IN CONVERSATION ALL FOR ONE, AND Who’s talking:
ONE FOR ALL
Fiona Russell Horne eavesdrops on a conversation between some of the Partners, looking back at how NBG got started and how it has helped their businesses along the way.
member of Prospero, to see if there was a way that they could bring in some of their merchants, and work out deals together. We did that a few times, and then thought, this has got some legs, so we probably ought to develop a more formal arrangement.
Stewart Shaw Cowal Building Supplies
Neil Robinson Interline Building Supplies
Ken Pepperall: It was in about 2003 that we decided that if we were to continue with this, we would need to have a name for the one organisation, instead of the three different identities. The idea was to call ourselves a national buying group. We wanted to be all encompassing across the country, and make it work and, even though the Scottish business was different to the rest of UK business, it still worked, and when we got talking to each other, things happened.
James Norton Frank Key Group
Ken Pepperall PA Seccombe
Stewart Shaw: In 2002, there had been an early meeting between the various independent buying groups about working together more closely on deals, but nothing ever came of it. A few months later, a few principals in a number of businesses in SIMBA and Chandor had another look at whether we could get one or two joint deals off the ground. I was obviously in SIMBA, and we had a deal with Red Bank, and really it was a case of ‘you show me yours, I’ll show you mine’. So we compared the two deals, and then decided to see if we could do better by combining them. And we managed to shave a few more percentage points off by virtue of bringing the manufacturer more merchants. So we did another deal, and it jogged along quite nicely for a while. It was a gentleman’s agreement, rather than a formal arrangement, and we added on a few more product categories. Eventually, we got a call from Bob Beaver at Shropshire Building Supplies, who was a
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SS: The guys in the south were able to offer far more volume in bricks, for example, than we could up in Scotland. However, we had far more volume sales in timber. So between us, we helped each other out. It just worked.
KP: The logistical problem of moving materials to Scotland always cropped up in the early days. Manufacturers were saying, ‘well we can’t do the same for Scotland as we do for the rest of the country’. However, we were determined that it would be national or nothing. It had to be all of us.
SS: Growth happened quite organically. Okay, over the last 10 years we have had an objective to ensure that we continue to bring new Partners to the table and that’s been a strategical move, but up until then it was more about if you and your business fit with our ethos, and you want the same things as us, then we’ll have the conversation. It’s not about getting flags on the map. We wanted back then, and we still want now, to get the right people in. People that understand the ethos of the organisation. It’s ensuring that
THIS IS YOUR LIFE SO FAR...
we have the correct Partners that understand what we’re about. The single biggest thing for me as an individual hasn’t been the financial benefit, but the networking, the ability to ask questions of people who are in similar situations. That’s invaluable.
Neil Robinson: We came on board because we were told by a couple of Suppliers that we were really trying to push on price, that our volumes simply weren’t big enough, and that if we wanted to get better prices, we really needed to be part of a buying group. We talked to a couple of groups, but eventually came to the conclusion that NBG was the right choice. Everyone was really friendly and helpful. It just felt right. I will never forget the first deal that was shared with us after we joined. It was Gripfill, and we were paying £1.30 or whatever. A price that we’d felt quite good about negotiating. When we saw the deal we were getting with NBG was 99p, it really hit home that together we are better and stronger.
KP: That kind of realisation was replicated across lots of products, it’s how most of us felt.
NR: You could crunch the numbers as it probably put 4% on our bottom line right from the start. But, to echo what Stewart said, it was the benefit of talking to the other guys, sharing common problems, that’s invaluable. It’s this intangible benefit that you really can’t put a number on, because its value is so intrinsic to what we are all trying to achieve.
James Norton: There are 19 of the original Partners today still in the organisation. That has to say something about the commitment of the Partners, but also the benefit to them of being a Partner. Yes, some have retired, sold on, or moved out of the group. If you talk to some of the former Partners, they all started small, and it was NBG that helped them to grow. As they grew, they helped the
January 2024
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