Organisation

Barcham is an organisation geared to customer satisfaction with both the trees supplied and the service received.

The day to day organisation of the nursery is divided into two primary functions, production and sales. Both are interlinked and dependent on the other, to deliver both a first class service and a first class product.

The production side of the nursery managed by Production Director Warren Holmes-Chatfield and his production Manager Kevin Stokes looks after the trees from their selection, prior to containerisation, through to the extensive husbandry and aftercare each tree receives while standing on the production lines prior to sale. Each tree is headpruned and rootpruned prior to potting according to the needs of each individual species and variety and then given formative pruning when developing on the nursery. The drip irrigation to each container, linked to a steady flow of liquid feed, ensures that each tree is in constant growth throughout the growing season and is able to develop to it’s full potential. Vigilant inspection coupled with a rigorous environmentally sensitive spray programme ensures trees are pest and disease free and ready to be despatched to the customer in optimum condition to achieve quick establishment and instant amenity effect.

The sales side of the organisation encompasses not only sales, but stock management, stock selection and despatch. This is managed by Sales Director Keith Sacre. Some two years ago Barcham decided to amalgamate all those elements of the business related to customer satisfaction under one heading ensuring a consistent and co-ordinated approach to transforming the customers needs and requirements into reality.

All telephone enquiries to the nursery will be answered personally by a member of the sales or despatch team who will be able to offer advice and or prices as required. Barcham refuses to use an electronic answering service with endless optional menus preferring to trust in people and individual contact.

All quotations, other than the most complex, whether delivered by fax or e-mail, are answered on the same day. The more complex quotations are prepared and returned by deadline dates often with discussions between the customer and member of the sales staff having taken place to ensure that prices given reflect accurately the requirements and specification outlined in the original quotation.

Where customers need on site advice Barcham will make site visits with the cost of such visit offset against any orders subsequently placed. Barcham will not quote for trees from other nurseries and will not source material from other nurseries just to complete an order. The customer can be assured that each tree despatched has gone through the Barcham production system.

Where the customer has specific requirements and there is a long lead time Barcham are able and do produce trees under contract ensuring the right number of trees at the right specification are ready to be despatched when needed at a known and agreed fixed price.

Each tree for each order is carefully selected from the tree stock on the nursery to meet the customers specification and labelled accordingly. Customers are welcomed to the nursery at this stage of the proceedings if they would like to label their own tree stock.

Once a despatch date has been agreed each tree is lifted by the specialised despatch team who check each tree for quality prior to loading on the lorry. Customers can agree specific dates and times for delivery with the despatch team and these will be met once agreed. The despatch team will contact each customer prior to despatch and discuss individual requirements and timings which will be built into the despatch schedule wherever it is possible to do so.

The above is coordinated by Managing Director Mike Glover who is very much in touch with customers having refused to become isolated in the ivory tower of senior management ensuring that all aspects of the Barcham business is customer focused.