WHEN Noel Parkinson’s career in professional football ended, he had never
heard of an invoice, let alone considered starting up a business.
“I had been cocooned in the world of football where everything was done for
me,” he said. “I was told what to wear, when to get on the coach and when to
get off.”
Parkinson had demonstrated a talent for football from an early age. Brought up
in Hull, he played for the town’s youth teams until the age of 14 when he
was spotted by talent scouts from Arsenal, Manchester United and Ipswich
Town.
“It was fantastic,” he said. “I was getting all these letters from
professional clubs saying, ‘Come for a trial and if you’re any good we’ll
give you an apprenticeship’.”
However impressive a selection of offers Parkinson may have received, his
father made sure his feet stayed firmly on the ground by allowing him to
accept only on the condition that he completed his GCSEs alongside his club
commitments.
“I left on the train to Ipswich with my father’s voice in my head saying, ‘If
you haven’t passed those exams, you’re on the first train back home’.”
Parkinson managed to get his GCSEs despite his high-profile apprenticeship
with Ipswich Town, where he was managed by Sir Bobby Robson. In 1978
Parkinson played for England in the UEFA Youth Tournament in Poland.
Determined to gain a place in the England first team, Parkinson set about
getting himself noticed. Robson sold him to Mans-field Town, where, aged 19,
he captained the club.
At the age of 26, however, while playing for Colchester United, a tackle left
him with a pelvic injury so serious that he was forced to retire. “In
effect, my whole world had been shattered,” he said. “Football was all I
wanted and all I knew.”
With two young children and a wife to support, Parkinson took a job selling
photo-copiers. He rose from trainee to regional director yet, despite his
success, felt ready for a change. He resigned without having secured his
next job.
“My mates thought I’d gone mad,” he said. “But I’d have gone mad if I’d
stayed. I was convinced there would be someone out there who would take a
chance on me.”
Dixon Motors - a previous client - offered him a job. “That’s when I entered
the motor industry,” he said. “I knew nothing about cars, but it was an
opportunity for change and that appealed.”
Parkinson was soon promoted to managing director of online sales. When Royal
Bank of Scotland bought out the online division of Dixon Motors in 2002,
Parkinson was one of four managing the operation.
The new company, Jamjar.com, grew rapidly, but in 2004 Parkinson and the other
three senior executives were made redundant. “I was told to leave the
building immediately, just like that,” he said.
Parkinson started planning a new online car-sales business, recruiting all six
of his original team from Dixon Motors and opted for a stakeholder scheme to
raise the required capital.
He put in £80,000 and the others contributed £20,000 between them. A bank was
persuaded to provide a loan of the same amount. The majority of the £200,000
went on designing the company’s website and creating software advanced
enough to enable customers’ cars to be evaluated automatically to calculate
their value.
The idea was to create a business for car owners who were too busy or who did
not want to sell vehicles in the small ads and talk to a stream of
prospective buyers.
Once a seller enters the car’s mileage, condition and other details, the
website calculates its value and makes an offer to buy the car.
Automating the business like this removes the need to employ a telesales team
and cuts costs sharply, said Parkinson.
Sales have hit £20m two years after launch, yet Parkinson has maintained a
core staff of only nine; all other aspects of the 365-days-a-year business
are out-sourced, giving the firm the ability to react swiftly to any changes
in its market.
“Because we’re such a small team we can operate like a speedboat when faced
with problems,” he said.
Ensuring the website is easy to use has also been important, said Parkinson.
“You need to make sure you offer a brilliant experience for the customer
every time. People are becoming more sophisticated and choosy. The web gives
people so much choice, you have to be able to keep up and offer the best
possible product.”
Success is not about loving the products you sell and is much more about
self-belief, tenacity and drive, said Parkinson, 48.
“I’m constantly looking to extend myself and push myself to the next level.
Set your eyes on a target, and then try to surpass it. I’m a sports nut with
no interest in cars, but I was born to win.”
