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OVER THE
COUNTER
BY DAVID ROBERTSON OF JP POZZI, ELGIN AND BUCKIE.
Question Time A couple of weeks ago I saw an entry in my diary that had been made by my office manager ‘Interview with Shaun’. There was no other explanation, no clue as to who Shaun was or what it was about. What followed was the best hour of my week during which I was put on the spot and asked probing questions about my business by a plucky 16 year old. A few days later, it was my turn to be question master, meeting up with Matthew James, newly appointed to the role of director of independent field sales of UK Greetings, to probe deeper into the publisher’s relationship and commitment to us indies. Both meetings reinforced that asking and answering difficult questions is a way for us to grow as individuals and businesses. My ‘Interview with Shaun’ was with a young man who has some learning challenges. He works closely with a scribe/classroom assistant but has completed his NAT 4 Business among several other practical courses. He arrived full of energy to speak to me as part of his NAT 5 course work. Shaun started by asking me about the recent business award we had won and luckily I had the trophy in the office. What followed was a brilliant conversation during which he asked many questions relating to margin, our best selling items, my interaction with staff, local competition and product life cycles. I have a lot of conversations with a lot of people about lots of things, but this conversation really lifted me. Shaun was so keen to learn, but actually I think I got more out of answering him than I think he did from listening to what I had to say. The questions he asked had a simplicity to them which made me really think about how I maybe over complicate things at times. Seeing this young lad smiling and telling me how amazing it was that our 20 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
business had won a national award made me focus on the reality of it all a bit more. Sometimes you simply forget how far you have come. Shaun’s questions also made me realise that of all the things we do as a business, that selling greeting cards and the very good margin they offer are key. It is also one of the most fun parts of my job; working with
Above: There are often more questions than answers in life, but to keep asking questions can lead to a lightbulb moment. Below: David Robertson (centre) with UKG’s Matthew James (left) and the company’s recently retired ceo, James Conn.
publishers of all sizes to source the latest products, trends and fashions into store. Questions of course come in many forms. I can clearly remember during an English lesson at High School discussing closed and open questions, but there are many other types - funnel, leading, rhetorical, recall, divergent and probing to name but a few. However, the real skill to questions is actually to listen to the answers and respond to the comments rather than ask parrot fashion what you have prepared. A few days after this I found myself in the company of the recently retired ceo of UKG, James Conn and the new director of independent field sales, Matthew James, who reports into Darren Cave who is now heading up the whole of the publisher’s sales side. Inspired by Shaun I decided to quiz Matt about UKG and where he sees the future of indie card retailing. Matt started by chatting through his history from his first card job in 1992 as a sales exec on the East Coast of Scotland to five years later moving up to sales manager in the indie sector. He then discussed being brought into managing national accounts. In 2010 he moved from this role as, in his words, he was worried about online and the direction of his current employer at that time. Leaving cards he spent three years with a small stationery company in Edinburgh as a sales manager involved in all aspects of the company. The stationery company only had 12 employees so each