2021 is a milestone year for Sam Billington as she celebrates 15 years with the leading hardware distributor, Window Ware.
Sam’s journey is an inspiring one. She joined the company in 2006 as an office junior and worked her way up to ultimately become the sales office manager.
During her time with Window Ware, Sam has held a variety of roles, which has helped her to build a thorough knowledge of the business and to get to know customers very well. Armed with this in-depth understanding, she now commands a key role in the day-to-day core operations and makes sure the company’s service always measures up.
From the very beginning, Sam jumped at every opportunity for career progression. After just 12 months with the company, in 2007 Sam became the dedicated internal sales manager for customers in the South East of England. Then in 2013 and again in 2017, her sales territory grew, and Sam welcomed the chance to support an even larger customer base.
In 2018, she moved into her current role of sales office manager and made her career goal a reality.
Sam explains, “I lead and support a team of six amazing sales coordinators with customer needs at the heart of everything we do. We’re constantly striving to meet our same day customer response promise, to give the best product advice and operate in the most efficient way. As you can imagine, our usual work practices have had to adapt quite a bit over the past 12 months, with many of the team now working from home.”
“A typical day for me starts with a coffee and a daily check-in and debrief with the team. I then crack on with the daily reporting schedule, monitoring key performance indicators such as sales data, OTIF and customer feedback analysis and sharing the results with colleagues across the business. I am also involved in many business projects which include anything from improving processes and reducing errors, to supporting any new customer wins.”
“In fact, we have just redesigned our entire onboarding process to better handle the recent surge in new customers and create a more personal customer experience. Thankfully, robust processes and regular investment in technology, means we’re pretty well geared up to cope with the increased volumes which the home improvement boom has brought our entire industry over the last 6 months.”
It’s Window Ware’s customer-focussed approach and constant effort across the business to improve and evolve that has been most apparent to Sam over the last 15 years.
“As an internal sales team, our relationships with other departments in the company have gone from strength to strength. We all work as a solid customer-focussed unit with the same goals which are communicated daily during our ops meetings and cascaded to all departments”.
“It’s so important to know and understand the individual needs of each customer – we’ve learnt from experience just how much those needs vary from person to person and how every customer has their own particular way of doing things. It’s up to us to discover what works best for them. By maintaining a close relationship with our customers, we can make sure we’re always on the same wavelength and meeting their needs time and time again.”
“Maintaining this level of customer intimacy through a pandemic has it challenges for sure, but we’re a pretty resourceful bunch and we’ve managed to maintain the conversation, whether we’re working in the office or from home.”
“ I love that every day is different here at Window Ware. There’s always a new challenge, always something to learn, and it’s interesting and rewarding work when you have such a supportive team behind you.”
Sam reports directly to Sarah Binns, head of internal sales and marketing. It was Sarah who delivered the news to Sam about her promotion to sales office manager in 2018. Sarah added: “Sam has a vital role within our organisation. She helps to ensure that our customers receive their orders on time and in full and that each customer enjoys a first-class experience with every interaction. I’ve known Sam since she joined Window Ware. Both her personal and professional growth over the years is clear to see. Congratulations to Sam on her 15-year achievement.”
Sam Nuckey, Window Ware’s MD, commented: “I’m delighted to be able to congratulate Sam on reaching a brilliant 15-year milestone with Window Ware. Our team contributes massively to our success and Sam has played an integral role in helping to drive the business forward”
Window Ware has been successfully serving the window and door industry with leading brand hardware, tools, and consumables since 1987, helping to ensure fabricator production lines keep moving and trade counter shelves stay stocked. For more information, call 01234 242 724, email sales@windowware.co.uk, or visit www.windowware.co.uk.