Member Article

Summerhouse sales manager celebrates 25 years with Thrapston company

An experienced sales manager with a Northamptonshire timber product manufacturer is celebrating as she marks 25 years with the company. Kathryn Morris started out handling sales administration for Scotts of Thrapston but quickly moved into sales and has built a solid career with the family business. Scotts of Thrapston, which this year celebrates its centenary, has a reputation for building high-quality timber products including summerhouses and equestrian buildings. Kathryn now leads summerhouse sales but has worked successfully with both products. She started out her career as a secretary before moving into sales admin for a shopfitting company. When she moved to Scotts 25 years ago, she says she was looking for change and an opportunity to progress. “When I started, I was handling sales admin for summerhouses and stables. At that time there was just one summerhouse product, the Balmoral gazebo. Around 2004, I moved solely into summerhouse sales and absolutely love my job. It is a beautiful product and the customers are great and are always really excited about their summerhouses arriving. I enjoy working for Scotts and have always been made to feel part of the family and treated with respect.” Attending trade and consumer shows plays a big role in Kathryn’s year, and she attended her first RHS Chelsea Flower Show within a week of starting with the business. Kathryn, who also goes to the Hampton Court Flower Show and Burghley Horse Trials with Scotts, added: “I have been to Chelsea every year apart from one year when I was on maternity leave and this year as it has been cancelled due to the Covid-19 crisis. “Shows are important as I think people need to see and touch a summerhouse and take away memories of it. People often place an order months, or even years later, but the show had sown a seed of what they wanted. “Some customers have come back 20 years later to replace a summerhouse and grown-up children want them for their own gardens as they remember our summerhouses from their childhoods, which is wonderful. People have also sent me photos of their gardens and updates on their summerhouses over the years. I enjoy building up a rapport with my customers and it is wonderful to see them enjoying their garden buildings.” Managing director James Scott said: “Scotts just would not be Scotts without Kathryn keeping us all going. I have grown up with Kathryn and she is always keeping an eye out for me and the support she has offered me in my own journey through Scotts has been massively appreciated, from ‘teaboy’ through to my role as the managing director. “This can also be seen in how she helps and supports the customers, not only at the point of sale but through the lifetime of many of the buildings she has sold.” Chairman David Scott added: “Kathryn was the first person who was able to solely concentrate on summerhouses as they became a sizeable part of the company. We have had countless letters of appreciation from customers praising her. She eats and sleeps summerhouses and has bags of energy and patience and does an excellent job.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Judith Sanders .