The decision for e&s to expand into the ACT market was based on ‘great people’, according to owner and CEO, Rob Sinclair, with the opportunity ‘too good to refuse’ to bring in a team of highly regarded industry representatives into the business.
Gavin Pound, who has been in the appliance industry for almost 20 years, has been appointed e&s head of commercial for ACT. He is supported by a team who also bring extensive experience to the business with Scott Ballard as head of commercial and residential projects, Sarah Flanagan as head of new homes, Ashleigh Davidson as new home sales representative and Blake Williams as key account manager.
“Over the years you meet a lot of people in the industry, and my team had built a strong friendship with representatives from another major retailer in the ACT, so we started a conversation with some former employees that were out of work,” Sinclair explained to Appliance Retailer.
“Gavin is genuine, authentic and trustworthy and based on that, I couldn’t help but follow my trust of people and bring Gavin into our business to lead the new ACT division. Once the team of five was formed, we put together plans to launch the e&s business in the ACT. We opened an office in February with an official launch event held in March for 170 guests including some of the best builders and developers in Canberra.
“There was never a strategic direction from the business to open in the ACT, but I liked the fact it was an isolated marketplace – a long way from Sydney and Melbourne – arguably its own market within reason. Establishing an office in Canberra means we don’t get to rest on our laurels and just send a representative there. We can operate independently and create opportunities within the ACT team, but we needed feet on the ground to make it work.
“The ACT team reports to our general manager of commercial, Jacques Grimaux, who has been with e&s for 15 years and is a foundation member of the e&s commercial business founded in 1999. Our brand partnerships are crucial at e&s and our go-to-market strategy is unique, which will be driven into the ACT market by Jacques.”
Feature image: e&s ACT team with Rob Sinclair [Photo credit: NR21].