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PRO INSTALLER JANUARY 2014
PRO BUSINESS
@proinstaller1
GOING BACK
TO ITS ROOTS
Last month Clearview made the short journey from it’s new premises
in Barnsley to Distinction Doors at Wentworth to meet new Marketing
Manager, Chantel Roach. Chantel, also from Barnsley, previously worked
as Head of Marketing for Maplin Electronics for almost 10 years. Here
she tells Clearview a bit more about herself and her appointment to
the role, as well as what 2014 has in store for Distinction Doors…
“After 10 years in
retail marketing I was
ready for a change and
a new challenge. I was
looking to step out of
my comfort zone, but
the position and company had to be right
and had Distinction not
appealed then I would
have remained within
the retail sector.
But the opportunity at
Distinction was far too
good to refuse, given its
impressive track record
and credentials. For
example, Distinction has
recently appeared in the
London Stock Exchange’s
1000 Companies to Inspire
Britain, which is a celebration of some of the fastestgrowing and most dynamic small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) in the
UK.
“I started at Distinction
in September 2013. My
appointment to the role
was quickly followed by a
company-wide restructure,
so that I work under Sales
and Marketing Director, Jim Stewart. Jim was
quick to acknowledge that
Distinction’s marketing approach had been very paper and print lead, which
was right for the company
at the time. But through
feedback from our Busi-
ness Development Managers out on the road, it has
become apparent now
that in order to fit into
our customer’s marketing
strategy we need to invest
in resources in order to
become more dynamic, by
adopting a more digitally
orientated approach.
“Stock, of course, is
also one of our primary
concerns and above all we,
as a company, must not
forget that as a business,
we are first and foremost
a component distributor
i.e. GRP door slabs. So
2014 will initially be about
refocusing on that as out
core competency and, to
some extent, going back
to our roots, reinforcing
Distinction’s position in
the market as the home of
the insulated door.
“Through our marketing activities the aim is to
take on an advisory role
in the industry and to our
customers, explaining how
our doors are made and
what gives them the pedigree they are renowned
for, as well as emphasising Distinction’s technical
support and customer
service.
“There will be a lot of
work going on behind the
scenes too, with development to the infrastructure
‘The opportunity at Distinction
was far too good to refuse, given
its impressive track record’
of the company that is essential in order to sustain
the growth that the company continues to enjoy,
while maintaining service
levels and customer satisfaction. Just to give you an
idea of the speed at which
the company has grown,
in almost one month alone
in 2013 Distinction sold
more doors than in our
first year of trading, so it
goes without saying that
systems and processes
need to be adapted to
accommodate the kind of
volumes that were talking
about. Forecasting, in particular, will be key here.
“Our workforce has also
expanded. We now have
a new I.T. Manager that
the company didn’t have
previously, in recognition
of what needs to be done
in order to drive the business forward. We’ll also be
going back to our customers and finding out about
their needs by conducting
customer surveys, which
is something we intend
to repeat periodically to
keep track of our progress.
In doing so, we hope to
find out what our customers think we are good at
and what areas we can
improve in and also gear
our product development
towards what they want
and need.
“Support and training
for the staff has also been
recognized as a priority by
Managing Director,