-: So my name is Christopher Clark.
I am the Director of Market Research and
Customer Analytics at Ferguson Enterprises.
So Ferguson Enterprises is about a 13 billion dollar
company headquartered in Newport News, Virginia
and we sell construction material.
Basically everything from high end appliances
and bath and kitchen products
all the way to nuclear process pipe.
So it's a very interesting organization
that sells quite a bit.
So it's in a lot of different channels,
a lot of different verticals.
So I oversee three departments over all marketing department
which would be market research, customer insights,
and then customer segmentation.
So the three groups work kind of collaboratively
to look at what's happening in our overall economy,
what our, how do our customers react to promotional
items, how do they work to campaigns?
Just general the science behind marketing.
So trying to align our services to the right products
with the right people, the right promotions.
So the whole four Ps of marketing.
So marketing to the consumer when you're in
a b to b environment, that is challenging.
And it's not necessarily something that you walk out
of school knowing, 'cause you have to learn
the industry a little bit but you fall back on
what you've learned and how to apply it.
So it is understanding the relationship
that our homeowners and the consumers have
with the person who's actually doing the work.
So in those situations we have to market to them
in a sense using terminology, verbiage, visuals
that they'll respond positively to.
But at the same time, trying to focus on
this is how you buy from us, this is not
a typical sales relationship that you might have
with a big box or retail chain.
We do primarily focus on the b to b side
of the organization.
So our typical customer is a mechanical contractor,
an interior designer, a home builder, could
be an engineer.
But we do have a consumer end.
So a lot of the products, if you look at the
marketing side, will market towards the consumer.
Because it is a bath tub, it's a sink, it's
an appliance that we're selling in one of our galleries.
But the person who might make the purchase
is probably going to be the home builder,
or sorry, the builder themselves.
Not the homeowner.
So it's a little bit of an interesting relationship,
it's not typical.
It's challenging, but I think it actually
makes it more fun.