Meet the Team: Richard South

Imagine a stereotypical credit control executive and you might picture a rather stern individual that nobody ever wants to hear from – but that couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to our very own Richard South!

Richard has worked in the dental sector for more than 20 years and has been part of the Denka family since the very start, so he knows a thing or two about balancing the books! Richard’s professionalism and friendly manner embodies the kind of efficient, responsive service Denka aims to offer each and every customer. We caught up with Richard for a quick chat about his role…

Hi Richard! Tell us a little bit about your Denka story…

Hello! My role is in credit control, which means I help with the liquidity of the company by keeping bad debts down. My original background was in mechanical design engineering until 1976 when I went into pharmacy sales. We then started our own dental/medical consumables business in 1993 which after some mergers and having been taken forward by younger members of the family and a brilliant team, has become Denka.

What’s your favourite thing about your job?

My favourite thing about the job is doing business with professionals – it’s very rewarding to be dealing with such dedicated, passionate people every day.

What’s the most challenging thing?

I would say knowing when to resort to legal proceedings. It’s not something we ever want to do, and thankfully it’s very rarely necessary.

What would you say are the key attributes required to perform well in your role?

I call them ‘the Ps’ - patience and polite persistence. Different people have different views on the strategy that works best in credit control but I have always found that keeping dialogue open is the best approach.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself that colleagues might not know?

Our first order back in 1993 was from my own dentist at that time. The senior dental nurse in that practice is now practice manager at my current dentist, 25 years later! It’s a small world.

Name a food you love that your dentist would disapprove of?

Puff Candy or Cinder Toffee!

What’s the one thing that always makes you smile?

Working with our great team here at Denka. We’re lucky to have lots of talented, energetic people that support each other to deliver the best service for our customers, and that’s very satisfying.