Showcasing expertise to support customers

As two of our Technical Sales Managers, Martin Howie and Mike Johnson bring a wealth of industry knowledge and expertise to our team.

Martin covers Scotland and Ireland, while Mike has responsibility for the South. Together with Neil Draper and Joshua Parker who cover the other regions across our customer base, their understanding of cable systems ensures that our customers are supported on their projects, right from the earliest stages.

Here, we take a behind-the-scenes look at what that includes, and what a typical day looks like for our Technical Sales Managers.

Hitting the road

The duo are predominantly on the road visiting customers at their premises, which could be the main office or the project site. With their engineering experience working as project managers on similar jobs, our Technical Sales Managers know exactly what it takes to support technical managers, tendering teams, project engineers and others in the value chain.   

Customer visits are planned to satisfy current projects and those in the pipeline, offering continuous support to customers’ technical and tendering teams with cable systems and associated components. Where customers require earthing materials, they can complete a materials take off from the earth design and layout drawings, in addition to the LV and HV drawings in support.

Martin says: “Our customers have voiced the benefit of having engineers on site to collaboratively work through the project with them. We often complete a materials take off to make sure everything is suitable for the equipment they will be connected to. Having a fresh set of eyes is extremely valuable and we’ll often spot a potential issue before it becomes a problem on site, avoiding the risk of delays that might have otherwise led to a financial penalty.

“When we’re speaking with customers we can provide approximate lead times for key items, or suggest equal alternatives on a shorter lead time and/or a better cost. For a project manager on site, this allows resources to be planned to suit the anticipated deliveries and works to be scheduled efficiently.”

Working closely with customers

A typical day for the Technical Sales Managers inevitably means a lot of driving, to meet with existing or new customers.

With existing customers, this could be to discuss a full scope of materials for a new project with the technical, tendering or procurement representatives at their head office. If a project is already under way, they could be meeting the onsite construction team to discuss cable systems on site.

With new customers, some of whom might not have heard of Power Supplies Group, the focus is more on what we can do to support their goals. Martin and Mike have an important role to play in demonstrating how PSG adds value to projects through technical and practical knowledge, in addition to high quality cable and accessories. This initial engagement is often met with surprise that the customer is speaking to people who have hands on experience and knowledge of constructing a project, not just a salesperson. That’s what makes PSG stand out from most of our competitors.

When not on the road, Martin and Mike are kept busy responding to emails, including those from PSG’s internal office support team and new customer enquiries. In some cases, a site team might have run short of a specific material, and our team will look to support from the vast warehouse stock we have, or coordinate swift delivery from our manufacturer partners.

Mike adds: “It also goes without saying that we receive a lot of calls throughout the day, all of which we aim to respond to as quickly as possible, but certainly by the end of the day.

“As we are predominantly the front face of PSG, our customers will issue purchase orders directly to us. We feed these back to our office team, who process them to despatch to the customer when we have the materials in stock. Where materials have a longer lead time, or are manufactured to order, the office will keep us informed on the progress so that we can update the customer.

“If a customer or its installation team are not familiar with certain products, we can also arrange demonstrations at the manufacturer’s premises, or by the manufacturer at the customer premises, depending on the product. There’s no charge for these demonstrations.

“It would be remiss not to mention that we can only do our role thanks to the tremendous support we receive from the office and warehouse team. This allows us to dedicate our time to meeting customers’ requirements.”

Want to know how we can support your next project? Get in touch with our team.

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