MERCHANT FOCUS: TOTAL BUILDING MATERIALS
customers, that a happy team, happy staff mean happy customers. No-one really likes doing business with someone who is clearly miserable. Morale of the staff at the trade counter can make or break a sale.” A case in point is what happened in March 2020 when the country was told to lockdown due to the Covid pandemic. Total was one of the only local merchants to remain open throughout, something Muncey says was appreciated by customers, many of whom have remained loyal as a result. “When the first announcement from the prime minister came out, we were really unsure what to do. We thought let’s just open up tomorrow and see what happens.
“It was slightly crazy. We had fewer staff as some people stayed at home, yet, because we were the only ones open, we had quadruple the amount of business.”
Learning curve
Harris adds that it was certainly hard, very hard, but it was also a great experience, a really important learning curve for the business. “We knew that we couldn’t just shut our doors because most of our customers are self-employed, they weren’t going to get furloughed, they needed to keep working. We were sensible, we observed all the social distancing requirements, we were all in masks, serving one person in at a time.” After the first crazy two hours, Muncey says the company did shut the doors, in order to reassess the situation, and work out how they could continue to operate. “Staying open really helped us as a business to become more established. Chris had done a great job with building Total up because he’s a local lad, and he has all the contacts round here. However, because we stayed open, because we were seen to be going the extra mile for
“We always tell our customers that our job is to make their job easier. We think of ourselves as a modern merchant with old school values.”
our customers, we really became part of the local community.”
He adds: “We know from our experience that the biggest and best opportunities to build your business came from the chats at the trade counter, asking the right questions and understanding what the right answers should be. Getting that bit right is the difference between the builder leaving his driveway in the morning and turning right to come here, or turning left to go elsewhere. In many cases it’ll be turn right to come to Total because he knows Brian on the trade counter understands his business, knows his football team, a bit about his family and what his projects are. “It works that way with suppliers too. Whenever anyone comes in to talk to us about new products, we are open to learning about them so that we can pass that information onto our customers.”
Core customers are traditional general builders, regional developers and contractors, DIY enthusiasts, and anyone in the general community that needs some building materials and an honest answer. “That’s one of the things that is really important to us,” Harris says. “If we ask the right questions, we can give the customer exactly what they need. Just because
someone comes in and asks for, a specific type of product, something they might not actually need. So we will ask what they are using it for, and then advise them what they do need. Of course, it might be that they do need what they are asking for but in a great many cases, we are able to sell them something that is much more suitable for their project, and which is less costly. We have a slogan that we’ve recently put in place, and that’s ‘no-one says no until we know we can’t’. That’s the service element. We aren’t a ‘computer says no’ company. We’re a ‘leave it with me and I’ll find out’ company.” As part of its commitment to the local community, there is a special discount offer for local schools requiring materials for maintenance, plus a similar scheme for some local businesses, including AMEX, one of the largest employers in nearby Brighton. Harris says: “We really believe that if everyone helps each other, you get to where you all want to go a lot quicker. That’s always been our dynamic here: help people to do a successful job move forward and then do the next job.
“We must be doing something right because turnover has grown steadily, over the past four years, from around £1.7m up to £4.2m. “Independent isn’t just about who owns you, it’s about what you do, how you do it, and what you put in place to ensure that you always do it.” BMJ
March 2024
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