THE WORLD IS CHANGING

CW: Tell us about yourself and how you got into the sector.

MR: I joined at 19 years of age when my father told me to get a job, as I was far too sociable to go to university to become a teacher. I went for three interviews and although CEF was the lowest paid, I could see there were very clear career opportunities and opted to jump into something I had never heard of previously –electrical wholesaling.

I progressed from Sales Assistant to Stores Manager and on to Branch Manager in my hometown of Daventry, before taking over Jersey where I was based for over four years. Then I progressed to Group Manager of South Wales and Jersey for the next 10 years.

I have been in my current role for seven years now, and I still look after Jersey.

CW: For those who may not know, can you give us an overview of the work that CEF does?

MR: CEF focuses on high levels of customer service built around great supplier and customer relationships with a vision of becoming the UK’s leading multi-channel distributor. We look at the delivering the best customer solutions with a focus on ensuring growth is delivered in a sustainable way.

CW: Tell us about your current role – what are you responsible for and what does a normal working day consist of?

MR: My day is always varied. With 75 in the National Accounts and Projects team and lots of customer relationships, the day always throws up interesting challenges and conversations.

I believe in giving good people a platform to flourish by offering support and providing the tools and strategy so they can go and develop their areas of responsibility and grow both personally and financially. Most of my time is spent mentoring or engaging with the team and our key customers and suppliers to build even better relationships. Irrespective of whether I am talking to the team, our customers or suppliers, relationships are critical.

CW: What are the best things about your role? What are the most challenging?

MR: The best part of my role is seeing people develop and grow and have successful careers of their own. I believe the true mark of a good leader is building strong foundations with the people you employ.

Most challenging? I think as long as you are open minded, empathetic and emotionally intelligent, most issues can be handled in a calm and respectful manner.

To attract and retain people, we need to be aware that the world is changing, and we need to move with it or ideally lead the way by embracing change where we can.

CW: How has COVID-19 affected the industry? What are the positives to come from the pandemic?

MR: It has definitely changed people’s expectations around work-life balance. Salary isn’t everything – people want to spend more time with family, so to attract the best people we have to get the correct balance between staff wellbeing and making sure service levels remain high.

From a CEF perspective, COVID-19 has accelerated the use of cef.co.uk, where next day delivery or click and collect from the local branch played a major part in our service offering, and our online sales continue to grow.

CW: Aside from COVID-19, what have been the biggest changes across the industry in recent times? What will be the biggest changes in the future?

MR: Sustainability and everything associated with it – staff wellbeing, carbon footprint, how we source materials and supply them, what are we adding to our local communities, who we employ is something the whole industry needs to get to grips with, and I am pleased to see the CEF strategy evolving.

As an industry we have very few women, ethnic minorities and LGTBQ+ people in our sector and we must find a way to make our industry more welcoming.

CW: What’s next for you and for CEF?

MR: For CEF, we want to continue to keep improving, modernising and growing and to lead the way on sustainability. This is also true for our National Accounts and Projects team, where our new Customer Fulfilment Centres will enable us to better service the large projects we are winning.

Personally, I am focussed on continuing to improve our team, to provide people with a platform to be successful, be happy in their work and personal life, and feel part of something special.

CW: Do you have any career advice for anyone starting out in the industry?

MR: Work hard, use common sense, have a positive attitude and always treat people the way you want to be treated yourself. Then there is no reason you can’t have a great career in our sector.

CW: What do you think are the most exciting products or technologies coming to the market?

MR: There is no denying that the renewables sector offers the most exciting opportunity for sales growth, which is why we have our own dedicated team and large stock holding to service this area of the market.

CW: What are your interests away from work?

MR: Away from work, life revolves around spending time with my fiancé and our combined rabble of six children. I am a massive Manchester United and England fan and watching football has always been a big part of my life. Music is my other big passion, so gigs and festivals, good food and drink, travel…basically enjoying myself as much as I can!

CEF, cef.co.uk

22kW Three Phase

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