Timber in the blood After the best part of 40 years in the industry, Andy Ferguson knows a thing or two about timber. Straight from school he worked for a major timber importer in Liverpool before setting up Beaumont Forest Products 1986, a business he ran successfully for nearly 30 years before selling to Buildbase in 2014, part of the Grafton Group. As part of this £2.2bn turnover group, Andy became the Timber Director with responsibility for developing a timber sales strategy for over 160 merchant branches, before moving to create his own digital timber marketplace in 2018. Andy has always had a bias for doing things differently and so WoodScanner was born! We caught up with him, along with Woodscanner Product Manager Maria-Christina Antoniou, to chat about Woodscanner, the state of the market, and how merchants can prepare for what’s to come. Woodscanner – the who, the what and the why Woodscanner is the UK’s only wood comparison marketplace, a simple-to-use platform that allows users to find timber, locate new suppliers, compare stock and prices, check availability and place orders. From a seller’s perspective it opens the door to a wider but very targeted audience with complete flexibility and control over what you list. “I’ve always liked to do things differently,” says Andy. “Since I first started out, I’ve worked hard to innovate and find new and better ways of doing things, I’m never satisfied with just “how things are.” It’s always been frustrating to lose out on business because you aren’t carrying the right stock, and right from the beginning I always felt there was a place for a service like Woodscanner. It’s just taken a lot of years for the technology to catch up!” Andy’s inspiration was driven by merchanting experience, and wishing he had a tool like this back then. “I’ll never forget a particular visit to a Buildbase branch in Grimsby, many years ago. There I was, looking over the fence at the docks, where I could clearly see shipments of timber and so on. Not long afterwards, a lorry arrived from Tilbury in Essex, delivering exactly the same timber I could see behind that fence, just metres from the merchants. It made no sense – I knew there had to be a better, more efficient way to manage logistics and supply, to connect the dots of what stock is where, and help people to access it from more local markets.” Woodscanner does exactly that – it connects the dots of supply and demand. It enables buyers to find available stock at the right price faster and more conveniently, and allows sellers to reach a wider but more targeted market simply and directly. “Woodscanner was never intended as a replacement for merchants,” says Andy. “It’s an additional channel, a digital tool to connect the buy/supply community, creating new partnerships and enabling our selling Partners to deliver an enhanced service for their customers. It helps merchant buyers to find the stock they need conveniently. It’s that simple.” Woodscanner at a glance Simple selling for Partners, driven by demand “Simple” has been a central theme in the platform’s development, making sure it’s easy to use, offering the functionality that merchants wanted. “The user experience was a really important aspect of development, so that’s where we started,” says Maria. “A lot of time and effort has gone in to creating Woodscanner so that it’s easy and intuitive to use. We have really listened to what merchants want and built the solution that meets that need.” Every Woodscanner Partner that lists products gets their own secure dashboard to manage their account and fully control the inventories they list – 24/7, 365. “Our Partners can manage their page however it suits them,” says Andy. “They don’t have to put every product line on there, and they have complete control over pricing and product descriptions so it’s really flexible. Some might choose to list just a few highlighted products, others might have the entire stockholding – it’s up to them. We support quality, reliability and responsibility, and we can widen the reach for Partners that want to find new customers. Our aim is to only allow sustainably sourced products to be listed on the site because this is such an important subject for the timber industry and one that we fully support "As well as inclusion in our indispensable directory with a bespoke profile page and product listing flexibility, WoodScanner provides Partners with a range of digital marketing services, with personalised company emails going out to our database of over 1000 merchants, product launches, postings on social sedia and market alerts to advise buyers of deals or offers." What’s in it for the buyers? Woodscanner is a B2B marketplace, so it’s reaching a very specific, targeted audience, keeping it 100% relevant. Naturally, having products listed on a platform being searched by merchant buyers is going to have a higher conversion rate to purchase than a generic marketplace or Google search, but Andy says there are a lot more advantages as well. “It’s a bit like a private members’ club,” he says. “We give members access to an online central marketplace that connects them with new opportunities across multiple product categories – all in one place. It will also help them turn more enquiries into orders when looking for stock to quote on or when there is a gap in their own stock and an order needs fulfilling. No more phoning around and waiting for call backs. When existing supply channels are unable to meet demand, having access to a wider view of availability across the UK could be an invaluable tool. It’s not all about the lowest price “Contrary to popular belief,” says Andy, “Online pricing is not just a race to the bottom. People will pay more for the convenience. I have never been interested in selling the cheapest products. For me, it’s about quality, range and responsibility. I have always found that people are quite happy to pay more for good quality products, reliable service and convenience.” Meeting the demands of a changing market There are many factors currently causing challenges for the industry. The impact of Covid and lockdown is huge, of course, but it’s far from the only issue. Brexit is causing import and export delays, and there is a fundamental shortage of materials, particularly timber. On top of that there is a growing threat from retailers like Amazon increasing their share of the merchant market, supply chain models are becoming more streamlined, and of course, there is an increasing shift in customer demographic as the digital native generation represents a growing proportion of the market. “Going digital is inevitable,” says Andy. “Technology holds a lot of the answers and enables more efficiency in operations – it helps you get more from less, so you get a better return from less investment. But it takes time, and it has to be done well. You can’t afford to do digital badly, and you need to be willing to invest in it properly.” “At Beaumont, we had ecommerce years ago, before everyone else was doing it, and people thought we were mad!” he recounts. “But I had so much confidence that this was how people would want to shop in the future, that they would want the ease of being able to browse inventory online, without being hassled by a well-meaning salesperson or unable to check an item’s appearance because the shelf was empty. It’s not a replacement for traditional in-branch merchanting, but it’s a necessary extension of it these days. It’s another way to get your products in front of the right people, and that can only be a good thing. But more than that, it’s what customers expect, and if you’re not providing that service, eventually you’ll lose out.” Online is becoming a baseline expectation The demand for digital is not just driven by customers and end users – it’s rapidly becoming the norm for B2B as well, which has been massively accelerated by the pandemic. “Merchants are, on the whole, becoming more and more familiar with the online experience,” says Andy. “But we’re also now seeing importers start to embrace it more too, partly because that’s what merchants are coming to expect, and partly because they are seeing