The person I spoke to this morning mentioned a high turnover at the branch level across the business. They noted a correlation between service levels and staff tenure. Branches with lower turnover tend to provide better service. Is that your impression as well?

People would come in, and there might be three, four, or five people in the shop. If there's someone fairly new on the counter, and a customer wants a piece of fascia, soffit, or gutter, that person may not know the codes yet because they haven't been there long enough. They're hesitating and trying to find the codes, which means the customer is in the shop for ages. People at the back start getting frustrated and may walk out.

The person I spoke to this morning mentioned a high turnover at the branch level across the business. They noted a correlation between service levels and staff tenure. Branches with lower turnover tend to provide better service. Is that your impression as well?

In places where staff have been there for years, the transaction is smoother. The tenure of staff goes hand in hand with the service for these reasons. It's not always something that can be helped. If a person doesn't know the codes by heart because they haven't been there long enough, the service level will naturally drop. So, yes, they definitely go hand in hand.

That sounds chaotic. You could easily have two branches offering completely different pricing on the same product.

Exactly, yes. For the same customer, I might set silicon at £10 per tube. They could walk into Torquay and say, "I got it for £8 in Newton Abbot," and then I'd agree to £8. Then they might go to Newton Abbot and say, "I got it for £7 in Torquay," and that's when discrepancies start appearing.