Exertis AV has undergone significant changes over the past three years. We spoke to Jamie Brothwell, Chief Sales and Commercial Officer about how things were shaping up and what else she had planned for the
future.
BD – For readers who don’t already know you, can you please provide a little background on yourself and what you do?
JB – I am Jamie Brothwell, Chief Sales and Commercial Officer for Exertis AV. I recently celebrated ten years at Exertis AV overall and have been in my current position for around three years. Prior to that, I worked for Samsung and Midwich for a combined 12 years.
BD – Exertis AV is a significant business and also part of a larger group, DCC (https://www.exertis.co.uk/). What have been the main challenges you have encountered since starting your new role?
JB – The first area I looked at was our culture and team. I am passionate about DEI and the AV business overall, and I wanted people on board who shared my passion and vision for the business. Therefore, I asked Al Coyne to join me as Commercial Director. Al and I had worked together previously at Midwich. After that, Al and I built out a whole team of new product specialists and salespeople, and we now have our own dedicated AV marketing team as well.
BD – It certainly sounds like you have been busy. In terms of infrastructure, what else has changed?
JB – After many years of work, we rolled out our SAP operating system, which, alongside our impressive warehouse in Burnley, is achieving a 99.4% next-day delivery rate on our shipments. To put that into perspective, the Burnley warehouse is 550,000 square feet, which is the same size as 5 football pitches and four double-decker buses high, which we are incredibly proud of within the business.
BD – 99.4% next-day delivery is a staggering number; how did you achieve this?
JB – Since Al joined, he has reduced the number of brands we carry to give a more focused approach. He has also worked with our key vendors to ensure we had more stock availability of the faster-moving products. Exertis AV has always had a phenomenal offering of tier 1 display and UC & C brands. We wanted to work with those to ensure we had what our customers required in stock and ready to ship for their End User projects.
BD – Is it really just as simple as having the right vendors and stock profiles?
JB – Yes, that is the basics of distribution; to ensure you have what the customer requires and can deliver when they want it. However, what has driven our growth is the higher level of overall support we now offer the system integrators and VARs we deal with in terms of technical support and product specialists. All of the above is made possible by our people and underpinned by our aspiration to deliver excellent customer service.
BD – Can you tell us a little more about that?
JB – We have focused on building a whole new team to support the vendors, SIs, and VARs we deal with. We no longer list a brand unless we have a complete strategy and internal product specialism to support it. We also undertake a considerable amount of training before we launch any new product or brand. We further support all these brands and our SIs and VARs with our in-house demo facilities and a large amount of demonstration stock available for them to use for their end clients. We even have an in-house 24×7 365 TAC and NOC that provides channel services from the presales stage to deployment, ongoing support, and fully managed services. We are a very different business from when we started all this three years ago.
BD – Can you tell us more about the demonstration facilities and demonstration stock?
JB – I think our investment in demonstration stock and facilities has also helped our SIs and VARs win more business. We now have over 50 demo rooms installed across various UK locations, all utilising the brands and products we stock. We have also invested over £100k in demonstration stock from our key manufacturers that can be loaned out to the reseller and their end clients. We’ve also created a new credit facility for our resellers via Chubb.
BD – So, how does that credit facility work?
JB – One of the most significant issues for resellers is often obtaining credit to help service their clients, especially for larger projects. The deal we have with Chubb is exclusive for the AV sector, which means credit limits are not shared across other distributors in our sector. This means that we can typically get a higher level of credit for our customers than most of the other distributors. Also, if the resellers wish to advise who the end user is, then we will also consider that in any credit limit decision. It’s been a great partnership and driver for the AV division.
BD – So, what is next for Exertis AV?
JB – We are currently working on ISO14001, the ISO standard for sustainability. We already have ISO9000 for process and ISO27001 for cyber security, and so all these independent accreditations provide a super solid supply chain and yet more reasons for our resellers to win business via Exertis AV.
BD – How much has all the work you and your team put in affected sales?
JB – While the UK AV market itself has been mainly stagnant, and indeed, some reports say it has contracted by up to 10%, we have had phenomenal results over the past year. In 2022, we were 25% up, and in 2023, 15%, and we are up again this year
BD – What would you say to our readers who used to work with Exertis AV but haven’t done as much with you recently?
JB – All I ask is that they come and talk to us. We have come a long way in a relatively short period and now offer all our suppliers and customers a truly specialist AV and UC & C business, backed up by industry-leading logistics and the best technical support.
BD – It’s been an absolute pleasure talking to you today, Jamie. I wish you luck in the future.
JB – Many thanks, Bryan
