Given my sales background and experience with the banking industry, I applied.

After several weeks I received a letter informing me that I had not been successful as the position had been filled from within the company, but that they had created a sales executive role looking after the southwest of England – and asking if I would be interested.

I accepted the job and found out that not only does Cummins supply the retail and banking industries, but it is also the leading supplier of cash counting equipment to the amusement industry.

Why? What attracted you to this sector?

So it was by accident that I found myself in the amusement industry...

Do you think it has changed much since then?

When I joined Cummins, the majority of turnover came from sales and service to the amusement sector and we exhibited at all of the leisure and gaming-related shows that took place nationwide throughout the year at that time.

ATEI kicked off the year at Earls Court every January, followed by Leisure Industry Week, Amuse in Blackpool and Leisure Preview. We also attended various other smaller exhibitions and open days. Business was brisk and the amusement sector in the UK was buoyant.

Various factors have contributed to the changes that have taken place since then, the most significant being the technological advances that have been made in the development of high-spec Internet-based home gaming, together with the smoking ban, ceaseless legislation and an imbalance in the way that arcades and AGCs have been treated over betting shops. These factors and the current economic climate mean that business is not quite as brisk as it was.

What are the biggest positive factors for the sector right now – the drivers of growth and development?

In this Olympic year and with the current crisis in Europe, the British holiday resorts could well experience a revival as they become the more attractive holiday destination, with more Brits choosing to holiday at home and visit our arcades.

And what are the negative ones – the obstacles to growth?

Gaming can take place anywhere and the technological advancement in home gaming in contrast to the development that is taking place within the amusement sector is leaving arcades with the dilemma of finding the next best thing to entice gamers out of their homes and back into the arcades.

Looking at your whole career, what do you reckon was your smartest move (large or small)?

Taking part in the inter-bank darts competition while working at Barclays, as that was where I met my wife.

And your dumbest one?

In hindsight, accepting the role of sales manager at Falconcraft. It shortly went into liquidation, before I had even received my first pay cheque!

Where do you hope you’ll be, professionally, in ten years’ time?

I relish the prospect of further promotion and would like to see myself in a management role working for a large secure company encouraging others to fulfil their potential in an ever-changing and exciting industry.



And finally – if you’d never embarked on this career, what other line(s) of work would you have liked to pursue?

Either a stockbroker or an investment banker…though with the benefit of hindsight, I now realise that wouldn’t have been the smartest move.

Curriculum vitae

Born:

10 September 1968

Education:

St. Edward’s C of E Comprehensive, Romford

Career:

1985-93 Barclays Bank

1993-2001 Jessgrove – sales executive selling inner garment linings and trimmings within London and the south of England

2001-present Cummins-Allison

Spent more than five years as a sales executive covering patches in the south of England and Ireland.

In January 2007, added the role of national account manager for casinos.

From January 2012, sales executive for the southeast of England, national account manager for casinos, and accounts manager for Ireland.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---