PEOPLE 10 MINUTES WITH:
What is your current role and how long have you been doing it? I’ve been Product Training Lead at Bristan for two years, having worked my way up from a role in the customer service team.
What does your role entail? I’m responsible for developing and delivering training on all of Bristan Group’s products. This currently includes creating e-learning content for both the Bristan and Heritage brands, developing our wider training programmes for the Bristan Group and providing refresher training for our sales team.
I also work closely with Bristan’s installer and
merchant communities which is great as I’m able to gain unique insights into the industry and see how new Bristan products are being received and if there are any issues that need to be addressed. “In turn, this enables me to be a better trainer for the team and our partners as I can make sure I tailor my training using this knowledge to better cater to what their needs.”
How did you get started in this industry? After previously working in care, I joined Bristan’s Customer Services team where I worked as a Customer Services Representative for two and a half years. After developing an in-depth understanding of our products and customer concerns, I was then offered to opportunity to become a Tech Coach which involved dealing with a lot of technical questions from plumbers. I started shadowing the Product Trainer for new starters, then started to run the sessions myself. A little while later, I was offered a full-time role as Technical Product Trainer before pivoting to become a Sales Trainer working with installers as our training needs evolved during COVID.
What roles were you doing before and how did they prepare you for this one? I worked in the care sector and had plans to become a paramedic. After returning from Maternity Leave, I wasn’t offered the same
Kieran Griffin has joined Plumb Centre as divisional managing director. Griffin joined Keyline as a graduate trainee, moving through the TP Group via
managing directorships of CCF, Keyline, Travis Perkins Midlands and North West, and BSS, to end up as Travis Perkins plc md.
12 MARIA HOWLEY Product Training Lead at Bristan Group
hours so I looked for alternative employment and found myself at Bristan. My range of roles enables me to communicate with a broad range of people. For example, in one week I could deliver training to installers, architects, specifiers, merchants, students or our own sales team.
Each of these groups wants to know different things about the products and how they will help them meet their goals or serve their needs. Thanks to my knowledge of the products and the wider industry, gained through my range of roles, I’m able to change my tone and vary the language I use so that everyone can understand what I’m talking about and gain the information they need.
What would you like to achieve in your role?
I would like to have a solid training platform in place that can be picked up and carried on for the next generation of plumbing professionals. I’m really passionate about helping people, particularly women, to feel confident in their product knowledge and make the plumbing industry as accessible as possible through a robust suite of training materials.
What has been the highlight of your career? I was recently shortlisted for the Educator of the Year at the HPM awards. There aren’t that many female product trainers, and a general lack of female representation in the wider industry. So, it’s great to play a small part in changing perceptions and leading the way for other women in the industry.
What do you see as the main issues for builders’ merchants and for the construction industry at the moment? At the moment, I see one of the biggest challenges in the industry is the rising cost of materials and the impact this is having on merchants and installers.
Selco Builders Warehouse has appointed David Lennon as its new commercial director. The former category director at retail giant Morrisons has joined
the builders’ merchant and will be a member of the company’s Senior Leadership Team, headed up by chief executive Howard Luft.
The cost-of-living crisis means that there
aren’t as many people spending money on kitchens and bathrooms as they’re struggling to buy the essentials. In turn, this is impacting a number of smaller merchants, installers, independents and sole traders who are trying their best to stay afloat. In the wider industry, there is also the challenge of keeping up with legislation around sustainability and water usage which are often changing and evolving. This means that businesses like Bristan have to ensure our products meet these new rules, and be able to communicate this effectively to our team, partners and customers.
What piece of advice would you give yourself at the start of your career? I’d tell myself to fake it until you make it and always keep pushing yourself. If you get given an opportunity and you’re nervous, do it anyway. It doesn’t matter if you mess it up, you can still try again and you’ll always learn something from it.
What keeps you busy at the weekends? My two boys are 10 and 16, and they both play for the local football teams. So, there’s a lot of driving them to and from training and matches on the weekends, but I do like to fit in a trip to the pub on a Saturday evening too.
If you’re at the bar, what are you drinking? It’d probably be a cocktail or a heavy-bodied red wine.
What’s your favourite book and film? My favourite film of all time is Dirty Dancing. It’s a classic. I spent six years learning to dance because of that film.
If you could be a superhero, which superpower would you choose? I would want invisibility because I’m incredibly nosy. I could listen to everything, which sounds like a lot of fun. BMJ
ON THE MOVE
James Hardie, the fibre cement and fibre gypsum products supplier, has appointed Edward Dunn as channel manager to support trade partners in the
North. He has 10 years’ account management experience with large national accounts and independent wholesalers.
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net May 2024
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