The Salesman - Richard Chinn

Richard’s dad Trevor Chinn was a designer at Gordon Russell, and Richard thinks this helped secure him a in the Sales Office at the company when he first left school. He started as the office junior doing menial tasks such as preparing samples for clients, but he also got to take people around the Gordon Russell showroom and sometimes on factory tours, so he got to know all parts of the factory well. After a few years Richard was asked to join the sales team ‘on the road’, working with two more senior men, Don Teale and Richard Figgat. At 20, Richard was given a company car (much to the envy of his friends) and visited clients all over the country, living out of hotels and guesthouses. Richard enjoyed the job and was good at it. When Gordon Russell Ltd was taken over by Giroflex, Richard felt he was being forced out of a job and took the new company to court for unfair dismissal. He lost his case. Richard branched out on his own and had a successful career after leaving Russell’s.