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MEAN STREETS
Page 62
Page 63
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• Carl Ager is a driven man. And with good reason. He has just sunk nearly £2 million into the transport side of a 23.5 million business venture in the depressed valleys of South Wales — and reckons he has sold "the shirt off my back and my underwear as well" to do it.
Home Buy is his brainchild: a door-todoor selling company marketing household goods of all kinds, from dusters to electrical goods. Ager is recruiting an army of unemployed people for sales training and has ordered 270 Bedford Midis.
Transport proved to be the most difficult problem Ager faced during the three years leading up to Home Buy's launch. "It was getting dangerously near the launch date last year, and we were still not clear what our growth rate criteria would be," says Ager. "If we were to use contract hire for the majority of the fleet, the contractor had to accept the need for a massive investment in the Home Buy fleet. Most lease companies wouldn't accept that from an established firm, let alone a start-up company."
Picking the right vehicle was another headache. Ager sounded out several manufacturers with varying degrees of success: "Ford weren't interested at all.
Left: Transport manager Brian Morgan insists that all recruits prove their competence before taking control of one of his Midis. Right Carl Ager — "Home-Buy will be a
They told us to go to a large dealer and buy vans like any other customer." This didn't impress Ager, who was planning to spend million on vans in two years.
The Renault Trafic was a serious contender, and the proposed Home Buy contract went up before Renault's UK board. But in the end, the company was "unable to meet our tight criteria on time, money and fittings", says Ager. He also felt that the Trafic didn't come up to scratch in some areas; he had doubts about the veh cle's durability, gear-box and insulation which he felt were not as good as in the Midi, which he saw as the other option.
"Bedford was the only company to real y take us seriously," says Ager. "They mmediately invited us down to Luton to issess the Midi. Isuzu executives followed ne round the factory and let me have a pod look at their production process."
The Midi finally won the business, natching all Ager's requirements. "It was he most suitable in terms of carrying :apacity and comfort level. It looks and eels like an estate car, and not an industial truck."
VERY SATISFIED
The two-litre diesel vans had to be converted from the standard three-seat coniguration to accommodate up to 12 sales -eps. Whittakers of Stoke carried out the :onversions for Home Buy and Ager is very satisfied with the result: "The quality A the work is unbeatable," he says.
The Midis now have two rows of three >eats behind the front seats, with 40mm A extra leg room between each, and foldng slatted seats on either side at the back .o accommodate a further three passen;ers. Whittakers added a bulkhead fitted with metal grilles to divide the passenger irea from the 1.8m3 cargo area. This akes the stock and so far has been klequate for a day's selling. If business goes exceptionally well, however, Ager nay turn to the long-wheelbase model.
Home Buy specified sliding windows in he side door and panel, and the vans are itted with grab-rails, lights and first aid fits in line with PSV regulations. The white vans carry the multi-coloured Home 3uy logo, with graphics by Sign Tech of ,eighton Buzzard.
Home Buy is taking delivery of the didis at the rate of five a month. Ager is .ecruitirig trainee sales teams at the rate if 100 people every month to keep pace with the vehicle schedule — but this is woving more difficult than expected.
Ager has already widened his recruitnent net to include all unemployed peoile, rather than just the long-term unem)loyed he began with. When Commercial Ilotor visited the operation three vans of he first consignment were out every day, with two more standing by with stock and five waiting for trainees to finish in the classroom and go out on the road.
Ager is undaunted, however. Plans are going ahead to open a second Home Buy in Glasgow next June; another in Newcastle in August and a third in either Stoke or Liverpool in October.
Ager envisages a fleet of 1,000 Midis servicing the English bases and a further 500 apiece for Scotland and Wales, with a total spend of £17 million.
Thirty-five-year-old Ager comes from an enterprising business family and has seen the houseware business from both the selling and manufacturing sides. With several years' experience of management consultancy under his belt, he is convinced that home selling is the way forward for UK retailing, and has put all his money where his mouth is. None of the money behind Home Buy is governmentgranted; what Ager hasn't put in himself, he has raised privately.
The leasing arrangement is split between GM and Lex Vehicle Leasing, with a three-year full-maintenance contract covering each van, and a predicted maximum of only 8,400km a year. All the Midis will be supplied by Skippers of Gloucester.
Ager is not sure that a column gear change is the best for his inexperienced drivers: "We will have to see if it's beefy enough to stand a lot of staff abuse." He also has doubts about the durability of the clutch, but feels that the only way to really test the vehicle is to run it and see how it gets on.
Transport manager Brian Morgan is pleased with the way the Midis are performing, although he confesses that he had expected Home Buy to use something larger. He has found the vans economical
to run and says that once drivers have "got the hang of the column shift", the Midi is easy to handle.
Trainees holding a licence have their driving abilities assessed by Morgan. An ex-army man, Morgan guards his Midis jealously and won't let any drivers near them until he is sure they are competent. Non-drivers are sent by Home Buy on an intensive driving course, either with a Llandudno firm or to a local company.
RESTLESS MIX
Home Buy currently employs 17 trainee managers with administrative staff at its base in Gilfach Goch near Cardiff. That team will be expanded to 30, in addition to sales people. Ager, himself a restless mix of hands-off manager and sharp executive, stresses that he does not run the company as a management hierarchy but on the principle of shared responsibility. The Home Buy headquarters was converted in just five weeks from a redundant shed. It now houses a kitchen and canteen facilities for 230 people, a lecture theatre, office accommodation and a £1 million computer installation.
Sales teams have been on the road since the beginning of August, and according to Ager, are three times ahead of their sale targets. Other staff and trainees talk about good days and bad days, and soon discover that real selling is not as easy as it appears in the classroom. But Ager is relentlessly optimistic: "Home Buy will be a multi-million company in a couple of years.
I've sold my house and I'm now living in a rented place because I believe Home Buy is going to be a success. Part of the motivation for me is seeing a business work."
LI by Gill Harvey