Secrets of my success: John Ivers, Managing director, DHL Global Mail

As someone who has spent nearly 25 years dealing with mail, it has been important for me to be able to adapt to the significant changes the UK mail industry has seen over the past few years.

I started out as a fresh-faced economics graduate on a management development programme at Pitney Bowes, where I experienced business at all levels, including general management, sales, customer service, marketing, finance and IT. It taught me that sending and receiving mail is the lifeblood of any business.

Those early days also taught me to listen to your customers. Expectations from customers have significantly changed over the years, and they increasingly want a more personalised service that offers them real value.

It seems such a simple thing to do, but I am amazed that some companies don't actually listen to what their customers want. Throughout my career I have made it one of my top priorities to see my customers and get their opinion on what works and what doesn't.

Some of the best ideas and solutions I've implemented have come from customers. As part of the constant evaluation process at DHL, I make sure all my directors regularly visit our customers and feed their learnings back to us. This helps us to truly understand what it is they want and gives us the honesty and respect that people would expect from a company of our stature.

I spent a total of 17 years at Pitney Bowes, plus several years running internet, software and dot com businesses that all still exist today.

I then moved on to become CEO of Special Mail Services (SMS), a backed company that delivers secure and time-definite letters, documents and packages to UK households and businesses. Running SMS taught me some very important lessons.

I raised the finance to buy the company and set the business on a path to growth, building a secure nationwide delivery network. When I bought the company, there was a big job in communicating to employees and new investors my vision for how the company would develop. I had to convince people they had a vital role to play, so that as an organisation we could deliver on our promises.

While it may sound obvious, setting objectives and targets for employees played a major part in the success of our business. Its rapid growth and the expansion of depots to build a nationwide delivery network meant there were many new employees to recruit, train and communicate with.

It is essential to listen to your customers, communicate with your employees, but above all to empower your employees to make a difference. This is one thing I have made sure happens at DHL Global Mail.

Since joining DHL as UK managing director in June 2004, I have held a quarterly forum for all employees to offer ideas and share with me their thoughts on the business. I tell them how we are doing, where we are going, and what is happening. It is very important for everyone to feel part of a company and that they are making a difference. We are developing our business rapidly and it is important to take all your employees along with you.

There are some very exciting times ahead in the UK mail industry. The UK mail market is full of opportunities, not only for the businesses that will be operating within it, but for the customers who actually form the market.

The secret to success is to make sure that mail companies deliver appropriately.

Customers now have a choice and they have power to make decisions, which will ultimately shape the market in which we operate.

If we are able to do this, then the privatisation of the mail industry is sure to succeed, delivering the benefits that open competition brings.

CV Education MBA from Henley Management College First job 1982: graduate development programme, Pitney Bowes Climbing the ladder – 1999: president and CEO Stamps.com International – 2001: senior vice president of Day Software – 2002: chief executive officer, Special Mail Services Limited (SMS) – 2004: managing director, DHL Global Mail Secrets 1. Focus on the clear targets that will achieve long-term profitable growth 2. Communicate continuously, and listen and share ideas 3. Prepare to outperform with 'stretch' goals.