BUSINESS ENGAGEMENT
we do well. Or we always intend to do well. “ Gary Duffy and Martin Fox, the founders of Joint-It, used to run a paving centre, importing natural stone. Becoming frustrated with the quality of jointing materials they found themselves using, the pair decided to start investigating how they could develop their own jointing product because they couldn’t get what exactly what they wanted. Wilson says: “In 2014 they brought that to market, having spent some years trying to get the right glues, the right hardness, the right chemical mix to make up the product. That’s really helped us to grow because we started off small, and have kept that focus all the way through. It’s something that rubs off on the way we all engage with our customers as well.” It’s important to be engaged with staff at all levels of the business, Wilson says. “It’s a people game, not just sales people, but whoever is working throughout the business has an impact on the products and the processes, and we need to recognise that. We aim to forge close relationships with our customers, and we want them to forge close relationships with our brand as well. We’re not a big corporate company, rather we are more about people dealing with people and engaging with them.
Listening to all customers Being interested in your customer’s business, rather than just selling them the product is a key facet, Wilson believes. “We’ve obviously got the products, but if the merchant Partner’s customer isn’t interested, or has a different need, then it’s pointless us trying to sell them more. We listen to our immediate customers, but beyond that, we also engage with the customer’s customer.”
Wilson says talking to and engaging with the merchant’s customer is critical to what Joint-It does. “If we don’t make products that landscapers want to use and want to buy from the merchants, the whole thing falls down.” Social media is a big part of this process, Wilson says, with Joint-It actively involved in two of the largest landscaper Facebook groups. “For us, it helps to grow sales of our products but also more importantly, it helps us to keep an eye on what’s happening in the wider market. We can then report that back to our merchant customers.”
He also says that taking ownership of issues goes a long way to fostering better engagement. “If there’s a problem, we like to jump on it. Even if it turns out that it’s not our product that’s causing the problem, showing
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that we understand the issues goes a long way.”
At QX Bathrooms, Managing Director Graeme Andrews says that engagement has to run through the company from the drivers all the way to the directors. “You don’t need drivers that don’t engage well with your customers,” he says. “They are the ones who see those customers more often than anyone else in the business. So, it kind of starts from them, and works all the way through. We try and make sure that the drivers know the customers, know what those customers require, and that they can build a relationship with them. You can have the best products in the world. But if you haven’t got the people to back it up, then it all goes wrong. You can have the best area manager in the world with the best customer relationships, but if it all goes wrong because the warehouse operatives mess up every order that relationship is only going to last so long. Every cog in the process needs to be oiled to make sure that you can offer the overall package your merchant Partner requires.
Family-owned and family-run, the importer and distributor of bathroom products employs 85 people and operates out of two depots,
THIS IS YOUR LIFE SO FAR...
one in Aylesford, Kent, and one in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
Working with customers, and thinking along different lines to the norm are key parts of the engagement process, Andrews believes. “A good example of where we worked with NBG Partners is the Grand Designs exhibition,” he says. “Grand Designs is a show where you’re actually selling to the public. It might be architects, house builders, whatever it might be. And that’s not what we do. So, we took the approach of partnering with some NBG Partners.”
QX paid for the stand and provided the products, but it was the NBG Partners who contributed by supplying their members of staff to be there for the week.
January 2024
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