the very real benefits and efficiencies that digital systems can provide.” Digital systems and online service create efficiencies, and while there may be a fear around that costing jobs, it doesn’t necessarily have to. “What it does,” says Andy, “Is give businesses more flexibility in how they deploy the resources they have, so people aren’t wasting time on time-consuming, repetitive tasks, but focusing on the areas they can add real value.” So what does the future hold? We’ve already highlighted a lot of the challenges facing the industry, and many of them will continue to play a part. Technology will continue to streamline existing processes for supply chain, logistics, merchanting, payment systems and more. “Customers expect faster, better service and without digital, importers and distributors won’t be able to meet that demand,” he says. “So it’s really important that they embrace the modern business tools available – eCommerce, digital ERP systems, better payment systems for customers and suppliers – the whole infrastructure can be made more efficient so you can get better returns and provide better service.” Sustainability will continue to play a huge role and responsible sourcing, processing and delivery of materials needs to be high on everyone’s agenda. “I’ve always championed environmental issues and I see Woodscanner as having a real role to play there. Thinking back to Grimsby, it amazes me how much wasted haulage must be happening every day. Those logistics systems could be so much more efficient if buyers could see that the stock they wanted was actually available on their doorstep! The potential saving, and environmental impact, is huge.” “Success comes from the amount of effort you are willing to invest” So what is Andy Feguson’s advice for merchants? “Be fearless! We should be fearless and bold, we need to take chances and evolve and move forward. But we need to be willing to make mistakes, because that’s where we really learn. There is no quick fix, no silver bullet, and it takes time to get strong, sustainable results. We believe Woodscanner is a huge opportunity for the buy/supply community but it’s a long game. For those who invest the time and effort and take advantage of the tools available, it’s a valuable investment. Get your information out there, be in the right places at the right times with the right products – always in the skin. The more channels you operate in the more opportunities you have to be found, to sell your products, the more likely you are to succeed. Cast greater visibility on your product portfolio, give it time, take an active role in managing your profile and the business will come. Have confidence, but remember it’s a long game. "Any business that’s still doing things the same way as it was 40 years ago when I started out needs to take a long hard look at itself, because everything around it IS changing, and we all need to meet those changing demands, or risk losing out. Talk to the younger people in your organisation, your younger customers and suppliers, and see things from their perspective – there are different expectations nowadays and we all need to actively embrace the new technology and tools available to solve the challenges of the modern marketplace and be responsive to todays “always connected customers” "It’s always worth remembering that 'success comes from the amount of effort that you are willing to invest'.” Thank you to Andy and Maria for your time.

When British Steel was bought out by the Chinese multi-industry Jingye Group back in March 2020, it underwent a big restructure which combined two Birmingham based sites into one. A group of five employees from one of those sites decided to go it alone and form a new, independent steel business: Midland Steel Distribution. What started as an idea for a simple steel trading company has escalated fast, and 2021 is looking very exciting indeed for the new venture. Setting up from scratch Work began in earnest to get set up almost immediately, despite the then-emerging threat of Covid-19. The team – Ian, Marc, Dan, Sue and Fran, with experience in steel ranging from three to 30 years - worked throughout lockdown to prepare for the launch. MSD officially started trading on 3rd August 2020, with an initial plan to spend the first few years trading steel direct from supplier to customer, without a stockholding of its own, before looking to take on premises. But those plans have accelerated much faster than expected. Within just a couple of months, MSD took over the management of a new site, and have already begun to develop their own stockholding. Director Ian Knowles says, “We are delighted at how fast the business is growing. We had a lot of contacts in the industry already from our previous experience, but it has been amazing to see the support and loyalty we’re getting from customers. Lockdown has been challenging of course, but business is going well and we are extremely busy! We really can't thank all our customers and suppliers enough for the amazing support we have received inside our first few months.” Planning for future growth When founding the company, the directors knew they needed to get the infrastructure right. They needed a trading system simple and affordable enough to allow them to process trading transactions, but which also had the scope to develop and evolve into a more sophisticated stock management platform and eventually, a complete end-to-end ERP system. They looked into a few different options and eventually settled on the new cloud-based Merchanter ERP system from - yes, you guessed it - Ten-25 Software. “What we needed to do at that point in time was fairly basic,” explains Dan Need, who looks after IT at MSD. “But three things swayed us towards the Ten-25 system. Firstly, it was simple to use . It does exactly what it says on the tin so we knew we would get the functionality we need now, with the flexibility to add a lot more functions as we expand. Ten-25 works with other steel stockholders so we knew they would be able to cater to our needs. Secondly, we wanted to work with a supplier who would work with us as a real partnership , and take an interest in what we do. We didn’t want to be “just another customer." And lastly, the flexibility of the pricing system was a big benefit for us, as we only need to pay for the elements we need, so we can spread the costs as we’re in these early days!” “From go ahead to go live in just 4 weeks!” Responsiveness and flexibility were important criteria for MSD, as growth is always unpredictable. They wanted a supplier with a system flexible enough to add functions and features as required; and having a cloud-based platform accessible 24/7 from any smart device made that even easier, as all updates, installations and training can be done remotely. “We’ve worked with server-based systems before, so being cloud-based was a big pull for us,” says Dan. “If anyone needs to work from home they can, without a complicated logging-on process - but it also makes it easier to update the system from the ground as well, when we’re in the warehouse or doing deliveries. The stock features will be more and more useful as we continue to grow and the volumes increase. We had a record-breaking November, and it’s looking busy right through to January and beyond.” We were able to speed up the traditional timelines of ERP implementation to match the accelerated growth of MSD. Additional functionality will be added as the business develops but the initial system was implemented in a very short space of time, going from go ahead to go live in a record-breaking four weeks. Our own Managing Director Ian Oldrey said, “It’s been brilliant seeing Midland Steel developing so quickly and bringing their three year plan down to under six months. It’s a really exciting time for them, and we are proud to be a part of their story and their development. The flexibility of a system like Merchanter really comes into its own in situations like this, and it can evolve with them as they grow.” If you would like to try Merchanter for yourself, just register for login details here to use the online demo system.

