Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
A new ‘buddy’ system being introduced by NMBS will give independent merchants greater support from the Buying Society’s sales team.
The system, which went live in June, will see each member of NMBS’ external sales team buddying up with someone from the internal sales team. Merchants will then receive dedicated support from both account managers, giving them better engagement and more frequent contact with NMBS going forward.
The service is designed to enhance the already extremely valuable relationship between independent merchants and their NMBS Business Development Managers.
Over the coming weeks all NMBS members will receive an email with details of their Sales Manager’s ‘Buddy’ – a dedicated account manager based permanently at NMBS’ head office in Leicester, who they can contact by phone or email at any time.
Their new Buddy will then call the merchant to introduce themselves and discuss how NMBS can continue to provide the vital support that helps its members to grow their business and improve their bottom line.
As well as providing day-to-day support to NMBS’ Business Development Managers, the internal sales team will be able to support merchant members with a wide range of enquiries including completing their health checks, supporting purchasing decisions, making the most of suppliers’ promotional campaigns and dealing with any other issues. Merchants can take advantage of the improved commercial awareness and knowledge, which means NMBS will be ‘always available’ to its members, even if the Business Development Manager is on holiday or otherwise unavailable.
Dean Hayward, NMBS’ Sales and Marketing Manager, said: “We are delighted to be introducing our new Buddy System to our members. It will allow us to be more proactive in our support to our merchant members, and we truly believe this will help them to increase their turnover.”
NMBS is the most successful buying society in the UK for independent builders’, plumbers’, hardware and timber merchants. Established in 1963, NMBS now has more than 1,100 independent merchant members, who collectively comprise a 45% share of the merchant market, with combined sales in excess of £8 billion.
For more details visit www.nmbs.co.uk.
