NBG MD INTERVIEW
STRONG BRANDS: MAXIMISE SALES
NBG Managing Director Nick Oates looks at where the group is and how it aims to help Partners and Suppliers maximise their sales.
T
he journey we at NBG have been on in the last seven years has really been all about professionalising the way that we interact with our suppliers, whilst not losing the important principles of democracy and the huge sense of community which NBG was built upon. To be honest, I think that spirit is now stronger than it has ever been.
This year we have had three new board members, all of whom had to stand and be voted in; that's an example of the democracy I am talking about. These new board members bring new thinking, ideas and challenges. It also means that they, as Partners, get to see and understand a lot more of what goes on in the back office.
What I like about NBG is the fact that we all feel we can try things and do new things. We are still all about building strong brands, but this year’s conference theme is Maximise Sales because although strong brands will help us do that, a clearer focus on sales will help even more so. The economy is having a bit of a downturn but in NBG, our Partners’ figures are still strong. At the moment anyway. Eventually, we will start to see things get a bit more difficult. This is a great time to put the foot on the accelerator to work in partnership with suppliers to maximise sales across the group. Partnership with suppliers is, always has been, and always will be, the whole philosophy of NBG.
A few years ago, we really focussed on
building up the strength in our plumbing offer. We did a lot of sterling work in that sector and brought in some Partners who were real specialists in plumbing. We now have a lot of in-depth knowledge across the group. On the back of that, a number of our mixed merchants then either moved into plumbing or boosted up their plumbing offer. So, having done that, we wanted to see if it could be replicated in other sectors. Roofing was one we thought was full of potential. We have strength in roofing in Scotland but hadn’t up until now been so strong in the rest of the UK. So now we feel that's a real area where we can push forward and we started to engage with
Partnership with suppliers is, always has been, and always will be, the whole philosophy of NBG.
January 2020
the roofing sector more. Since then, Alltype Roofing, About Roofing and Bernard Extons Supplies have joined as NBG Partners. What I loved about these new Partners is how involved they are in the whole business and that they will only come on board with us if they believe it to be right for them. In terms of a buying group membership, the independent sector has always been quite fluid, with turnover of membership. Whether it has been Grafton, Wolseley, Saint Gobain or Huws Gray in the purchasing seat, there has always been this constant acquisition process going on. Now we are seeing it with venture capitalists like Cairngorm and others. So, with that fluidity likely to continue, we know that we need to have a constant flow of new members, which is why we needed some proper resource behind our recruitment process. Ian Beaver has been in that role for us for a year and he is NBG through and through. There’s always a question of how we get new businesses to make that leap of faith to join
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