Punch Pub Company is responding to calls from its licensees to change the role of the business development manager (BDM).
Issues such as credit, drinks delivery, dispense, availability and other day to day queries are to be directed away from the BDM and handled by a dedicated Customer Relationship Team at Punch Pub Company’s head office in Fradley, Staffordshire.
And according to operations director Andrew Thompson this will free up BDMs to put their trade knowledge and experience to its best possible use.
“We have completed a major study into understanding exactly what our lessees and tenants want from their BDM,” he said.
“Feedback included greater allocation of time to quality business planning advice and a faster response on day to day queries, and as a result we have made some significant changes to the role.
“The Customer Relationship Team should be thought of as a ‘one stop shop’ for licensees. It is run by office based staff who have the capacity to manage all operational enquiries quickly and effectively.
“They will start working on an enquiry as soon as they receive it and also agree a time frame for resolving it.
“In turn our BDMs will be far more focussed on delivering first class financial and business planning support, working closely with licensees to consider product mix and profitability, review retail pricing, identify cost savings and maximise opportunities for business growth.”
To help achieve this level of service, Punch Pub Company has invested in an internal training programme on developing core business skills for its BDMs and equipped them with a powerful new financial planning software package.
The tailor-made software enables BDMs to present accurate reports on profit and loss and cash flow figures and compile comparative models to show how even minor alterations can dramatically improve a pub’s performance.
Andy Wilkinson, a tenanted BDM operating in the north west, was instrumental in setting up the system.
He said: “The package allows us to build up a complete and honest view of a pub as it is performing today and then input any number of scenarios that could alter that performance.
“It is a perfect way for licensees who have ever asked themselves ‘what if I changed this or added that’ to preview the benefits – or pitfalls – of their plans.
“For the BDM, this is a fantastically powerful tool that can analyse a business down to the finest detail. With that sort of data readily available we can go on to exploit every single opportunity for improvement, which is great news for both licensee and pubco.”
Andrew Thompson added: “We believe the changes we have made to the structure of our entire business support team will give licensees the backup they need to ensure success in the field.”
Ends |