We are delighted to announce a very exciting rebrand for our cloud ERP system for merchants: UT400 will now be known as Merchanter. What is Merchanter? Merchanter is a cloud ERP system for merchant businesses. With clear information and controls on every screen and accessed through the internet browser on your computer or smart device, Merchanter is simple for your whole team to use from anywhere. By focusing on being easy to use across the business, Merchanter builds comprehensive and accurate trading information. Richer information helps your team make faster, better decisions, keeping customers better informed, to deliver great customer service and more profitable, efficient business. Businesses that deliver great customer service benefit from a loyal and growing customer base, securing a successful future of sustainable growth. Everything from the online system demo to installation and training can be performed remotely to keep your staff safe, and to cause minimal disruption. It is also significantly faster to implement than any traditional ERP system; some new customers have been able to go live within just 4 weeks. It features customised dashboards for the most relevant user experience, over 110 KPIs to help you measure, monitor and analyse your business operations more simply and meaningfully, and a user interface that has been praised by everyone who has tried it for its ease of use. “Ten-25 has clearly put its users at the forefront of development. The gaming designer’s layout of intuitive functions, big fonts and bold graphics make it a pleasure to use all day. The flexibility and control in terms of pricing, the simplicity, and the options to control our stocks, will be a gamechanger for our company.” Mike Tregunna – Build Supplies Ltd Why the change in name? When we first developed the new system over the course of several years of development, we referred to it internally as UT400, because it was the successor of UniTrade360, our previous merchant business system. It has now been in the market for about a year, and is proving popular with merchants. Next year we will be looking at launching a version of it as an app, available “off the shelf” through app stores via various partner systems like Sage and Xero. We therefore wanted it to have a name that instantly gives an idea of who it’s for and what it does, as UT400 only makes sense with some pre-existing knowledge. The system is design is designed specifically for merchants, and therefore deserves a name which more directly relates to its function and users, which we believe Merchanter achieves. “It’s really simple to use – it does exactly what we need it to, but it will adapt and evolve as we grow. With Ten-25 we feel it’s a real partnership.” Dan Need, Midland Steel Distribution Secondly, it has become apparent talking to our existing customers that most people don’t use the UT400 name anyway, usually preferring to call it “the Ten-25 system” or “the cloud system.” As word of mouth is so important for a product like ours, which relies so heavily on quality, functionality and usability, we wanted it to have a name that was a little more memorable and easy to pass along! What about the UT400 name? The UT400 name is not going anywhere. We are keeping UT400 as the generation name for the system, sitting beneath the new Merchanter product name. This means as we develop generations of systems in the future, they can carry different generation names, but all merchanting systems from Ten-25 can now continue under the Merchanter product name. UT400 will also continue to be referenced in some system and internal documentation, and customers will still log into *.ut400.net. You may notice however that over the coming weeks and months, we will gradually be replacing the name UT400 with Merchanter across the website, communications and social media platforms. “It will save us a huge amount of time, making us a more efficient & productive business, with much faster availability.” Suki Bains, Global Timber Products What changes are happening? As this is very “new news” changes will be taking place over the next few weeks. The website will be gradually adapted to incorporate the Merchanter name and we have acquired a new website, www.merchanter.com which for the time being will simply redirect back to the Ten-25 site. We will soon unveil a new logo and will begin to refer to Merchanter rather than UT400 in all our communications. 40 years serving merchants with market-leading software This exciting change feels like a fitting way to kick off 2021, a year which marks our big 4-0 serving merchants with great trading software. While Merchanter, under the name UT400, was soft-launched last year and is beginning to gain wider awareness, we have high hopes that in 2021 the quality and ease of use of this software will really start to make waves in the industry. If you have any queries at all please don’t hesitate to get in touch. And if you’d like to try Merchanter for yourself, just register here and we will send you login details. “This piece of software gives the family business the opportunity to be right up alongside the national merchants, without the need for a dedicated in-house IT team.” Mike Tregunna – Build Supplies Ltd

Think about how you behave when confronted with something difficult. First, it causes confusion and delay. Second, there is more scope for error. Third, it makes you less likely to want to repeat the process. And fourth, it ultimately causes resentment and lack of productivity. A system that is complex and difficult to use will not allow you to get the best from your team, your customers or your business as a whole. “Easy to use” is rarely cited as a top priority by customers looking for a new system – yet it is THE number one piece of feedback we get from people trying the demo system. Which is why we are on a mission to get more people to prioritise ease of use when looking for a new system – because it’s absolutely critical for business performance. Easy to use” is the #1 rave review we get from the Merchanter demo system – isn’t it time you made every day easier? The thought processes people go through when confronted with complicated software are various – but they’re rarely constructive. “I don’t have time for this!” “I’ll look at it later…” “I’ll have to set up some training on this – no-one will be able to use it otherwise.” “I know I’m supposed to do it like this – but the old way was easier so I’ll stick to that. I’ll come back to this later.” “I don’t understand!” “I can’t do it.” “I’m a failure.” Don’t underestimate how undermining and damaging it can be to have to use a system day in, day out, that you don’t enjoy using, or that makes your job harder than it needs to be. People become unmotivated and unproductive, and even small tasks become stressful and arduous. Imagine a world where everything is just… easier When everyday tasks are difficult, take longer than they should or cause frustration, everyone loses out. Think about the last time you were looking for something and couldn’t find it easily – or the last time you were trying to do something and your computer wouldn’t understand. Hammering keys, swearing at your laptop – we’ve all been there. “ Merchanter has clearly put its users at the forefront of its development. From the gaming designer’s layout of intuitive functions, big fonts, and bold graphics, which make it a pleasure to use all day, making it less draining on your eyes and less tiresome.” Mike Tregunna, Build Supplies Ltd When things are simple, when they link intuitively and do what they should, every day becomes easier. When the information you need is readily available, that makes every day better. When the report you need takes 3 clicks to generate and is ready in 5 minutes – that makes every day better. When the split back to back order you’ve got scheduled works like clockwork and everyone’s happy – that makes every day better. When you know exactly what your targets are, how much of them you’ve already reached, and have the clarity to know exactly what’s still needed – that makes every day better. When the account manager is off sick and the client rings up and YOU can answer all their questions because the information is all right there – that makes every day better. When that client phones up to add ten lines to their click and collect order and the split payment is all sorted automatically – that makes every day better. When every admin job that needs doing takes fewer keystrokes and a bit less time – that makes every day better. When you have to work from home unexpectedly and you can do it seamlessly, with no IT back-up or issues – that makes every day better. When you can leave on time to get home for dinner with the family and you know everything’s in hand – that makes every day better. Merchanter makes every day better – and that makes business better. Put it to the test If you’d like to discover the beautiful simplicity of Merchanter for yourself, with no pressure and no hard sell, just register your details here and we will send you login details.

