22 Spotlight A day in the life...
A SMALL BRANCH nestled at the far end of an industrial estate in Crawley, Climate Center is very well situated. Its immediate vicinity has room for larger vehicles and plenty of parking for vans and trucks, and its wider range covers almost the entire South of England outside London. And with facilities such as Gatwick Airport on the doorstep, the customer pool is significant.
The site was originally part of commercial wholesaler/distributor Nationwide Refrigeration Supplies (NRS) which was acquired by Wolseley in 2001 from Ascot plc. Operating from a single unit for many years, the branch expanded into a second unit in 2012.
Three stalwarts man the branch, working closely together and multi-tasking to cover all areas efficiently and seamlessly, from trade counter and cylinder returns to picking and palletting. And including covering the 24/7 call out service that Climate Center offers to its customers. Nikki Spraget heads up the team as branch manager, and together with Richard Milne, are the old hands with almost twenty years service between them, while Simon Merritt is the new boy who joined full-time in January of this year. “Customers want a one-stop shop more than anything else these days,” says Ms Spraget, “and spares are the biggest sale of course. We’re also currently getting a lot of VRF enquiries for Daikin, Fujitsu and Toshiba products.”
Equipment and spares are not the only things that customers expect from a busy branch. When there are legislation changes, such as the current policies regarding R22, people have questions – and expect the Climate Center staff to know the answers, or at least know where the answers can be found.
Sales are never turned away, and true to the classic merchanting model that Wolseley excels at, the staff will endeavour to source whatever the product is that the customer wants, no matter how weird or wonderful – so long as it’s relevant to its sectors.
Split air conditioners are sold to the usual suspects, but strangely, the odd unit is sold to a domestic customer to take to Mediterranean countries such as Spain – one wonders if those are impulse buys on the way to Gatwick. “But I think the strangest order we’ve taken so far,” muses Ms Spraget, “was for a chiller to a farm in Nigeria.”
Mr Merritt often places orders online, and bemoans the fact that “the most frustrating thing for customers as well as us, is being unable to get a product when it’s in someone’s catalogue.” Which means
ACR News July 2014
L-r: Climate Center team Richard Milne, Nikki Spraget and Simon Merritt. Below: Capital Cooling’s Malcolm Towler.
they have to spend time attempting to source it from elsewhere.
Stock is generally available on-site, but if it isn’t, then a feeder service from Marston Gate will bring it next day.
But it’s manufacturers such as Daikin and Danfoss who give stock enquiry/order access to Wolseley that really come into their own, enabling the Climate Center branch staff to give the customer a quick and easy solution to his purchase enquiry. Consumer queries crop up from time to time, such as ‘can you fix my fridge?’, to which the answer is always ‘no’, of course. “But we will always try and help,” clarifies Ms Spraget. “If we think that any of our customers might be able to help, then the answer might become ‘but we know a man who can’. We will always pass such leads on to relevant customers.”
Mr Milne is in charge of deliveries, picking loads and the forklift. He does all the driving and, with a primarily commercial and industrial base, finds customers to be generally accommodating and understanding when it comes to traffic and logistics. He has, however had some odd deliveries.
“We had one order where the delivery address was a random layby. They had to describe it so that I could find it,” he says, which sounded just a little suspect, “but it turned out to be to do with pylons in a field, and the layby was the closest delivery point.”
Carriage charges are a continuous bone of contention – if the branch is charged then it has to pass on the charge to the customer.
“While £15 on a £150 order may or may not raise an eyebrow, £15 on a £15 order most certainly does!” says Ms Spraget. Each day brings its own challenges, and the staff recollect that their most recent
of a Climate Center branch
educational experience was a pheasant in the warehouse unit, which caused chaos until it was caught.
As it’s a drizzly day, there are no errant pheasants, but while waiting for the morning feeder delivery, bright pink livery announces the arrival of the weekly A-Gas truck. Mr Milne dives off to deal with that while, typically, customers need attending front of house.
Malcolm Towler of Capital Cooling is a regular customer. He comes in for returns and pick ups usually every other day. “It’s a very handy location,” he says. “And because Capital Cooling is a valued customer here, time is never wasted by administrative issues such as accounts being on stop.”
The next day delivery is important to him, because he can manage his clients and his time if he can rely on parts being delivered as promised.
Mr Towler feels that the Crawley branch team look after him. “And most importantly of all,” he confides, “is that they’re never stroppy and always happy.”
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