RISING STARS


THE ONES TO FOLLOW: PART 10 MICHAEL NICHOLSON


BMJ talks to the Rising Stars of the industry.Those individuals whose managers have pinpointed as regularly going above and beyond.


Job title: Branch Manager Company: Elliotts


What’s your role?


MANAGER’S VIEW


Mike originally joined the business as a Trading Manager from B&Q and he has been smashing it since day one. If you throw Mike an idea, he makes it happen. He is hungry for new ideas and to always be on the front foot. He has become our go to if we want to test something new - he just gets it done! Mike was promoted to Branch Manager of our Ringwood branch at the start of this year. He does an amazing job of managing his team. He coaches them and makes it clear what they need to do and why. Mike is enthusiastic, positive and takes ownership of looking after our customers.


His passion and


determination to succeed means that Mike has done things that others said couldn’t be done.


I am the branch manager of Elliotts in Ringwood


How did you get into this industry? I started out on the checkouts at B&Q while I was doing my degree in Garden design and Landscaping at the age of 17. I then came off the checkouts and moved over to the gardening section. I then finished my degree and became a department manager for B&Q from the age of 22 - 26 . I moved to Elliotts in Fordingbridge in 2017 as a Trading Manager and became the branch manager of Ringwood in 2019.


What might a typical day for you at work be? A typical day at work would be coming in early to make sure we are set up for the day. I would formulate a plan for the day and speak with my assistant manager Steve on how we would win the day. Every day varies so much that I could have meetings, spending time with customers, dealing with suppliers, going to site, overseeing the transport, having one to ones with staff and much, much more.


What were you doing at work last week? Last week I had two days holiday and came back on the Wednesday. I had my normal day to day duties of running the branch. I had category meetings for decorating, also pricing reviews. Due to holidays in the branch I have also been running the transport.


What are your big challenges in this role? The biggest challenge in this role is balancing all the different jobs on a day to day basis while running a branch at the same time.


What do you love about your role? What I enjoy the most about my role is every day is different. You have to adapt to each day which makes it interesting. I enjoy working with a team, everyone is different and they work in different ways, as a manager you grow by adapting your style to each person. Also helping customers build, when you get customers feedback saying how helpful the branch has been is great.


Rising Stars is sponsored by H+H UK


H+H UK is the largest manufacturer of aircrete building products, including the market-leading range of Celcon Blocks.


20


Our focus is the development of products and systems to provide high performance buildings guaranteed to last several lifetimes.


www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net Ocober 2019


What do you think has been your biggest achievement so far in your role?


My biggest achievement so far in my two and a half years with Elliotts is becoming a branch Manager after two years of working for the company.


What would you like to achieve next? Short term is to establish and grow Ringwood even more. Long term would be to move to a larger branch and into a more senior role.


What advice would you give someone new to this industry?


The advice I would give to a new manager coming into this industry is get to know as many customers as possible in your branch, it is really important, as the manager, to speak to and get to know your customers who buy from you. Also, in the first few weeks get to know your new team, they know the business and the branch and they can give you so much information that will be helpful to you at the beginning.


What would you say to someone who might be thinking about a career/getting a job on the merchant industry?


I made the change from retail to trade and haven’t looked back since. The merchant industry you get a good balance of customer service and practical work to vary the day. There are lots of avenues for job opportunities to progress into, if you want to develop your career.


What are the changes you foresee the industry making in order to survive the future?


The internet is having a massive effect on how people shop these days, I can see websites and ordering online coming in over the next five years. I also think face to face interaction is such a strong way of selling, I feel a lot more customer service training will get implemented into the companies to develop our people in the industry.


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