PEOPLE
10 MINUTES WITH: KAT DANCEY
National Sales Manager, Brett Landscaping
What is your current role and how long have you been doing it?
I am the national sales manager for Brett Landscaping and I started the role at the beginning of 2019. I’ve been at Brett Landscaping for three and a half years.
What does your role entail?
My role is focused on delivering added value to our customers, both merchants and contractors, by working with the Area Sales Managers and Brett Approved Installers Business Development Managers.
How did you get started in this industry? I have worked in the construction industry for more than 20 years - which makes me feel old! Once out of university, I applied for a customer service role at Tarmac Quarry Products, but instead, I was offered a position as an internal sales representative. From there, I progressed to external field sales roles and the rest is CV history.
What roles were you doing before and how did they prepare you for this one? All my jobs have been customer service and relationship-based. Sales has been my primary focus.
Every day is a learning day and using the experiences gained helps me to understand and appreciate customer requirements, market demands and how best to communicate with customers and colleagues.
This in turn benefits the company, customers and teams by delivering successful results.
What would you like to achieve in your role?
Seeing the development of the sales team in terms of personal growth is exceptionally important to me. I believe that providing relevant support and guidance contributes to improved and continuing motivation, raises the performance of the individual and benefits the company and customers alike. Most of us have experienced poor management and the detrimental effects at some point in our careers. This is why good communication and understanding people is essential in my role.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Oh my, there have been many. Some that spring to mind are securing my first large motorway contract, negotiating my first buying group
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deal (thanks to those helpful and supportive merchants – it must have been painful!) through to guiding sales staff to achieving great results and developing their careers.
What do you see as the main issues for builders merchants and for the wider construction industry at the moment? The construction industry is always sensitive to the wider economy and subsequent investment into large infrastructure projects, new housebuilding through to smaller RMI projects. The availability of funding is critical to the industry. This in turn puts pressure on the entire building supply chain to provide products of a higher quality, cheaper price and longer payment terms. I don’t see how this can be sustainable, especially for sub- contractors, builders merchants and supplier alike.
Another concern for me that affects the whole industry is the recruitment and retention of the younger workers. The desirability of our industry needs stronger messaging and it needs to start at school.
If you could go back to the start of your career, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Be confident in your skills and abilities. Do not be afraid to put yourself forward.
Football, rugby, cycling, golf or gardening – which one’s more likely to keep you busy at the weekends?
None of these really - live music is my main pastime. I go and see a lot of bands, whether it be in local pub or at large stadia, plus a few comedy gigs thrown in. There are already gigs booked in for 2020. I like to have something to look forward to.
If you’re at the bar – what are you drinking? Depends who’s paying! Normally, it would be a gin-based beverage or a good old fashioned pint of Guinness.
What’s your favourite book? Favourite film? I’m something of a film junkie and superhero geek. My all-time favourite film is Pulp Fiction, but Marvel’s MCU films are always a favourite.
If you could be a superhero, what super- power would you choose?
I would love to be able to teleport to wherever I want to be - a lot easier and less time stuck in traffic!
ON THE MOVE
• Altecnic, the UK’s leading supplier of hydronic solutions and part of the Caleffi Group, is kicking off 2020 with a focus on customer service excellence
with a new management appointment and a boosted team.
Melanie Stoddart, Altecnic’s new sales and customer service manager, has been brought on board to further improve Altecnic’s best-in-class customer journey.
• The Builders Merchant Company Ltd has announced the appointment of Alex Cramp in the role of regional sales manager.
Cramp joins the company from Saint-Gobain, where he held a number of positions culminating in the role of national account manager, so will bring a strong working knowledge of sales management from within the construction industry.
• Hanson has appointed Andrew Simpson as packed products director, adding operational responsibility to his commercial remit.
Simpson is responsible for sales of all of the company’s packed products, including cement, ready-to-use concrete and aggregates, and will now also look after manufacturing at Hanson’s ready- to-use production site in Nuneaton as well as the company’s construction aggregates packing plants
• Kim Maretti has been appointed as the new marketing manager for Danish design company Unidrain, inventors of the linear floor drain. Previously at Nilfisk, Maretti was responsible for marketing the brand to 16 different markets. Maretti has more than 20 years global marketing experience within the retail and B2B sectors, which enables him to look at the industry from an an international perspective.
• Guy Overton has joined the successful Stelrad Brand Specialists team, looking after the North East of England territory.
Overton graduated from
Newcastle College with a Foundation Degree in Events Management in 2018 and in 2019 with a 2:1 in Business and Marketing.
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net
February 2020
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