How target transparency inspires performance, improves forecasting and manages risk Merchanter, our new Cloud ERP system for merchants, has been designed to help merchants in every area of their day to day operations. Sales are, naturally, a hugely important part of any commercial business, so it was important for us to build in features to help our customers not only monitor how they are performing and understand potential risks, but also to stimulate greater performance from every member of the team. When people know what they’re aiming towards, they’re far more focused on achieving that goal, and therefore are more likely to hit it. Add in a bit of healthy competition and you have the perfect recipe for success. We brought in an experienced games designer to help design the user interface of Merchanter, applying the psychology of gaming and competition to deliver the optimum user experience to actively increase performance. There are various sales metrics and performance indicators in Merchanter to help keep results on track. For this piece we are looking specifically at Sales Month to Date, but it’s important to recognise how all the different metrics fit together to help individuals, teams and managers to monitor and assess performance, and take action where needed to support staff and keep results on track. Sales MTD Having a progress chart right there, front and centre of your customised dashboard, is an instant sense check of how your sales are going. It can also stimulate a healthy competitiveness; people often have a natural desire to beat their previous results, and often when targets are broken down into visible, achievable measures, people are far more likely to increase effort to reach and surpass them. A lack of clarity, when people don’t really know where they’re heading, usually results in lacklustre results and inconsistency. Managers will have their own targets, and will be able to see the individual, team, branch, depot or company-wide results of the areas they have responsibility for. They can see these figures as a whole, or can drill down further to see individual people’s performance. That way, it’s easy to see whether results reflect a general trend for the business, whether a certain depot is having issues, or whether a particular member of the team might need additional support or development to get back on track. Having the information to hand and easily accessible is step one – applying the insights and taking the appropriate action will always be down to you, but Merchanter provides the information and the flexible, responsive tools to allow you to see the trends and make faster, more informed decisions. Evaluation, Forecasting and Analysis Having a historic record of performance against targets by month also helps business planning, forecasting and strategy. The better the information within the business, the easier it is to plan forward and develop action plans. For example, if you can see that there is always a dip in a particular month, there may be steps you can take to mitigate the risk, either by introducing an incentivised offer to boost sales, or to reduce costs or resource around that time to manage spending. Understanding the peaks and troughs of the sales year is a powerful thing, enabling businesses to take the leaner months into account and plan around them, while ensuring that workforce resources, stock levels and logistics are sufficient to meet demand in those busy months. Merchanter allows you to very easily compare sales figures by various different parameters, for individual, team, depot or company-wide figures. You can see results compared to targets and look forward at predicted performance, compare results year on year, month on month, or by a particular trading period. You have the flexibility to drill down very easily into the numbers to understand them more meaningfully, giving you better basis for decisions and planning into the future. Forecasting is notoriously difficult in any year, even without factors like Covid and Brexit. Merchanter gives you the best chance for accuracy and responsive insight. The better the metrics and the more intelligent the software a merchant uses, the more accurate and agile forecasting will be, striking a better balance between efficiency and service delivery. Control and flexibility How you choose to use the information, metrics and dashboards within your business is up to you. Merchanter has over 110 different key performance indicators to give unrivalled insight into the day to day operations of your business and the people within it. Knowing how to apply the insights that all that information provides and take meaningful action is where the real value lies. Of course, it’s very important that managers discuss these targets with team members so that each individual feels empowered to influence those results; without knowing how to change how things are going, that constant reminder that results are slipping behind could be stressful, adding unwanted pressure. So the positioning of targets, and the conversation around them, is vital, for the good of both the individual and the organisation. Applying the principles of gamification was always intended to make every working day more fun and enjoyable, helping indviduals get clarity in understanding goals, recognising achievement and hitting of targets, and to be supported in their every day role. Humans are psychologically coded to enjoy success, so seeing those targets smashed is a hugely motivating factor; and likewise, being able to see where there are gaps makes it easier to seek help sooner when required. Merchanter gives merchant businesses the ultimate commercial and operational advantage, making information easier to access but comprehensive and thorough. The easier the system is to use, the more people will tend to use it. The more it is used, the better and more comprehensive the information will be that comes out of it, and the better the information, the better the decision-making, resourcing and management can be – and therefore, the greater the chance of business success.

