p10,12 Trade talk 8/15/08 12:41 PM Page 10
TRADE TALK - Sports Retail
SGB
Sports and Outdoor www.sgb-sports.com
JACK MEETS…..NIGEL MILLER
There may be an energy crisis. All around there may be an air of uncertainty.
The future may be unsure. But when Jack Lynes, our man about the trade, met Nigel Miller there was
no shortage of energy; the future had a distinctly bright look about it – and it wasn’t entirely down to
the ‘K Factor’.
N
igel was just a few minutes late. He had driven learning the hard way.
some 80 miles to see me and was quite concerned. Eight to ten cold calls a day with SCATS for two years
The fact that he had gone several miles out of his and later with another firm selling to farmers was good
way to deliver one racket to a customer was spade work for what was to come. In 1976 he married
quietly slipped in as we shook hands for the first time for Sandy in America.
some ten years. This time, I pondered, I was not a Two years on, fortuitously while enjoying a drink in a
potential buyer and was no longer concerned with bar in Spain, he met David Ling, who suggested that
budgets, stock orders, discounts, or how to turn the visit adidas might be interested in meeting him. I would love
of a Rep into profit. Nigel has been a Rep (these days rat to have been a fly on the wall at the interview at adidas
catchers are called rodent operators and sales reps may be UK HQ when Nigel was asked why he thought that he
Area Managers or an array of other high falutin’ names) might succeed as a salesman in the sporting goods
with Wilson for more than a quarter of a century. This industry. His questioner must have been impressed when
reunion would be a chance to discover what makes him he expounded the theory that if he could sell fertilisers
tick and possibly to find out why he never went away when the potential buyer would not know if they would
from my sports emporium without a pretty good order perform well, or at all, he would find little difficulty in
and why I felt so invigorated by his calls. arduous cross country running. Perhaps his talents at persuading retailers how to make real money by stocking
He was born in Redhill, Surrey in 1949. On August being able to act and respond to life’s challenges may be branded merchandise and in particular with the famous
18th, 1940 his parents were victims of indiscriminate partly attributed to his position as scrum-half where three stripes. There could have been few better
dropping of bombs by enemy 'planes as they lightened success depended on his ability to deliver the ball, be it introductions to the sports trade. Not only was there a
their loads to escape the Spitfires whose squadron was from over his head, between his legs or indeed from brand that was in demand but the disciplinary ethos of
close by. His mother’s arm needed to be sewn back on as a wherever and however it comes to him. Nigel is a adidas, with targets and record keeping to the fore, was a
result of a direct hit on the Anderson shelter. These were character with ‘a positive reaction to’ rather than ‘a good deal superior to that generally in the industry.
traumatic times and in more ways than one his father had negative escape from’, surely the qualities associated with a When Wilson were seeking their first UK salesman,
proved to be a man of steel, marketing farm tanks and good scrum-half. But I digress. Much of his studies several retailers from the Southern Counties where he had
excelling as a salesman. In an article of this nature, I only consisted of practical work on their 830-acre (I had a been travelling in adidas clothing (not literally) were
mention the date of this ghastly happening because distinct impression that he had measured it for accuracy) quick to suggest Nigel as the man most likely to… His
Nigel’s life story was regularly punctuated by specific farm. His final studies took him to the Plumpton wife, Sandy, had taken a call in the early summer of 1981
details, not simply of dates, but of the time to the minute Agricultural College, Lewes, from which he obtained the from a Mr. Smiddy from the USA, based in Wilson’s
of almost every occurrence, further evidence if it were National Certificate of Agriculture gaining a good Wimbledon office. Like Sandy, he too was born South of
needed of his attention to detail and precision. Leaving background knowledge of animal, crop and machine. No the Mason-Dixon Line, and whether or not that had any
the ‘A’ stream of Stenning County Secondary School aged surprise then that in 1969 he was to go to SCATS, but influence, a meeting was arranged. Now the story moves
16 and inclined towards the country life, he was admitted jump not to any conclusions, that is an acronym for to Delaware, USA, where Nigel is holidaying with his in-
to Brinsbury Agricultural College where he studied and Southern Counties Agricultural Trading Society, which laws. Joe Drabot phones from Chicago. Not exactly round
passed the City and Guilds course. Earlier he had spent was based in Godalming. With a second hand red Mini the corner but advised to get a taxi and a flight, it was full
one year at Oxted County Grammar School where he (car, not skirt) 850cc, and an Ordnance Survey map (yes, steam ahead. Leaving at 4am from Philadelphia, Nigel and
chose to play rugby rather than succumb to somewhat we did manage before sat-navs) he set out as a salesman, Joe were having coffee together at half past nine. $380
10 AUGUST 2008
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