Getting To Know You: Matt Anderson, Director, Velair

Matt Anderson talks to Business Matters about his company Velair ensure their customers get the best products for the end user.

What products or services do you provide?

Essentially, we provide hand dryer packages for B2B partners. If you’re a company that sell’s to customers, you’re in either the hygiene, janitorial or electrical industry, and you want to be able to offer your customer a hand dryer package which is based on ‘good’, ‘better’, or ‘best’ of 2 or 3 different hand dryers built through a robust supply chain, from a company that’s well established, then you’ll come to Velair, or everything Hand Dryers.

What type of businesses do you work with?

Predominantly with electrical wholesalers and washroom/hygiene companies

What problem does your company solve

We solve the problem of finding a company that sell a hand dryer package which is robust, energy efficient, with great customer service and amazing technical support.

What is your USP?

Our USP’s are number 1 our outstanding customer service, and number 2 our Plug and Play hand dryer system that we built, which is changing the hand dryer world.

What are your company values? Have you ever had them challenged and if so how have you dealt with it?

On the wall of every office in the business are our values, titled ‘Be loved, not liked’. It struck a cord with me because lots of people like you (in the modern world of Facebook, and LinkedIn) but rarely do you get people who love you- especially customers. We put these values together to ensure that we’re loved, and these values are ‘Deliver WOW through customer service. Embrace drive and change. Create fun, and a little weirdness. Be adventurous, creative and open minded. Pursue growth and learning. Build honest relationships. Keep open communication. Build a positive team and family spirit. Do more with less. Be passionate and determined. Be humbled.’

How do you ensure that you recruit a team that reflects your company values?

One of the interview questions that we always ask is ‘tell us something that’s weird about you’, and it’s not a question that’s posed, it’s a gateway into knowing a little more about someone. We talk about the company values throughout the interview process, and what’s important to us, and so far we’ve built a fantastic team- so whatever we’ve done has obviously worked.

Are you happy to offer a hybrid working model of home/office post-covid?

Currently 90% of the people that work for Velair and EHD work from the office, but we do have people that work from both home and the office, and it’s not a problem. I believe that it works for most roles, but there are certain roles where you need to be in the office

Do you have any tips for managing suppliers and customers effectively?

In the 10 years of doing this, the one rule for us is fairness. Customers and suppliers are as important as each other, and some people don’t realise this. If you cant get a product, then you don’t have a customer, so its important that through the whole supply chain, and into the customer, you are fair with both parties.

Any finance or cash-flow tips for new businesses starting out?

Its really difficult when you start out because there aren’t a lot of business’ that have lots of cash injected into them at the beginning; you’re running everything yourself. The advice that I was always given was to bring somebody in as soon a possible who really understand finance, because it will be incredibly helpful, and hopefully keep you out of any trouble.

If you could ask one thing of the government to change for businesses what would it be?

The only thing I would look at changing is a way to make the system fairer for those business’ who don’t make a lot of money but work extremely hard compared to those who make an absolute fortune, and seem to pay the same tax.

What is your attitude towards your competitors?

I have the upmost respect for our competitors. Dyson came in 12 years ago, changed the industry and did hand dryers a massive favour, allowing for vertical change, as opposed to horizontal and expanding people’s thought horizon of what hand dryers are really capable of.

Any thoughts on the future of your company and your dreams?

With the invention of our Plug and Play system, we see the option of a global market opening up. We are now focusing on how we move from supplying the UK; into Europe, the US and Asia, with a system that’s revolutionising hand drying, and how do we protect that move forward. These are the things that challenge us, and as business owners, these are the challenges that we want.