In a world rife with fake news, turbulent world politics and rampant social media opinion-sharing, it’s no wonder that trust is hard to come by. But for business, trust is rapidly becoming one of the most valuable – and fragile – commodities. So how can businesses earn and build trust in these uncertain times? It’s no coincidence that more and more businesses are using customer reviews more visibly on their websites. Reviews are an enormously important part of a customer’s choice in where to spend their money these days. With the exponential rise of online trading, it’s harder to know who to trust, so more businesses are using third party review sites like Trustpilot as a stamp of trustworthiness for service and products alike. Trust is a tricky thing to earn, and harder to maintain. It is fragile, and harder to win back each time it is broken. People’s commercial allegiances can be fickle, so how do you encourage trust and loyalty from customers who have so much choice at their fingertips? Authenticity trumps perfection It’s OK to admit you got it wrong. Just as the parents among you will be used to saying, if a mistake has been made, it’s always better to own up, tell the truth and find a way to make it right. A customer will appreciate honesty; no-one really believes that perfection exists, or that any business can get 100% of things right, 100% of the time. But when mistakes happen, honesty and action will go a long way to improve things. Communication is vital for damage limitation Customers don’t really expect perfection. We all know and understand that mistakes happen. So too can businesses own their mistakes. A genuine apology and action taken to make up for what went wrong will go a long way with customers, so it’s important to keep those lines of communication open. Make sure customers know how to report an issue – if they feel listened to and appreciated, they’re far less likely to take to social media or leave a damaging negative review in a public place. Don’t be afraid to ask your customers for their opinions as well. People like to feel heard, and giving them a platform to share their thoughts can be highly valued. Your customers are your most powerful marketing tool – but it’s totally up to them You can’t force your customers to shout about how great you are. They have to want to. And what makes them want to? Great service. That little bit “extra” that you give, that your competitors don’t. The personal touch. A customer is not going to go out on a limb and recommend your business to a colleague, family member or friend if they don’t trust you. If you do a bad job, that comes back to their recommendation. When a customer recommends you personally, that’s a huge compliment, and a huge mark of their trust in you. Make it count. 8 WAYS TO BUILD TRUST IN YOUR ORGANISATION - AND BEYOND Align internal and external values and voice so everyone in your workforce is consistently saying the same things about your business. If you truly live and breathe those values, they will too, and the ripple effect will soon make its way to your customers. Support your people. Mistakes happen; be understanding. Potential won’t be realised if people aren’t given the freedom to experiment, and make mistakes, but if they are afraid of the repercussions it can hold them back. A supported and appreciated workforce is an engaged and productive workforce. Communication is everything. Honesty and responsiveness are key. Make it clear how customers can contact you, and be open and honest about mistakes. Authenticity trumps perfection any day of the week. Remember the basics - the pleases, the thank yous. A bit of sincere appreciation goes a long way. Use customer reviews and client testimonials visibly to show your trustworthiness; if a picture is worth a thousand words, a customer’s positive review is worth several thousand of your marketing department’s! Be as good as your word – live the values you want others to see in you and deliver on your promises. And if it turns out to be impossible, good communication can really limit the damage it causes! Use data to satisfy the logic behind emotional engagement – in short, PROVE it. If 99% of your deliveries have been on time for the last 9 months, get that statistic in front of people. And if 99% of your customers would recommend you – use that too. Data and facts are so important these days, where truth is so hard to identify, so where you have actual data to back up your claims, make sure you use it. The more trust you give, the more trust you earn. So empower your people – trust them to do their jobs, without micromanaging or controlling too tightly. At a time where more people work from home, let them prove their responsibility – you will be pleasantly surprised. Sure, have safety nets and so on to keep them feeling secure (like credit limits and margin protection), but give them the freedom to do their thing, and make sure you reward them for it. Respect every worker, supplier and customer equally . Not just the biggest spenders, the longest-serving, the heaviest discounters. Respect works both ways, and the more trust and respect you treat others with, the more you will earn. Suppliers and service providers are a vital part of your operations, so they deserve the same respect you’d show a customer or employee – and of course, it’s up to them to justify and validate that trust in return. NOW IT'S YOUR TURN How have you built trust with your workforce, customers and suppliers? We’d love to hear about the role of trust in your organisation.

Creating opportunities from data - how to make more of your dormant customers They say that knowledge is power, and when it comes to business, that’s absolutely key. Your ERP system should be your best friend when it comes to information – and the easier it is to access and understand, the easier it is to apply the insights and learnings to make profitable, efficiency-driving decisions to help your business grow. Three simple steps to success Step 1 is having the information available in the first place. Step 2 is understanding what that information really means, in real terms, to identify challenges and opportunities Step 3 is applying those insights and turning them into action for long term success KPI Feature Spotlight on….Dormant Customers Understanding customer behaviour is key to igniting sales. UT400 show you a number of different metrics about your customer base; active, inactive, on hold, over credit, on stop and more. Today we’re looking at dormant customers – those customers who have ordered from you relatively recently but haven’t done so lately. What can your Dormant Customers figure tell you? As with all stats, it’s most useful to look at this metric in relation to others. There are several questions you might ask yourself,. For example: - How many are there? - Why have they lapsed? - Is there a pattern or trend in the sorts of customers which have become dormant? E.g. domestic versus trade; buyers of particularly product lines; particular sizes or locations? - How does your dormant figure compare with active or inactive? - Has it changed significantly over time? - Are there peaks or troughs at particular times of year? - Has any recent activity affected the dormant customer figure, either positively or negatively? - What is the size of the opportunity if you re-engaged your dormant customers? How to put information insight into action Knowing the numbers is step 1. Understanding why the number is where it is, how it changes over time, and what you can do about it, are where things get interesting. If your dormant customer number is very high, perhaps there is more you can do to regularly keep in touch with your customer base using a customer relationship management (CRM) system. UT400 offers plenty of automation features to help with sending prompts and reminders, so it doesn’t have to take up too much time – but it could make a big difference to your bottom line. Dormant customers have bought from you in the relatively recent past, so there should be no reason they won’t buy from you again. Here are just a few things you could do to make some quick wins: - Email dormant customers to remind them you’re there, or to promote a new product or service (e.g. online or click and collect) - Phone dormant customers to ask if there’s anything they need - Send them a copy of your new brochure or newsletter - Take the time to ask them WHY they haven’t ordered recently – sometimes the information you get from a research exercise is worth more in the long run than a quick sale! - Tempt them back with a limited time offer or loyalty scheme - Communicate new, more sustainable or improved product options And remember, when contacting customers: - Make it personal! Show them you remember them and value your business by customising your communications. A phone call or individual email can be more powerful than a bulk email campaign - Be aware of why they might have lapsed – did something go wrong last time? It pays to do some digging before you contact someone so you can pre-empt and overcome any objections they might have - Be relevant. If they used to buy timber from you and timber alone, it’s not necessarily wise to just offer them your new range of patio slabs. Equally, if they’ve only ever ordered single items, they’re unlikely to want a warehouse-ful! It’s easy to be overwhelmed by information and to end up not being able to see the wood for the trees. We hope that by covering these KPIs in more detail it will help you to get more value from your ERP system. If you ever have any questions about UT400, KPIs or analytics in general, we’d be delighted to help.

