Lockwell Electrical Wholesalers : Positively charged
Published : May 2008
Radical change throughout the business has propelled Lockwell Electrical Wholesalers to new heights, as Tom Jones told Bernie Sheehan
When Lockwell Electrical Wholesalers launched its new website earlier this month, it was the icing on the cake for a company that has undergone change at every level in the last two years. Today Lockwell is one of the fastest growing companies in its field in the UK, with annual revenue of Ł21.5 million – increasing by Ł2.3 million in 2007 alone.
The company was established in 1975, principally as an industrial electrical wholesaler selling predominantly into factories, food processing, printing, engineering and quarries. However, it was struggling. Tom Jones, who had been with the company for more than 20 years and on the board since 1995, took over as managing director in April 2006. “We had oversold the specialised element. Diversification was not a nicety but a necessity,” said Jones. “We want to retain and grow the industrial element but recognise that the industrial marketplace is in decline. We want to grow new business on top, selling to small to medium contractors, facilities management companies, etc. Also, to diversify the domestic product basket such as light fittings, double switch sockets and so on. I believe there’s about Ł5 million in that and that we could grow to Ł30 million a year.”
Lockwell’s customer span now includes installation, industrial, contracting, maintenance, commercial and trade companies.
It is rapidly expanding its national coverage, with a network of 29 strategically placed branches across the UK. The company currently employs 190 people and has a central administrative centre in Coventry. Diversification has been the key to generating the extra revenue and it has meant changes at all levels of the business. “Each branch manager now has full P&R responsibility.
They have full involvement in forecasting and presenting their business plan to the board. Previously they had no ownership, it was top-down. They were micromanaged, they weren’t allowed flair and freedom and it stifled them. Now they are empowered with automomy and trust, they have flourished.”
Lockwell has supported the managers with a raft of training, investing Ł35,000 last year alone: 28 staff attended management and leadership training, 30 completed direct selling training and Lockwell’s entire internal staff of 100 took part in telesales training.
“I believe passionately in training,” said Jones. “Without it, how do you expect to motivate someone to do the things you want to achieve?”
At the same time, Lockwell has been repositioning its corporate brand. Although the company was defined as an industrial electrical wholesaler, 80 per cent of its product market is commercial. The new branding is reflected not only on the revamped website, but on trade counters, displays, flyers, mousemats and company signage. In addition, this year Lockwell launched its first company catalogue, directly correlated to the website, which will be published twice a year and represents a major step forward.
Another positive development is Lockwell’s recent joining of Fegime UK, Europe’s second largest buying group. “We were very insular before but now we network relentlessly,” explained Jones.
“We’ve built relationships with the top people in the manufacturing sector and we’ve greatly improved our purchasing power. We get a lot more support at branch level.
Fegime sits on the domestic and commercial side, it has enabled diversification of the products we sell.”
The dynamics of the business are also being changed with email marketing, which is currently done locally at each site but in future will be done centrally (headlined with a special offer) from Lockwell’s new computer system. The telesales operation has been running since mid-2007. Following their telesales training, staff are order creators rather than order takers. Low-spending accounts are defined as a telesales call. Formerly, a sales rep would have visited accounts of less than Ł250 every three to six months, at an average cost of Ł30 per visit. “Now telesales will phone them once every four weeks with a promotion,” said Jones. “Telesales is helping us reach more people, more of the time.”
A key differentiator for Lockwell is its technical training centre, which was awarded the prestigious City & Guilds Approved Centre status in January 2005. With Lockwell’s policy to expand its sales by servicing other electrical market sectors, NICEIC was identified as a way to attract electrical contractors onto its courses, and last year, Lockwell was appointed as a NICEIC Recognised Training Provider. It has also just been approved by EAL for plc training accreditation, making it unique in the market for this specialised provision.
Another differentiator is that it is the first electrical wholesaler to set up a project division, helping companies who need solutions in the industrial field and then subcontracting the work out.
On the environmental side, Lockwell recently had an in-depth report on its vehicle fleet of 30 vans and 60 cars, analysing every fuel option, number of company sites and other key factors. “We found that we are in an advanced position to the market.
We intend to use biofuel in the short term, although there are still environmental issues with this option and we need the government to make decisions.
In the meantime we are doing everything we can to be environmentally friendly at all levels.”
This includes a policy of not employing people who live more than an hour away from the work site (“It’s not fair on them or their family, the business or the environment”) and taking steps to save energy in the business wherever possible.
Lockwell is currently working towards ISO 14001 accreditation later this year. “We provide energy-efficiency surveys for our customers, so good housekeeping starts at home!” said Jones. “We measure their energy use, putting testing equipment on site for three months, and then advise where they can cut costs.”
Looking ahead, Jones is positive about Lockwell’s continued growth. Lockwell recently became the sole UK supplier to Terisaki for industrial distributor boards. It has diversified further into the industrial market with CMG motors, which makes it unique in the electrical wholesale field. On the domestic/commercial side it now has a direct MK account, and it also has added Aurora lighting and Osram energy-efficent products such as light bulbs.
“There are still parts of the market we haven’t tapped into, large swathes of the country,” said Jones. “We want to get to more people, more decision makers, and expand our customer numbers. The challenge, of course, is external market conditions – the financial marketplace. I think there is a lack of confidence out there because too many people are talking it down. But I tell our people that it’s not outside that matters, but inside the business. I tell them we will do better, to be positive and talk it up.”