MERCHANT FOCUS
in the market for an independent then we will take a look at it,” he says.
Opening a second branch in 2008, just as the financial crash happened might look a bad move on paper; in reality, Liddle says it was perfect timing because it taught CRS to be very cost conscious from the outset. “We knew we would have to be careful but we thought we should be able to do it as long as we didn’t have to lay people off, we would be OK. “Our mantra is always look after the repeat business and make sure the customers keep coming back to us. If we have upset the customers or done something wrong them we will put it right, even if it means putting our hands in our pockets.”
Liddle says that it was important to CRS from the start that their managers should be able to manage their own branches as businesses. “They are not just branch administrators. We let them manage their own businesses. That keeps them invested in the success of the branch. No-one really comes into this industry because they want to spend all day filling out spreadsheets. Most of us are here because we love selling and dealing with people. Not paperwork.”
Originally, CRS were members of the Western Builders Merchants buying group - WBM, however that merged with another h&b in May 2008 and Liddle, who now sits on the h&b insulation committee, says it was a defining moment for CRS. “I thought I was good at negotiating deals but when we got into h&b it was a whole different ball game. No matter how good you are at it, there’s a world of difference negotiating on behalf of a two-branch £1.5m turnover business and a £1billion-plus turnover group. We have seen so much benefit to our business. We use as many h&b deals as we can,” he says. “There are obviously deals we use from local suppliers, but by and large we do try and use the h&b deals.”
In 2011 CRS opened its third depot in Highbridge and Liddle says it was busy from
Indecision is the worst thing for business in Liddle’s eyes. “As an economy we had been indecisive for too long and it was starting affect things. Whatever trade deals are signed may mean we get the odd shortage and price rises, but I think we can live with those, what I can’t live with is not knowing what’s going to happen. Lots of customers at the back end of 2019 were seeing jobs cancelled; those jobs are now back on and houses are selling again. I think I’ve seen more sold signs in the last month or so than in the whole of last year,” he says.
day one. “We thought we would have some breathing space to let the branch bed-in a little, but it just rocketed from the start. So that’s when we knew that we had picked the right location and the right people to run the branch.” The company now has branches in Cheddar, Wells, Highbridge, Yeovil, Weston Super Mare, Minehead, Taunton, Glastonbury, Somerton, Bridgwater, Evercreech and, from May 2020, Keynsham, between Bath and Bristol. It hasn’t all been plain sailing, Liddle says, with the last six months of 2019 particularly challenging, with belts being tightened mainly through uncertainty over the economy and Brexit fears. “Up until then we had been growing at a really good pace,” he says. “That said, there were opportunities that came up whilst things were quiet, in terms of sites for example, that might not have done had the circumstances been different. Now, hopefully, with the general election result we will see a bit more stability and things will get back to where they ought to be.”
CRS’ customer base is mostly made up of local builders, plumbers, decorators and carpenters, with some who operate larger regional building sites, but no national housebuilders. “The national housebuilder business isn’t for us, we’ll leave that to others who, arguably, are more geared up for it. No the customers we are interested in are the ones who come in again and again, who value good service, reasonable prices and quality products. That is our core business and that will remain our core business.” In terms of product sectors, CRS is a real mixed merchant selling everything from imported C24 timber and bricks and blocks, up through paint, bathrooms, decorating products and landscaping. The company is particularly strong with paint sales, has a small electrical offering and the Wells branch has CRS’s only showroom. It’s unmanned and is really just a showcase for doors, flooring, and bathrooms. “Geographically, we are quite close to a lot of our branches here so if someone wants to see some examples of the sort of thing we can offer tem then they can come here. It’s particularly god for being able to show people the doors we offer,” Liddle explains.
He says that there are more branches in the pipeline, with a few tentative pins placed in the map. “When we started, we thought we might perhaps have two or three branches, maybe up to five, but now I think we probably won’t go beyond 15 or so. The one thing I don’t want is for us to get too big to be able to operate the way we want to. “I just love this business. And I know Chris Waelchli, my fellow director, feels the same way. It really doesn’t feel like going to work. When I was running a branch at a big national, there was a lot of reporting, maintaining spreadsheets and following protocol. There had to be, that’s how big businesses have to operate. Here though, all my daily worries - and of course there are plenty – are real world worries: are we going to get that stock on time, is the new branch going to perform the way we want it to, is that staff member going to shape up OK? And every day is different, you never get to know each morning exactly what the day will bring. Plus, we are lucky to be in a beautiful part of the country. It’s pleasure to drive to work and round the branches.” BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net March 2020 21
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