How to increase your turnover using KPIs – Average Order Value In this series of blogs we are looking at each of the different KPIs within UT400, to give you some practical help in getting the most from your ERP system. We’ve already looked at the Quote Conversion Rate and discussed how many ways it can be used to enhance your internal and external processes. This time we’re looking at a really important metric that can play a huge role in turnover: the Average Order Value. What can your Average Order Value tell you? Understanding what the average value of each of your orders is can be helpful in establishing where you need to focus, and how far away you might be from your targets. It’s fairly obvious at face value what it tells you – but the real value in any business metric is in knowing how to apply it, and how to use it to make changes and drive incremental revenue. Using KPIs in conjunction with other KPIs The Average Order Value is particularly helpful when looked at in relation to the Order Frequency. For example, if you are processing a lot of low value orders, your cost per order in terms of internal resource and admin time could be quite high – in effect, your staff will be kept extremely busy processing a lot of orders but each order isn’t necessarily worth a lot. This is often the case for larger branches with a public as well as trade footfall. If it’s a very high average order value but the order frequency is low, then chances are the internal cost per order is lower, which is often typical of more trade based businesses with a loyal and steady customer base. You can look at the Average Order Value over time as well; are average orders higher at certain times of year? Why is that? And what can you do to even out, or at least accurately predict, those peaks and troughs? Is the Average Order Value gradually decreasing? Changes nearly always indicate that some other factor is at play; it may be something outside your control, but being aware of both the internal and external factors affecting your order values is extremely helpful. Using KPIs to meet specific targets If you have a particular sales target, looking at it in relation to your Average Order Value can help to make it more achievable. Perhaps you only need to add a small amount to each order across a year to reach your targets; that’s what Sainsburys did when they broke down a massive corporate target into average basket spend, realising that a £1.13 spend per customer per visit would surpass what was an initially challenging target. Or perhaps one additional order per month from regular customers would be enough to boost the bottom line. Whatever the scenario, understanding the numbers in relation to one another can help you put the steps in place to address it and introduce processes in your sales, stock or admin teams to meet those targets step by step. Applying the data to drive change Once you have a handle on the numbers you can decide for yourself what to do. There are plenty of opportunities here: - Actively task your sale team to upsell additional products or related items to increase average order value - Proactively follow up regular customers for repeat business, offer greater economies of scale to encourage larger orders or increased frequency, introduced some additional linked purchase opportunities (e.g. buy 3 to get 1 free, or spend £XX to get 5% extra discount - Introduce customer loyalty schemes with incentivised order values and frequencies - Streamline admin processes, such as automated quote chasing, invoicing and status updates, to reduce administration time and reduce your internal cost per order - Cross-reference with high profitability products to see where you’re making good profits per order versus very low margin items; there could be some tactical pricing shifts to be done The list is almost endless when it comes to how you can apply the data, and we are not here to tell you what to do. You may choose to do nothing at all; but the critical part is having that data in the first place, and having it clearly and simply displayed to make it a daily part of your business operations. When applying analytics becomes second nature, that’s when really smart, data-driven decision-making comes into its own and plays a bigger role in the direction and growth of your business. If you'd like help with advanced reporting and analytics, or have a question about a particular KPI or system feature of UT400, please just drop us a line at info@ten-25.co.uk

Understanding and accessing the metrics in your business is incredibly important, but it’s missing a vital “so what” factor. The true value in great data isn’t the data itself – it’s knowing how to apply it to make a difference. Information overload Data. Analytics. Information. We’re flooded with it, day in, day out. There’s so much data in our day to day lives, it can be difficult to sift through it for what’s really important; and even harder to work out what to do with it once we have it. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by information, to glaze over and lose sight of what it really means. If you’re using a software system to run the commercial operations, finances, admin and logistics of your business, you’ll have access to a lot of data. When measured against key performance indicators (KPIs) this data links together to give you insights about how your business works, how your customers and suppliers interact with you, and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats at play in your organisation at any time. Depending on the sophistication of your software, that can vary from pretty basic to overwhelmingly detailed – so how do you drill down into the data to take out the meaningful learnings? UT400 has over 110 KPIs built into it, letting you see at a glance all the different metrics that could possibly be relevant or important to you in your business. It lets you see everything, in every area, in a simple and easily gauged manner, from your most profitable stock lines to your slowest-paying customers, your order frequency by month to your margin fluctuations. It gives you all the information you need – but what we want to help you with is to look at how you can use that information to drive business, profitability and operational efficiency. The “so what?” factor Over the next few weeks and months we will be looking at these KPIs in more detail and helping to outline why you might need to know particular piece of information, and how to go about turning those insights into action in your business. For example, if you have a handle on exactly how many customers you have currently on record, and their sales history, it could be an easy win to entice lapsed or dormant customers back to you with an offer. Or if you need to drive more revenue, you can easily find ways to increase average order values or frequency. What about product ranges; which ones are selling best? Where is your margin strongest? Where is demand coming from, and where could you increase supply efficiency, or adjust your pricing to give you an edge without losing profitability? The list of opportunities is almost endless, and we’ll be putting together some helpful, practical advice on how to use the data at your fingertips to drive commercial advantage. If there are any specific areas you’d be interested in learning more about, please do get in touch , or drop us a tweet or Facebook message.

