It’s with great pleasure that we announce the appointment of Craig Jukes as Sales Director, UK & Ireland
Craig joined N&W in July 2008 as Technical Director, and his arrival marked the beginning of our mission to make our Help Desk and Technical Support services the best in the business. At that time, Craig was bullish about the future. ‘I want us to lead the market in terms of the attention to detail with which we approach every aspect of our business’, he said. ‘I want customers to realise that we do everything we possibly can to provide them with the products and services they need to drive their businesses forward.’
He will be bringing that ethos into his new role.
Long-standing customers will recall that we ‘parked’ the post of Sales Director with the departure of Mike Kane almost 10 years ago, in favour of combining the role with that of MD. The strategy worked at the time, but our company has experienced top-to-bottom change since then. These days, as part of Evoca Group, our product portfolio has grown from just Necta and Wittenborg to embrace Ducale, Gaggia; Saeco, SGL and Newis. That’s why we feel that the time has come to give Sales top priority: it’s incumbent upon us to ensure that the UK and Ireland market is fully aware of our market-leading products.
As you’d expect, Craig is ready to grasp the opportunity with both hands: ‘I firmly believe we need to change our approach to meet the demands of our customers and to recognise the speed at which the market is changing’, he said. ‘Consider these staggering facts: Just over a decade ago, no one owned an iPhone. Users of social media platforms grew by 202 million in the last 12 months, meaning there’s a new user every 6 seconds. Instagram is one of the newest social platforms, but it already has over a billion users and between them, Whatsapp and Messenger handle over 60 billion messages a day.
‘I labour on these points because they demonstrate that the ways in which we have traditionally communicated and interacted with our customers are no longer fit for purpose’ Craig said. ‘As a society, we consume news and information in a completely different way than we did a decade ago and the pace of change, far from slowing down, is accelerating.
‘A consultative sales team should focus primarily on understanding customer needs and evaluating which products and services fit them best. This process adds value to our prospective customers and positions us as the subject matter expert, leading to trust and loyalty. This is especially important as customers increasingly turn to the Internet to make their purchasing decisions. We need to make our customers aware of our products and the value they will add to their business and ultimately their customers’, Craig said.
Focus on the Customer
At Evoca UK, we believe that a business that is focused on its customers is one that is committed to learning and understanding what really matters to them, enabling a more effective service to be delivered. By understanding who our customers are, what their needs are, and how we can add value to what they do, we aim to become – or to remain – their ‘go-to’ supplier.
‘Bringing together the three pillars of customer facing activity – Sales, Customer Service and Technical – enables us to offer a much more positive journey for our customers’, Craig said. ‘The more closely all Evoca UK teams work together, the more remarkable our customers experience will be.
‘Being more customer focussed has to be our intention and every touch point of our business needs to be remarkable. People buy what they want, not what they need and we have to make sure we have the products that offer the right solution for the market. We have to review all of our internal processes and remove or change the ones that do not add value to the customer experience.’
It is a proven, yet staggering fact, that happy customers tell nine people about their experience, whereas unhappy customers grumble to twenty-two. This just shows how word of mouth can have a massive impact on the success or otherwise of any product or service. ‘This is why my goal for Evoca UK is to be remarkable in every facet of our business’, Craig said. ‘If we can achieve that, our customers will become an extension of our sales and marketing effort.
‘To me, ‘Innovation’ never ends: when I look at our current and future product roadmap, I am proud and honoured to be part of the Evoca team bringing them to market’ Craig added. ‘I aim to make our customers feel uplifted by the products in our portfolio, from iconic, high-end coffee machines to innovative solutions such as payments apps and fully interactive remote control of machines.
‘As Robert Frost once said: ‘we have to take the road less traveled and that will make all the difference.’’
