Be Careful What You Wish For Read Online Free PDF

the position was mine. I had gone full circle and was back in mobile phones, albeit working for others this time.
    I arrived for my first day at Carphone Warehouse’s head office on Marylebone Road. This place was busy and there was serious money to be made! There I met some of their hierarchy including Charles Dunstone, the MD. He was quite a pleasant, low-key guy. David Ross, the finance director, couldn’t have been more different. Over a period of time I found him to be one of the most difficult and unpleasant people I have ever worked with or for. Although, astonishingly, many years later when I bumped into him in Puerto Banus I did share an enjoyable drink with him.
    Once the new Fleet Street branch was ready, Andrew, Gerald (another new guy) and I moved in. It was a small branch and had just enough room for three desks. It looked crowded if you had four customers in it. So I was a little dismayed. But it turned out to be great, and was where I had some of the best times of my life. The three of us became very close friends and the atmosphere in the branch was a very happy one, but more importantly we were selling a substantial number of phones.
    The pecking order was established very quickly. Andrew was the boss, I was the self-appointed number two and Gerald was at the bottom of the pile, i.e. he was the lunch and tea getter. It was a friendly environment but it was also dog eat dog and I was here to sell and progress my career.
    I am a great people studier and I listen to what people say, especially in the work environment, and I picked up sales techniques from all manner of sales people I worked with. If I say so myself I was pretty damn good at selling mobile phones. I understood the technology well from previous experience, and had a way with customers that didn’t make them feel like they were being sold to.
    As I would say at many a sales meeting in the future, the biggest decision a customer made was walking into the shop. After that it was your decision whether he or she bought something from you. And whilst many sales people seemed to be pleased with just selling phones , I tended to sell/push everything that came with them, in order to increase my commission.
    Andrew used to roll around laughing because my sales pitch was ballsy, to say the least. I knew the products, the accessories, all the services we offered inside and out. I would push everything with such confidence that the customer felt that they would be stupid not to take me up on the deal I was offering. If they walked out with only one extra, I would be mildly upset, if they had the front to not take any, then I would feel real indignation, much to Andrew’s amusement.
    The branch was obliterating its targets and I was doing 60 per cent of the branch sales on my own. I was golden, so Andrew let me get away with murder.
    Poor Gerald suffered, as I grabbed every sale I could. If a customer walked in with a complaint or a fault, then I would immediately direct them to Gerald’s desk. If a buying customer walked towards his desk, I would be up out of my seat directing them to mine.
    With my performance my profile in the company was rising. Just five months into the job I got a call from Ricky Elliot. The company had signed a concession deal with Staples, the American office superstore, and he was putting me forward to head up the first one in Swansea. The partnership with Staples was a big deal. There were massive expansion plans to open up as many as a hundred stores across the UK. I was happy in Fleet Street but my father always told me to say yes to every opportunity, as you never know where it may lead.
    So I accepted the job. Andrew was extremely upset. Not just because we had become close mates but also because they had failed to tell him.
    I wanted a big pay rise to go to Swansea. Company car, big commissions, expenses. Let’s just say my wish list wasn’t small.
    David Ross just said no to everything, but as I had been introduced to the