It may have taken extreme circumstances, but some merchants are suggesting that lockdown has advanced their adoption of technology by 5-10 years - and they couldn't be happier about it. On 10th August, the TTJ ran an excellent webinar, “Coming out of Covid,” discussing how timber merchants are approaching the easing of lockdown and a post-Covid – or continuing Covid – world. As you might expect, there is widespread uncertainty about the longer-term future; while currently merchants are rushed off their collective feet, the issue of supply remains a major factor and is likely to have a big impact on timelines and pricing into the autumn and beyond, especially while demand remains incredibly high. But one of the unexpected side-effects of lockdown has been the acceleration of merchant adoption of new technologies; in particular, video conferencing was raised as a surprise benefit of remote working. How isolation helped human connection Video conferencing, while perhaps a little uncomfortable at first, has been seen as a great step forward for many merchants. It makes it much easier for groups of people to discuss subjects quickly, facilitating faster decision-making even across multiple stake-holders. One panellist said they had noticed much better communication with suppliers as well as customers, with the face-to-face element contributing to better relationships and conversations. And of course, the huge time and cost savings of not having to plan meetings and travel to them were universally praised. Face to face meetings still have their place of course, but the panellists agreed that embracing the new ways of working had had significant benefits, with one merchant claiming it would probably have taken 5-10 years to get to the current level of tech-acceptance without the external pressures of lockdown. Everyone agreed that suppliers and customers alike were enjoying the improved levels of communication and that some of the measures imposed by necessity had actually improved supplier experience, such as click and collect and pre-booked delivery slots etc. “Lockdown has accelerated merchant adoption of some new technologies by 5-10 years” Geoff Arnold, Pinewood Structures Benefits include: - Faster decision making - Better quality of conversation and relationships - More regular and more effective communication - Major time savings - Much less expensive than travel - Environmental benefits - Work life balance improvement So what can we learn from this? It’s not new news, but it’s worth reminding ourselves that technology doesn’t have to be the enemy – it can actually increase human connection, and drive enormous improvements in efficiency. It doesn’t have to replace the human role – but it can enhance it dramatically, leading to greater productivity but also to more satisfaction in staff and day-to-day engagement. Change is rarely comfortable. Yet it is essential to meet the shifting demands of a challenging commercial environment. Many merchants are reporting that they have never been busier – and while the longer term outlook is difficult to forecast, there seems to be a new spirit of open-mindedness around the adoption of new technologies that is heartening to see. In order to manage a higher workload and less predictable market, advanced analytics and intelligent reporting can really help merchants to flex and meet these shifting demands. The benefits of video conferencing have become apparent, and hopefully it won’t be a big leap to see how other digital solutions can help as well, like cloud software, remote access, digital documentation and process automation. A cloud-based system facilitates not just working from home, but all remote working and multi-site management, enabling all users to log in and access the latest information from anywhere at any time. There will always be some hesitation around the adoption of new technologies, and bigger changes will always take longer to bed in. But technology as a whole represents a vast range of powerful tools to help merchants and suppliers to get more out of their businesses; to simplify everyday jobs and make systems more efficient, reporting more intelligent, and processes more effective. Trust may take time to gain, but technology is an invaluable tool with untold potential for merchant operations. Let’s not let the end of lockdown be the end of this new open-mindedness to technology – let’s work together to get the systems in place that would make any future crisis easier to manage, with more responsive, agile solutions that work for you.

Article originally posted on LinkedIn by Ian Oldrey, our MD "I was brought up doing business the “old-fashioned” way. Meeting people face to face, shaking their hand, and talking openly – and sometimes bluntly – about business. More often than not you chose the companies you partnered with based on personal connections or word of mouth recommendations. And I don’t think things have changed all that much. Sure, the net is wider these days, with the internet making it simple, technically, to access a global audience. But in my experience, it is still the human connections that mean the most. Similarly, with technology, I’ve read a lot of articles and opinions suggesting that people are being “replaced” by AI, machine learning, and robotics. Certainly there are roles and functions that technology can perform in place of humans, and in some cases, dare I say it, they can do it better. But the real value of technology, in my opinion, is to simplify and speed up the arduous tasks that suck our focus, our time and our lives away from us, freeing us up to do the things we want or need to be doing instead. "The business of business is relationships. The business of life is human relationships." Robin Sharma A lot of merchants, and a lot of the timber and builders’ merchant press, are talking about the increasing importance of digital for merchant business. The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the advantages of Cloud software for remote working and seamless operation better than any marketing department could do. And yes, we ourselves have written and spoken at length about the enormous commercial and operational benefits of digital systems and ecommerce platforms for merchants. But do I think a move toward digital will replace the need for human interaction? Absolutely not. If anything, I think it can make more time for those relationships we deem important, whether at work or at home. Automated tasks can save significant amounts of time, and if you think how many tiny processes you perform every day at work you can start to see how, with a streamlining and speeding up of every single one of them, major amounts of time can be freed up. Better relationships with customers are also a massive benefit. With enhanced stock management and agile forecasting you can have better available in shorter time frames, while having the information to negotiate better rates and comply with certification and sustainability regulations. Less time spent digging through records means more time to focus on service, on relationships, and on long term growth for your own business and its workforce. Plus of course your staff will be happier as the ever-elusive work/life balance becomes more realistic; not only are daily functions speeded up and simplified, but remote and flexible working becomes a very real possibility for more people. Reducing daily frustrations and giving a clear picture of the risks, gaps, challenges and of course opportunities within your business is a huge advantage for business owners. Better, more advanced and insightful reporting becomes achievable without spending hours dredging up numbers from the last quarter manually – analytics and reporting are immensely valuable. Information, as they say, is indeed power. So while I appreciate there may be a hesitancy around going digital and embracing the technology of the future, I also believe very firmly that we are that technology’s master, not the other way around. It is a vastly powerful and effective tool – so let’s make it work for us, and free up our time to focus on the important things in life. If this extended lockdown has taught me anything, it’s that nothing is more important than human connection."

