A Welsh tyre trade expert with 25 years’ of industry experience is promising to breathe fire into ETB’s wholesale department, after ‘coming home’ to work with the retail network.
Jason Clarke brings a wealth of experience from Cooper Avon, United Tyres, Malvern Tyres and King David Tyres and is already thinking big with a brand he knows very well from his own journey in the aftermarket.
First impressions have already been positive for Jason and he’s already targeting a number of opportunities.
“I’ve known all about ETB for 24 years. They were my first major account when they only had eight to 10 depots, but they have grown so much since then.
“To be working for ETB now is like finding your favourite jacket to wear. It’s a comfortable fit and it feels right. I also feel like I’ve come home, but the pressure to deliver begins now.
“I’m coming back to my roots; running and directing sales and making things happen. It’s been a great start. ETB is one of the most progressive companies that I’ve been associated with and there’s a great structure in place here already.
“There are so many wholesalers out there, so the challenge is to take customers away from a conversation about price. If you are within three-to-four per-cent of a competitor in terms of price, you can bridge that gap with superior service levels and aftercare, which is something that ETB is brilliant at already.
“The most exciting thing is the team in place here. The buying and logistics teams right through to the drivers and pickers are all fantastic and I’ll do all I can to ensure we keep pulling in the same direction to deliver the results that I know are out there.”
The 52-year-old is a Cardiff boy at heart, living in Wales all of his life and even proud to represent his country at squash and playing rugby for many years.
“I’ve enjoyed 25 years in the trade now and I’ve built up a strong contacts book over that time. Like the sports I loved to compete in, I’ll be putting blood, sweat and tears into my role at ETB and will be confident of winning more often than not over the coming weeks and months.”
In other ETB structural changes, Dave Isles will be promoted to Operations Director, overseeing all ETB wholesale warehouses and sales manager Ashley Harford now runs the sales team from the company’s Blackpole office.
And finally, Gemma Ivill will shortly take up a role of supporting ETB’s margin improvement plan to help with its continuing and ambitious expansion programme.
