago, Martyn Hall
got his first job
in the motor industry as a Mercedes Benz van dealer. He soon developed a love
for the industry and in 2007 set up Harp Automotive, and in 2002 set up his
business, specialising in converted refrigerated vehicles for the food industry
and later in 2008 into the live music sector. 2019 was one of the best years
ever for his company, but then along came the Coronavirus and that's when this
success story took a turn for the worse. His business, like
many others, was severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here's how a
chance meeting and agility have changed his life and the direction of his company.
2020 brought Covid-19
and some devastating consequences
for my company. Being an established vehicle builder in the music sector and
having built in excess of 700 vehicles over the past decade, lockdown left us with a number of new vehicle cancellations
including vehicles built specifically for Glastonbury Festival which is
a huge date in the music calendar. What's more, we couldn't even rely
on future orders as lockdown prompted the cancellation of all of our pre-booked
conversions for live music events in 2021. The market was
understandably
dwindling and there was nothing we could do. Work came to a grinding halt and
all of our staff were furloughed.
Switching gears
With all of the uncertainty around the pandemic and the economic consequences, I
started to look at alternative sectors to build vehicles in, and like many other
coach builders looked at the camper market particularly as people were now
having to stay in the UK. After extensive research - and some reservations about
any longevity - we decided to switch over to recreational vehicles.
In early June, I became friends with somebody who competed in Agility. Coming
from three generations of farming - and with some experience of sheepdogs in my
youth - many of our conversations naturally turned to dogs and how people get
from A to B with their animals safely. I understood that traditionally people
bought their van and then took it to a fabricator to be fitted with cages. There
didn't seem to be a 'one stop' service where you could build your vehicle to
your specifications.
I decided to explore the possibility of developing a safe, custom-built,
recreational van for the canine world. So, without further ado , I set to
building a vehicle for my friend to use and take out to training and shows to
see how it performed and to determine whether it met the needs of an agility
competitor. Not only did it get a thumbs up from my friend, but it attracted
lots of attention and positive feedback from everyone who saw it.
So I began looking more into the sport of dog agility and set to work building
my second dog van, developing what I had learnt from the first.
 The
feedback was positive
Over the
next few months, interest in my vehicle conversions started to rise. Then one
morning, I received two enquiries, the first was from Martin Reid, an
international agility competitor and trainer and later that day another query
from Chris Kerton, Agility Team GB Handler and Fitness Coach. I have to say that
when these handlers, with their wealth of experience, showed an interest in my
project, I was overwhelmed and delighted. After all, whilst I have 18 years of
experience converting vehicle, I am still very new to the wonderful world of
agility. Every single person I have met has been an absolute pleasure. To be
honest, it's a refreshing change dealing with the general pubic again and
actually meeting people who are putting their trust into our product.
After some lengthy telephone conversations and some initial meetings, both
Martin and Chris agreed to work with me to develop a new product. I set up a new
company called K9 Transport Solutions to supply them both with vehicles to test
for six months, firstly assess the quality and safety of our build, and secondly
to assist us in the development of our product.
I am very keen to obtain an understanding exactly what people want when it comes
to product development. I am a firm believer in customer services and aftersales,
and there is no better recommendation than word of mouth. I am looking forward
to building strong relationships
 I
am overwhelmed by the fact that our vans have received so much interest so
quickly and I am looking forward to build strong relationships with customers an
suppliers. I am determined that I personally oversee every vehicle we sell from
the initial call to delivery as I believe it's important to build customer
service from the outset.
I am really looking forward to being able adapt our business model and core
demographic to provide first-class vehicles and conversions at a reasonable
price to the dog sport community. It's been a real privilege to work with such
top handlers to develop our canine vans and looking forward to meeting more
agility people.
For more information, go to www.k9ts.co.uk
or visit
K9TS Facebook
page.
 About
the author...
Martyn Hall
grew up on a farm where there were always dogs around.
He started out his career in the automotive industry in 2002 as a second-hand
van dealer, specialising in Mercedes Benz vans and converter of refrigerated
vehicles.
In early 2007 he decided to break from refrigerated vans and move into the coach
building sector, becoming accredited as a registered converter with Mercedes
Benz in late 2008. His business has been building bespoke transportation
specifically for the live music industry since 2008 up until March of this year.
Since working with the dog sport community, he has rekindled his love for dogs
and acquired a collie called Kiki that he is training to do sheep.
He is based in Wales
First published 11th
June 2021
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