Meet the Team: National Accounts - Multiple Retailers

What books are you reading?

Anna: I’m reading The One Plus One by Jo Jo Moyes, and I’ve got The Chimp Paradox to start next. I’ve also just finished The Secret, which was really good. 

Maria: I’m reading one that Anna lent to me called Me Before You by Jo Jo Moyes. Before that I read The Chimp Paradox which Anna’s now reading.

Jane: I’m trying to better myself by reading Game of Thrones, because it’s not something I would normally read, I’m into crime thrillers. I like Patricia Cornwell, Philip Friedman but I’m trying out Game of Thrones for something different.

Catherine:I’m reading The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams to my daughters at the moment – we are all enjoying that, he writes a good book! I’m also reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.  

What was the last film you watched?

Maria: The Lego Movie.

Jane: Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 or Wreck It Ralph, I took my kids to see those at the cinema. The last film my husband and I watched was American Hustle.

Catherine:The Book of Life.

Anna:Philomena, a real weepy! 

Who or what inspires you?

Anna: My lovely boss Mr Stannard, he’s an inspiration to us all. And also the team, we bounce things off each other.

Maria: My mum, she’s my inspiration. There were six kids when we were growing up, she was on her own and did three jobs just to keep us all going. So my mum is my inspiration, and my two boys.

Jane: My kids because you watch them going through their challenges and dealing with them, and coming out the other end smiling, that’s amazing.

Catherine: Joe Matthews (former CEO of Norcros plc), he has the unique ability to make people at all levels feel at ease, offer wise words and advice combined with the most amazing capacity to digest and recall data. Not only inspirational in work related matters, he always found time to ask how my daughters were getting on! 

What music is on your playlist at the moment?

Anna: Very eclectic, all sorts! I like Disclosure, I’ve also got Neil Diamond and I can work my iPod and everything! 

Maria: Anything from Elbow to Paulo Nutini to Led Zepplin – very eclectic.

Jane: I’ve got a right selection, I’ve got Aerosmith from my youth and Guns N' Roses. I’ve got Maroon 5, Songs About Jane – that’s one of my favourites.

Catherine:I love live music and really enjoy going to gigs – recently I’ve seen Paul Weller, The Killers, Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott, Johnny Marr and Echo & The Bunnymen.

What’s the funniest/strangest thing that’s happened to you at work?

Anna: We bid on a charity auction for Wickes and won tickets to see Dolly Parton at the O2. That doesn’t happen every day!

Maria: That would be Anna falling off her chair at the office Christmas party in a bar in Birmingham after several glasses of wine. That’s probably the funniest thing that’s happened in a long time actually.

Are there any projects you’ve been involved with or particular achievements that you’re most proud of?

Maria: In 2012 we worked on a project with B&Q whereby we took the amount of products that we supply to them from about 120 up to 700, and we had to roll those out to the estate – they’ve got 360 stores so there was a total of 12.6million boxes of tiles that we picked and delivered, one million different order lines picked and delivered and 4.2million individual sample tiles picked and delivered, so it was a huge project. It was a big team effort but it was the biggest project I’ve worked on and it was really good. 

Catherine:Being part of the team at Johnson Tiles for a while now I am lucky to have been involved in a number of great projects both in the UK and overseas – heading up the initial project team in the re-design and re-launch of the Johnson Tiles website; the introduction of our Minton Hollins tiles into Topps Tiles; working with multiple retailers developing tailored store flow concepts involving both product and POS – to name a few.

What’s your favourite Johnson Tiles product?

Anna: The new Distressed Damask range in Homebase.

Maria: I’ve recently had my kitchen done and I’ve got black slate 60x30 tiles, which we don’t manufacture but that we buy in so I’ve got that on the floor, and then I’ve got 30x10 grey on the walls which again we supply to B&Q. 

Jane: I do like the new Savoy range, and I think we’ve come a long way from where we were years ago thanks to our Creative Director, Darren Clanford.

Catherine:The recently launched 400x150mm Attingham wall tiles – an exclusive for Topps Tiles.

What does your job involve?

Anna: I look after the Wickes, Travis Perkins, Tile Giant and Homebase accounts.  It involves managing product ranges, demand forecasting, introducing new products and analysing competitor activity.

Maria: I look after the B&Q account, so basically I’m the link between Johnson Tiles and B&Q. Day-to-day I look after them, and that can be anything from checking stock to product development and sorting out promotions. Both Anna and I also share an assistant called James.

Jane: It’s a brand new role that’s been invented; I was joint director of finance up until recently and then a year ago I moved across to commercial to come up with better information for management and the sales team. A lot of what I do is new and I’m looking at building my own role at the moment and challenging things – so mixing it up a little bit I would say.

Catherine:I look after both the Topps Tiles and John Lewis accounts and also oversee marketing support for our multiple retailer accounts including projects with B&Q, Homebase, Wickes, Topps Tiles and Leroy Merlin. It’s a varied role, which I like – each day brings with it a new challenge! 

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Anna: Being with customers. It’s rewarding to see something come together, starting with a project that might take a year and when it hits the shops you’ve seen it through to the end. 

Jane: I suppose because I’ve been in finance for as long as I have it was just monthly routine with the same reports, whereas every day is different when I come in now, I never know what queries I’m going to get asked and what information I’m going to have to try and work out how to get to, so it’s completely different from what I’ve been doing up until now. Every day is a new challenge! 

At Johnson Tiles we pride ourselves on working with trusted partners that share our passion and dedication to delivering excellent products to the consumer public. 

Managing product demand, sales forecasting, introducing new products, interpreting key trends and analysing competitors are just some of the jobs undertaken by National Account Managers Anna Dacey and Maria Wemyss, Head of Retail Multiples Marketing Catherine Spibey and Commercial Analyst Jane Willis.

Can you tell us a bit more about yourself?  

Anna: I’ve been with Johnson Tiles for two years; I relocated to Shropshire, which led me to work in the Potteries. I’m originally from Colne in Lancashire and I’m married and have two cats.

Maria: I’ve worked for Johnson Tiles for 10 years; I live in a village called Cheadle with my partner and two boys.

Jane: I live in Runcorn with my husband and two children. I’m a qualified accountant and I’ve worked within the Norcros group for 19 years, it’s my only employer, straight from university.

Catherine:I have enjoyed various sales and marketing roles at Johnson Tiles over the past16 years. I live with my husband and two daughters in Stafford.