Baxi has announced the appointment of Sammie Batchelder to the role of Strategic Accounts Manager, supporting three of its largest customers in the merchant sphere: City Plumbing, Travis Perkins and Toolstation.
Sammie joined Baxi in 2015, one of the first to take part in Baxi’s graduate apprenticeship scheme. In the last decade, she has gained invaluable experience in customer service, external sales, and key account management within the merchants’ sector.
Her new role is described as the latest part of Baxi’s strategy to strengthen its support for the merchant sector overall in an evolving energy landscape. Sammie said: “I’ve been very lucky to have experienced the customer journey at every stage with the installer, engineer and end user. I’m looking forward to using this insight, backed by my understanding of the merchant sector, to build closer relationships with our merchant customers.”
And as government targets look to increase installation of low carbon and efficient heating for retrofit and new homes, Baxi says it is working to support the merchant sector with meeting demand.
Sammie explained: “Establishing excellent two-way communication and working together more closely to meet customer needs is absolutely key, particularly at a time when the heating industry is transitioning to cleaner technologies. It’s important we ensure our merchants receive excellent technical support and training to enable them to offer guidance to their customers on the best options and solutions for their next project.”
This latest announcement follows the recent appointment of Martyn Andreoli as Strategic Account Manager for Wolseley. The two join Gregory Denny, National Strategic Account Manager for commercial solutions and Esther Nkhalamba, Market Manager for Merchants.
Baxi’s Head of Strategic Partners, James Lowe, had a significant role in the formation of the new merchant team. He said: “We see it as our responsibility to support merchants in providing the best, most efficient solution for every project – whether that’s traditional gas boilers, electric heat pump solutions or hybrid systems.
“Our team of highly skilled, knowledgeable Strategic Account Managers is going from strength to strength. Sammie and the team bring fresh eyes and new impetus to how we support all our merchant customers from national chains to independents. The heating industry is going through significant changes, and our role is to make sure merchants have everything they need to take advantage of the business opportunities these changes present.”
For more on the support available to merchants, see Baxi.co.uk.
