Congratualtions to Gavin Sykes - our intrepid charity cyclist, B&O retailer, STBBrackets owner and BeoWorld Sponsor on being awarded 'Best Independent Retailer 2006-2007' by ERT (Electrical Retail Trader) Magazine for providing the best retail experience!
Herbie Sykes (Gavin's brother) sent the following to Gavin to best describe the award process to the BeoWorld Members.. Are you all sitting comfortably?
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Sometime earlier this year a bloke walked into the shop and expressed an interest in a TV. I pretended to know about TV and showed him a red one, a silver one and a black one. He was a bit dim and was easily fooled into thinking I knew what I was on about. I knew he wouldn't buy one.
Some weeks later we were notified that we had won the fantastically prestigeous, world renowned ERT (Electrical Retail Trader) magazine "Take a Town" award for best TV salesy-blokey-thingy. Very nice too.
At a certain point ERT magazine decided to send somebody to take a photograph of the winning sales assistant. I was away off somewhere doing something exciting at the time, so Gavin J. Sykes stood in, beaming for the camera like the the true Aryan wunderkinder we all know him to be.
It then transpired that we had actually won the best "sales experience" in the Country, and not just in Lincoln where there are precisely no other TV Shops. Super-smashing-great and an invitation was received to go to *** Wittington's London, to eat Aberdeen Angus with a group of high powered sales professionals (it says here) and discuss "experiences" in the high powered world of assistant second assistant sales assistancy.
GJS and I were off away lording it up, he drinking Pimms on the Cote D'azur, myself at a wedding in Canada. So we sent Michael Clark on the basis that he can on occasion string two words together, and because we thought our very own Ed Withers might not cope with the bright lights and all those subliminal messages you find in London. And also because his Mum wouldn't let him out.
Well now it seems that Michael made a good impression amongst all those artistic, crazy London types. There are four photographs of him in the fabulously readable ERT magazine, acting as Representative for Gavin Sykes, winner of Best Independent retailer award 2006/2007.
All of which it seems to me is quite fine. I don't have a problem with Gavin claiming the prize, one big happy Beofamily and all that. I don't have a problem with Michael drinking lager without any discernable “head” in the big city. I'm delighted that he collected the prize, a so called "Ra Ra letter day", which I understand has something to do with being in a balloon or pretending to be Stirling Moss. In fact these are precisely the kinds of things I don't want to do in my role as chief miserable old git and deliverer of exceptional retail experiences.
What I do have a slight, teeny, tiny problem with though is the apparent disappearance of the "prize", currently (as I understand it) residing under the bed at Chez Craig McAllister (junior second sales assistant), amongst all the other detritus that teenagers accumulate (OXY10, unfit for purpose socks, kebab meat...)
Please Craig, we know you have a girlfriend from Essex now, but can we have our prize back. Please?
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Gavin added: And if the PR machine engaged by Bang & Olufsen would like a genuinely positive story about the excellence that resides in its dealers (in Lincoln)….well, we are available for comment.
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