“I get a real buzz from a job well done, and start planning the next holiday!”
Brian Pinner started at ERA 15th August 1997 & has had a growing business ever since. Flexible enough to suit his needs around family, social & business life, he says “I ran my own business for 10 years before joining ERA, and have always believed in the adage that “you only get out what you put in”.
"The main difference with ERA is that I don’t have to worry about 30 employees and all their issues, a fleet of company cars, premises, etc. I can focus on providing a quality service for our clients. As the MD of a medium sized business I could see the potential in the services offered by ERA. I was guilty of signing cheques for a wide variety of business overheads, without knowing if I was getting good value for money. I didn’t have the time to research the supplier markets because I was focussed on the sales side of the business. I assumed when I decided to join ERA that many other businesses would be in the same position, and that has proved to be the case.
The reason I love working for ERA has to be lifestyle. Working for myself, from a home office, gives me the flexibility to balance work, family and leisure. I am able to support my children in their sporting and school activities, take breaks away at short notice, or have a round of golf and still complete projects for my clients on time. I work in the evenings and at weekends if necessary, to balance the time I sometimes take out of the normal working week.
During my 10 years with ERA I have been able to have a more enjoyable balance between work and leisure, whilst also increasing my earnings. I used to play a lot of sport, and my two sons have followed in my footsteps. I have been able to travel the country (and world!) to support both of them in their endeavours, which is something I would not have been able to do in the corporate environment.
From a financial point of view I found the first couple of years with ERA quite tough, but as the business grew and developed a stronger identity so my earnings increased. I am in the comfortable position now where I can pick and choose to some extent which projects I take on. I work with all types and sizes of business, across the whole UK, and never know from one day to the next what the next project will bring. ERA life is never boring!
On the personal side I have been able to develop my business skills within ERA to a much higher level than in my previous working life. This enables me to deliver high quality projects to our clients, which is a reward in itself. The flexibility of ERA has to be key. The associate network includes a diverse range of people, from a variety of backgrounds. They each have different needs, and ERA can help them to progress in a variety of directions, depending on their skills and preferences – client acquisition, client management, project management, general category analysis, specific category analysis, or any combination.
It’s also nice that your not on your own, the support teams at ERA Head Office enable associates to focus on their own business, as we are provided with a wide variety of sales, marketing, IT and business development support. If each associate was left to their own devices the ERA brand would be seriously weakened, and the standards would be much lower.
The quality of the marketing materials and initiatives, the invaluable IT systems and the ongoing business mentoring provided by Head Office mean that each associate is running their own small business with the infrastructure of a large corporate business to support them. With a good support & Marketing team in place it means I can focus on saving that company’s profit.
To be honest, I’m a little bit nervous when I make huge savings, as well as a sense of excitement. Is the client going to be pleased with the savings, or annoyed that his own people didn’t do a better job? I always try to manage the client’s expectations, so if I can see that there is likely to be a large saving I will explain at an early stage what I think ERA will be able to achieve with a combination of our market knowledge, in-depth analysis and aggregated purchasing influence. I also explain that the savings are not a reflection on his people’s efforts, as they have limited resources, which is why ERA were engaged in the first place. When the recommendations have been implemented, and the first Fee Note is presented, I get a real buzz from a job well done, and start planning the next holiday!” concludes Brian.
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