Name: Lee Thompson
Job title: Regional Retail Sales Manager (North West)
Tell us a bit about yourself
Married to Diane for 26 years, I have two children, Chloe who’s 22 and runs her own business as a make-up artist and Josh who’s 16 and plays at a very good level for a local football team. I also have two dogs, Harvey, who’s a nine-year-old cavalier King Charles spaniel, and Willow, a two-year-old cockerpoo who we decided to buy during the first Covid lockdown as we needed an excuse to go out! I have a residency at a local pub where I DJ and host karaoke nights, plus I like live music and going to gigs. I’m also a season ticket holder at Manchester City and have been watching them for over 30 years! My son doesn’t believe me when I tell him we were once in division one. I also play golf, badly!
Describe your job to a five-year-old
I sell fancy toilets, sinks (or basins as we like to call them in the trade), baths and showers to people who’d like a nice bathroom.
What do you like most about your job?
Being trusted enough to be left to manage my area but also having the support of my colleagues when called upon.
How did you get here?
How long have you got? I started off in the bathroom industry in 1988, after completing two years of a City & Guilds Apprenticeship in Painting and Decorating. I took a temporary job as a driver and warehouse operative for a bathroom distribution company called John Smith-Butler & Sons Ltd as my main passion was DJing in clubs. After 18 months, I progressed into the sales office where I learned the trade, shall we say. I spent another three years in the sales office before trying my luck as an area sales manager (more like “brochure dropper”) and this was where I got offered a showroom sales role for Atlas Bathroom & Heating Supplies in Manchester who were one of the biggest independent merchants in the North West. I was promoted after two years to showroom sales manager and enjoyed several years there until I was offered an opportunity to buy into a franchise called UK Bathroom Warehouse, which was cut short some 18 months later by the recession.
It was at this time that I decided to go back into field sales with Faucets, where I also looked after specification for high rise, residential and non-residential. I didn’t enjoy the contract side of the business as I prefer to see instant results for my efforts, whereas in contracts it can take a number of years. I decided to move into regional area sales with Aqualisa and then the bathroom retailer Alan T Carr, where I was not only responsible for retail and merchant sales but also northern category manager for Globo, which was a premium Italian sanitaryware manufacturer.
Covid changed the dynamics of this role and it was at this time that I saw a regional sales role with Ideal Standard advertised on LinkedIn. I noticed that Adam Evans was the channel director and knew of Adam from UK Bathroom Warehouse and also Matt Bell from when I was working for Faucets. I liked where the business was going with the high end product design and was confident of the retail strategy. Here I am 18 months later, still selling bathrooms and DJing in my spare time!
What motivates you?
It used to be money but as I’ve matured it’s now helping others achieve happiness.
If you could swap jobs with anyone, who would it be?
DJ Carl Cox or Graeme Park.
Your favourite song lyric or line from a film?
Because of my passion for music there’s too many to name but if it was a movie it would be “I feel the need, the need for speed” from Top Gun.
Your favourite app?
Facebook
Biggest facepalm moment at work?
Mmm, yet to experience one!