REGULARS: PERSONALITY PROFILE
Janet Thompson – all
about sharing and serving
People in the industry are open to giving their input, Janet
Thompson from global company, Saint-Gobain Gyproc/Isover, is
one of those people…
By Ntsako Khosa
Janet Thompson from Saint-Gobain
Gyproc/Isover.
J
anet Thompson, Cape regional
technical and specifications manager
for Saint-Gobain Gyproc/Isover is
open to queries about her work and
personal goals.
“I focus on leading by example, sharing
my knowledge and encouraging my team to
be the best they can be. There is no ‘I’ in
team,” she says. Currently in her sixteenth
year at the company she still sees a
promising and bright future.
Her role is extensive and includes,
among others, identifying key projects that
bring maximum benefit to the company in
line with key performance indicators to
ensure that Saint-Gobain is seen as the
preferred partner, supplying innovative
sustainable energy efficient solutions to the
market, engaging with architects, quantity
surveyors, main contractors, developers
and government offices, coaching and
developing a regional specification team as
well as implementing and developing
sustainable and profitable customer
relationships.
“Honesty and integrity are key in my
professional and personal life. I really enjoy
establishing a good rapport with my clients
and listening to their needs and offering
them a cost effective superior solution. The
time I spend engaging and growing our
specifications team is another favourite
part of my job. The team has a wonderful,
positive and ethical vibe underpinned by
team work and hard work. It is an absolute
pleasure to have every one of them on my
team. Our Cape commercial manager, Brett
Caudwell, allows us the latitude to
endeavour new ways of doing things,”
she shares. director and managing directors. “Through
them I grew in confidence, as well as selling
skills, cold calling skills, goal planning, self-
reliance and ultimately I learnt to believe in
myself,” she says. She recalls being top
sales performer and enjoying quarterly
bonuses, trips and accessories. Similar
performance and success has followed her
at Saint-Gobain winning the Team of the
Year award three times in row as well as
Gyproc Sales Team of the Year in 2016.
She joined Saint-Gobain in 2003 in the
sales division and has been there ever
since. “I am a sales person at heart and love
the process of providing a sustainable,
innovative cost-effective solution to my
clients. I love most aspects of my job as I
am surrounded and supported by a
competent and phenomenal team in the
Cape,” Thompson says.
Where it all started Changing the industry
With a Bachelor of Music from Stellenbosch
University, she explains how she got into
the industry by absolute default.
“I was still a student and to earn extra
cash I applied for a morning only sales job. I
had no previous sales experience and to my
total surprise in the first group interview at
Databuild – a building information
company – I was requested to do a one-
minute presentation on how I would sell a
washing machine. Ultimately, I was offered
the job. This turned out to be a very
lucrative career move for me. The job set
me on my building journey of 26 years and I
am still going strong,” she expresses.
Her time at Databuild facilitated her
selling skills through countless sales
courses and mentorship from the sales Cape Town’s gross domestic product (GDP)
grew by 2% in the first quarter of 2017 while
the country’s economy declined by 0.7%.
“The Cape Town property market has
proved resilient in tough economic times
with stable price inflations and rental
escalations combined with lower vacancy
rates compared to the rest of the country.
There has been a marked rise in the Cape
Town inner city central business district
(CBD) with retrofits and new builds,”
she says.
Despite the industry doing well in her
region she highlights that lack of
compliance and understanding of
important regulations that should be
complied with on site is an aspect the
industry has to overcome. “In 2011 new
RESIDENTIAL // COMMERCIAL // INDUSTRIAL
JULY 2018
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