PEW spoke with John Barclay, UK Sales Director at Neomitis, who guides us through the positive changes he’s seen impact the industry over the years, as well how he and his team navigated through the Covid-19 pandemic.
1. How did you get into the industry and your current position?
I initially was taken on as an apprentice with British Gas in 1975, after 15 years of service and gained installation experience, I then moved to the heating manufacturing side with what was Landis+Gyr in 1989. Landis+Gyr was acquired by Siemens in 2002 and over a 25-year period I was able to progress to Head of Sales for Siemens.
In 2014 I was introduced to Neomitis and could see that the UK heating market was screaming out for the type of products that Neomitis were manufacturing – products that were easy to use, install and reliable.
I then joined Neomitis as the UK Sales Director and, along with developing the UK operation, I have formed a dedicated team of knowledgeable Regional Sales Managers that cover the whole of the UK.
2. What has been your biggest challenge so far?
The Covid-19 situation has been the biggest challenge that I have come across whilst working within the industry. Just like many of the magazine’s readers we have had to re-think the way that we conduct business.
As the Neomitis team are great at developing working relationships face-to-face with customers we have had to adapt and rely on online comms platforms such as Skype, Microsoft Teams and Zoom to achieve this.
3. How do you feel the industry has changed in recent years?
The internet has been a positive game changer as without this we would not have been able to communicate with our customers as regularly throughout the Covid-19 situation. The Internet has also allowed end-users to research what heating products they want installed within their homes, based on features and benefits that fit perfectly around their lifestyle, this has been a great way for the Neomitis brand and our products to get noticed.
In addition to the above, the internet has created a connected world of products that can be controlled from anywhere. The connected world is now a space that Neomitis operates within due to the creation of our connected range of heating controls (Myneo stat), Smart Wall Sockets (Myneo link) and Smart radiators (Myneo Fluid Curved).
4. What do you consider Neomitis’s unique selling points?
Ease of use and ease of installation, with a knowledgeable product support and above industry standard, no quibble product warranty:
- Motorised valves = 2 years
- Heating controls = 3 Years
- Electric heaters/ towel warmers = 10 years
5. Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
Within the next five years I will be retired – however I will be leaving behind a great, flexible, and innovative company that will continue to grow and release new products that are perfect for the UK market.
6. What is Neomitis trying to achieve in the next few years?
Neomitis has some exciting plans over the next few years. We aim to become ‘The Product of Choice’ through continued product development and introducing new products to our connected product range as the UK market demands it.We also aim to introduce new digital room thermostats, timers and programmers to the market based on installers and end user feedback.
To learn more about the Neomitis range, visit https://www.neomitis.com/
