PEOPLE 10 MINUTES WITH: CHRIS BURROWS Head of Sales – Distribution and Smartware, at ERA
What is your current role and how long have you been doing it?
I am ERA’s Head of Sales for Distribution and Smartware and I have been in this role for over six years.
What does your role entail? As Head of Sales, I am responsible for the management and development of several sales teams that service multiple channels within the building sector. I am also the commercial lead for smartware, managing our ERA Protect ecosystem of smart home security products. More recently, I have also been involved within strategy and business change management.
How did you get started in this industry? By total accident. After I finished my A levels I chose to travel for a year and spent several months travelling around India, then across Europe. Once I returned to the UK, I had the travelling bug and wanted to fund my travels, so I worked for a local hardware company. However, I then met my future wife and the rest is history.
What roles were you doing before and how did they prepare you for this one? I started in telesales, moving to external account management, key accounts, then finally into line management. I’ve been fortunate enough to work for some high quality businesses throughout my career and I have been continuously surrounded by great people who have given me the opportunity to develop and succeed.
What would you like to achieve in your role? To continue to lead my team in providing the highest standards of support, service and quality of product for our distribution network, to position ERA as the number one supplier of security hardware. Over the last six years, my team and I have worked extremely hard to provide account management that can’t be replicated by any other manufacturer, and it’s my aim to continue to drive this forwards to ensure each of our distributors consistently receives the levels of service they know and expect from ERA.
What has been the highlight of your career? A few years ago, it would have been securing the big deals, but as I’ve matured into my role, it’s about the development of people - helping to coach, drive and lead a high-performance team. It isn’t a straightforward process and there have been difficult times, but it is very satisfactory to get to this point. The hard part is maintaining that momentum.
What do you see as the main issues for for the construction industry now? Over the last 18 months, the industry has been faced with significant challenges regarding product availability, which has created a strained trading environment for the entire industry. However, the team at ERA have been working in close collaboration with our distribution partners to forecast orders and ensure assured supply of product wherever possible, which has resulted in getting back to a distribution pre-COVID OTIF level of over 95%. We pride ourselves on taking a proactive approach to account management with our distribution network, which allows us
Keystone and IG Lintels have appointed Chris Hemmington-Green as Sales Director. He spent 17 years at Velux, progressing from an Area Sales Manager to Divisional Director. More recently, he spent the past 12 months managing the regional sales team at SIG.
Pavestone has appointed Richard Boucher to the role of Area Sales Manager, North East and Scotland. Boucher, already known by the builders merchants in the North of England, will focus on supporting Pavestone’s merchant stockist partners within the area.
Sunderland-based Salamander Pumps has announced that Dale Robertson has joined as managing director, while Claire Thompson takes up a newly created role as head of the customer experience and marketing.
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to truly understand each customer’s specific requirements and identify how we can continue to successfully fulfil them.
What piece of advice would you give yourself at the start of your career? Take your time when making difficult or complicated decisions– instinct and experience always count, but be conscientious and thoughtful.
Football, rugby, cycling, golf or gardening – what keeps you busy at the weekends? Two young children keep you on the straight and narrow, so most of my free time is spent being a taxi driver for my girls for weekend clubs etc. I do get a little time for running and watching Rugby League like a true northerner.
If you’re at the bar – what are you drinking? It can only be Guinness, surely?
What’s your favourite book? Favourite film? I’m currently reading ‘Traction – get a grip on your business’, which I can highly recommend for heads of department or board level management, whilst also reading ‘Into The Silence’, which is a book about WW1 and the climb of Everest. After how many films I watched throughout lockdown, I don’t think I want to see a film again.
If you could be a superhero, what super- power would you choose?
I’m not a superhero fan as Y-fronts are so 1980, although if I had a super-power, I would turn water into Guinness! BMJ
ON THE MOVE
AJW has announced the appointment of a new financial director Kevin Patrick who joined AJW Distribution back in May 2017 as the Financial Controller for AJW Group which involves managing the finances for all five AJW companies. He is the first person outside the Woods family to become a director.
Jewson Civils Frazer, part of Saint-Gobain Contracts Division, has appointed Caterina Wokoh as its Regional Sales Director for London and the South East. Wokoh has vast knowledge and experience drawn from the specialist building materials and the waste management sectors.
Ben Edge has been appointed as Divisional Sales Manager (North UK and Ireland), and joins the Klober team from Unilever.
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net August 2021
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