Charlie not deterred by post-Brexit sales slump

ANYONE suffering a weekly sales fall from £40,000 to under £1,000 in less than a month could be forgiven for being worried .

But Charlie Parker, while not happy, remains optimistic.

Since the EU referendum result in June sales at Parkers Promotional Products, the Otley-based firm started by his father in 1985, have fallen off a cliff .

Charlie, however, remains confident that, once the immediate shock of the Brexit result is over, business will bounce back.

He said: "I've never seen a steeper, faster drop off in trade in 35 years than in the past month - it's been dramatic. Following the Brexit vote companies are waiting and seeing and marketing budgets are on hold .

"But I think this is a temporary phase as everyone is uncertain about the economic outlook. I voted to remain in the EU but it's no good moaning on about a second referendum; the die is cast and the decision made.

"As we start understanding how to extract ourselves from the EU I believe confidence will return. It's not a crisis yet."

Charlie sources many of the wide range of products he provides to clients from China and Europe as well as the UK. The sterling exchange rate against the US dollar is critical to the pricing of goods and the pound's recent falls has forced Parkers to start renegotiating prices with some clients.

But the ebullient Bradford-born businessman and former Otley RUFC player has developed Parkers into one of the go-to suppliers of items from branded pens. key rings, T-shirts and umbrellas to USB sticks - which have become one of the most popular corporate give-aways.

Charlie is the son of former Bradford wool man Albert Parker who found himself working as a salesman for a Blackpool gifts company after a number of business failures following the sale of the family firm to Woolcombers.

Charlie said: "Dad received £250,000 from that deal in the 1960s at the age of 36 and thought he was set for life. But he fell out with the top brass at Woolcombers and then made a series of bad investments. The craziest was buying an island in the Bahamas with the aim of attracting rich Americans until all the land was requisitioned by the government.

"At the age of 49 he found himself working for Starline Sales Ideas Ltd selling items from a suitcase. He was a natural salesman and was the first to turn over £100,000 for the firm. "

Charlie's introduction to the gifts business came when Albert asked him to source items not stocked by Starline. That was in 1985 and he's been in the give-aways business ever since - in contrast to his younger days when he was sacked from a succession of jobs as a headstrong youth in his late teems and early 20s.

Charlie admits that one of his key motivating factors has been to fund private education for his five sons, the youngest of whom is now 21. Like him they all attended Sedbergh School in Cumbria.

"Dad insisted that I put my first son's name down but I ended up with five sons - and he never offered me any money. I reckon it's cost nigh on £1 million to educate them so I've had to ensure the business was successful," he said.

Charlie has suffered his share of adversity both personally and professionally.

His first wife Victoria died aged 39 when their youngest son was only 14. Then Parkers suffered a major downturn following the loss of an £800,000 contact, a bad deal in China which lost $60,000 followed by the impact of the 2008 financial crash when many companies slashed their marketing and promotional budgets.

Parkers suffered a significant drop in turnover from the then peak of £1.8 million.

Charlie took control of Parkers in 1994 following the retirement of Albert and former Yorkshire cricket captain the late Phil Carrick who was a partner.

Parkers sources and supplies millions of items for a wide range of clients. Locally these include Sovereign Health Care in Bradford; Shipley-based specialist insurer Keycare and Ilkley-based hair styling products company Cloud Nine along with major retailers and supermarkets among others.

Charlie describes promotional products as the "silent salesman" of a company.

" What you hand out says something about your business and will influence people's perception of the brand. There's nothing worse than rubbish giveaways," he said.

But Charlie insists that attention to customer service has been key to restoring Parker's turnover to nearly £2 million.

"My father built a business on his personality and I have done the same.The best result for us is to get to know and sit with the customer face to face.

"These days promotional products can be bought at the touch of a button online and we do a large amount of business through the internet. But I believe business should be a combination of good relationships and quality service.

"We were asked by Cloud Nine to source a hairbrush for their Christmas pack. I went to China and met suppliers; we had the factories inspected and audited with the result that I was able to supply  brushes for a much better price  than the original ones and they are better quality."

Martin Rae, Cloud Nine managing director, said: "Parkers Promotional Products hit the ground running. Our original request to source high calibre products that matched our own in quality and creativity, proved a success – we received quality and value in equal measure. They understand our business, our customer and where we want to invest and grow.

" Parkers take the brief, they provide creative solutions and we run with it – it’s a great relationship."

Charlie added: "Our relationship with Cloud Nine typifies our key aims as a business – to make it happen. We enjoy excellent relationships with our suppliers at home and abroad, and know exactly from whom and where we can source the best.

"We source branded products that fit with the client and their brief at the right price. Our mantra is ‘whatever it takes’ and return on investment proves that this is just what we do best."

Another example of good customer service was ensuring a consignment of 8,000 paper bags for a key client for use at this year's Great Yorkshire Show was replaced at short notice after they were rejected due to poor print quality .

Charlie recalled: "At 4.30 pm on the Friday before the Show I got a call rang to say the bags had been rejected. We arranged a reprint and delivered the replacement bags on Tuesday morning in time for the start of the show."

Now also on board as financial director at Parkers is Charlie's third wife Janie, whom he married in 2013. An accountant, she gave up a good job to join the firm and ensure its finances are on a strong footing.

Parkers currently employs seven people and Charlie sees this expanding to around 30 over the next few years as he pursues his aim of increasing turnover to £ 5 million before bowing out.

While they followed him to Sedbergh, his sons will not be joining the business. They are either students or pursuing their own careers, including cloth salesman, recruiter and actors' agent.

"I've decided that none of my children are coming into the business. It only brings problems. I know of family firms that failed because everyone wanted to be the boss and there was too much squabbling," he said.