Trading conditions are tough right now, there's no getting away from it. But we are confident that UT400 , our all-new, Cloud software system for merchants can help. It can help with forecasting the unforecastable, stock management, efficient trading and administration – it can help your business. And it can do it while your staff stay safe. UT400 requires no social distancing required - thanks to UT400 being 100% cloud-based, everything from demo to installation can be done remotely, keeping merchant staff safe and their business healthy. We were thrilled to welcome another new customer to the Ten-25 family earlier this month: Global Timber Products . GTP is a rapidly expanding business which has seen successive 20% year on year growth and was looking to upgrade from its Sage-based operating system to something much better. Having just moved to a purpose-built, four-acre site, the time was right to select a new trading system, so they went through a competitive selection process across the leading market solutions - and chose UT400 as the right one for them. “We looked at all the main systems on offer in the market,” explains Suki Bains, Specialist Sales Manager at Global Timber. “I’ve worked with several other systems in the past, but we wanted to make sure we chose something that would be just right for our business. And even more than that, we wanted to work alongside a team who understood what we’re about, and who we knew we could trust to respond to our evolving needs.” A changing marketplace It has become increasingly apparent in recent years that merchant businesses need to embrace digital technology to keep up with the pace and demands of modern trading. For some that’s not a big leap, but for others who are still using manual or older legacy systems, it’s a lot to think about. We wanted to make it as easy as possible for merchants to make that transition, so everything about UT400 from the ground up has been based on making it as easy to use as possible. For a small, family-run business, word of mouth could not be more important. And it seems that word is starting to spread and gather pace. Thank you to anyone out there who has put in a good word about our products and services. In the last few weeks, we’ve been thrilled to welcome a surge of new customers including sawmills, timber merchants, builders’ merchants, plumbing suppliers and steel stockholders. The best choice for flexibility, efficiency and great service UT400 is incredibly flexible, so it works equally as well for any type of trading business, and it allows for a huge amount of customisation, so you can very quickly switch between metrics, weights, lengths, split packs and so on – if you buy, stock and sell products, this software will be able to help you. "We wanted to work alongside a team who understood what we’re about, and who we knew we could trust to respond to our evolving needs.” Suki Bains “UT400 offers huge flexibility,” agrees Suki. “Ten-25 were able to customise things for us, and the system is easy to adapt as we grow. We loved that it’s available from absolutely anywhere, on any smart device, so for remote access it’s really useful. Operationally though, the biggest winner for us was just how efficient it is – it will save us a huge amount of time, on paperwork, reporting, stock management, operations, everything, making us a more efficient and productive business, with much faster availability. And it was very cost effective too!” “Customer service was also an important part of the decision,” he adds. “Ten-25 seemed really well suited for us – honest, down to earth and really flexible and responsive. We’re a very people-centred business so it was important that we like and trust the people we work with. I asked around and their other customers spoke very highly of them, so we felt confident about going with them.” Feedback like this means the world to us, and I look forward to many years working alongside the team at GTP. Providing the service merchants want UT400 is the culmination of nearly 40 years’ experience designing and delivering industry specific trading systems for merchant business. A 100% cloud-based system, it is a huge jump forward for merchants looking to make the transition to digital operations and is, at this point and to the best of my knowledge, the only 100% truly cloud based merchant business system available in the UK. We consulted many existing customers and talked to people throughout the industry to make sure we were building the system that merchants both needed and wanted. But it wasn’t enough to make it effective – it had to be easier to use, to take out as many of the daily stresses and frustrations as possible. We even brought in an experienced video game designer to make sure the user interface is as engaging and simple as possible. We are thrilled with the results, and have had so many positive comments back from users and people demo-ing the system. “If we’d wanted to find that information with our old system, we’d have needed to get a spade and start digging!” Drenagh Sawmills Flexible pricing for flexible use In order to be as useful and accessible as possible, we have introduced a more modern subscription model of pricing , with different pricing tiers for different user requirements. We were well aware that many legacy systems have a bit of an all or nothing approach with users, meaning you pay for a lot of features that most of your staff won’t ever need or use. We have broken it down into levels, so that delivery drivers and yard operatives can access a stripped back version, with sales, finance or senior management having their own levels of access. That keeps it relevant and engaging, but also cost effective for more of the business to be involved. More staff on the system means more up to date information available throughout the business, giving an accurate, real time view of operations and stock. Our aim was to build a system that can help every merchant unlock the full potential of its entire workforce, making everyone’s day jobs that little bit slicker, and the information more readily accessible. Those little differences add up to a massive commercial advantage, and significant time savings, which add up to increased profitability. Set up for staff safety, and business health As a 100% cloud-based system, UT400 does not need to wait for the current coronavirus pandemic to end to start working for customers. Everything from system demo’s to installation can be done remotely so there is zero risk for staff. Modern business demands flexibility and easy access. But even we couldn’t have foreseen the current global health situation with Covid-19. Thanks to the digital nature of this system, and the incredible technology available to us today, we are finding that it’s perfectly feasible to manage the whole process, from initial enquiry to online system demo to installation and onboarding, on a fully remote basis. That means it’s absolutely safe for customers, and actually offers a really quick and efficient way to work. It’s much less disruptive for the business and doesn’t put anyone at risk. Ordinarily we prefer to meet customers in person, but with that being difficult in the current climate, we’re delighted to be able to offer a really workable alternative. For anyone wishing to find out more or request login details for the online demo system with absolutely no obligation, please email info@ten-25.co.uk .