Q: What is the contractor sales team?
A team of four people was set up six years ago specifically to look after the needs of contractors and installers within the UK. As well as me, we have another Lee – Lee Girdler, Lynn Hammond and Sarah Flint.
Q: What is different about the contracting team?
I guess we have a more direct approach. We deal a lot with guys on site who want to place an order with minimum hassle – we try hard to meet their needs.
Q: What’s your greatest strength?
We have around 35,000 sq ft of warehouse and as our company name - Flexible & Specialist Cables suggests, we stock many of the more unusual products – some in hundreds of thousands of metres. This gives us the opportunity to respond very quickly to both large and small requirements.
Q: How quickly is quickly?
Call and collect is probably the fastest, which can be as quick as ten minutes to pick the product and do the paperwork – just time for a cup of tea! This isn’t always convenient for customers so we have a reliable bunch of couriers, mostly owner drivers, who can deliver within a few hours, depending on the distance, and at a reasonable price. The most popular is our standard next working day service for parcels, drums or pallets. We use Target and a specialist pallet network that have proven to be remarkably reliable – touch wood!
Q: What is the biggest challenge facing the contracting team?
Probably the biggest challenge is the specialist range of products – we don’t sell booklet-armoureds or twin and earth so we are reliant on people remembering us for the more unusual cables. This isn’t so relevant with specialist installers where we play a much bigger part in the supply chain. It is frustrating when we see orders from other distributors or wholesalers for delivery direct to xyz customer who has an account with us.
Q: What about FS Cables holding stock for customers?
This is increasingly popular, particularly with contractors at the start of a project or where installers are using the same types of cable all the time, but don’t want to hold big stocks themselves. In these cases we agree a price and quantity with the customer and then hold it to be called off over an agreed timescale. It also means we can cut cable to length to reduce wastage on site.
Q: What sets you apart from other distributors?
Apart from the products we sell it’s the care we all take – not just here in sales but throughout the company. We don’t have a cut-off time for orders – if we can ship it we will, and I can’t remember a time when an order wasn’t sent out on the same day it was supposed to be. This takes real commitment from everyone.
Q: Do you only deal with established account customers?
No, a lot of the business is with the big contractors but a significant amount comes from small ones, even one man bands, particularly where they specialise in installing a particular type of machinery or equipment. You don’t even need to have an account to deal with us, we take most credit cards or you can always pay on proforma.
Q: What are your largest and smallest orders this year?
So far it’s just under a quarter of a million pounds, down to about twenty pounds. We try to give outstanding service whatever the value, but it’s a great feeling when you’re awarded a big contract.
Q: Do you ever get to meet your customers?
Not as often as we would like to, but we do go to exhibitions and occasionally out to sites. To be honest, we’re not all that good looking! I’m probably more used to dealing with customers with a phone in one hand and a computer in front of me. I would just like to say thank you for all your business, we all really appreciate it.