Chemviron
Finding a hunter-mentality BDM for a world-leading activated carbon manufacturer to drive new business into demanding OEM industrial markets.
Client Overview
Chemviron is the European operation of Calgon Carbon Corporation and a Kuraray company — the world's largest manufacturer of granular activated carbon. Operating from production and reactivation facilities in Belgium, the UK and across Europe, Chemviron supplies activated carbon, mobile carbon filters, purification systems and filter aids to over 600 distinct market applications globally. These include drinking water and wastewater treatment, pharmaceutical and food processing, air and gas purification, and industrial process applications. In the UK, Chemviron operates specialist impregnation and activated carbon cloth manufacturing facilities, with its technical sales operation supporting OEM customers, industrial operators, water utilities and process manufacturers across the region.
The Brief
Chemviron needed a Business Development Manager to drive new business acquisition into OEM markets across the UK. The business had historically operated in a reactive mode — receiving inbound enquiries and renewing existing contracts — but lacked a dedicated outward-facing new-business capability. The brief was to find a technically credible BDM who could identify, approach and develop relationships with OEM customers and industrial manufacturers that had not previously engaged with Chemviron's product and service portfolio.
The Challenge
The principal difficulty was finding candidates with a true hunter mentality in a market where most experienced salespeople had settled into account management roles. Activated carbon is a highly technical product category and credibility with OEM procurement and engineering teams demands genuine sector knowledge — but the candidates most familiar with the market were those who had spent years managing existing accounts rather than winning new ones. Candidates with strong new-business instincts from adjacent industrial markets typically lacked the technical grounding to hold credible conversations with OEM engineers and buyers. Finding the intersection — technical depth plus genuine appetite for outbound new-business development — required looking beyond the obvious shortlist.
What Sales Recruit UK Did
Sales Recruit UK worked closely with Chemviron's HR team and the European CEO based in Belgium to build a comprehensive brief that defined the technical minimum and the commercial behaviours the role required. Rather than restricting the search to activated carbon specialists, the brief was extended to include technically-oriented BDMs from closely adjacent industrial filtration, chemical process and specialty materials markets — candidates who could demonstrate a verifiable track record of winning new OEM accounts from a cold start. The SRUK Fit Score process assessed each candidate across technical credibility, new-business track record, OEM commercial experience, motivational profile and cultural alignment with an internationally-structured business.
The Outcome
Sales Recruit UK identified two shortlisted candidates. One stood out as an exceptional fit — bringing highly relevant experience selling to large OEM manufacturers combined with a demonstrable record of building new commercial relationships from scratch. That candidate was placed, joined the business and has made a material impact on Chemviron's UK new-business performance, developing accounts that had not previously engaged with the business.