NQP’s sales manager is off to give toy poodle Dougie more attention
From satin padded designs, through Bengry Bears to award-winning Pizazz and the latest Flower Press ranges, John Broad has seen many changes in 37 years of selling greeting cards, latterly as sales manager for Nigel Quiney Publications.
And he’s now about to collect his own happy retirement card as he hangs up his NQP iPad to put himself at the beck and call of toy poodle Dougie!
“One thing that I don’t miss from my early days are order forms,” John told PG Buzz, “endlessly ticking boxes, totalling up and then packaging up to post to the office while keeping my fingers crossed they wouldn’t get lost in the postal system.
“I couldn’t have envisaged how, 25 years later, iPads and Card Manager would change the way we work in such a positive way.”
Coming from a retail background, John started in the greetings industry working for Fine Art Graphics, which became Britannia Products, then joined NQP as a sales rep in 1994. He was promoted to regional sales manager for the south-east then latterly has been manager for the publisher’s independent sales team.
John’s earliest memories of Fine Art Graphics’ products are the individual boxed cards which were satin padded, and Poppets, extra-large cards which came with a cardboard mailer, and there was an extensive offering of both.
He added: “When I joined Nigel Quiney, Bengry Bear’s cute character was the prominent design range covering both open and captions. Over the years the product offering has evolved and grown to where it is today with the various award-winning Pizazz ranges and, latterly, the introduction of the Henries-nominated Flower Press range, both a long way from those cute bear designs, and not forgetting everything else in between.
“It’s been a pleasure to have been able to work in such a creative industry and to meet such friendly and supportive customers and colleagues alike. I’m now looking forward to spending more time with my family – and Dougie of course!”
Managing director Alison Butterworth said: “Nigel Quiney believes people are and always will be our greatest asset. John has been a very important member of the team and we would like to thank him for his contribution to the company over the years and being an integral part in our success.
“He’s made the life-changing decision to retire in September 2022 after being a hardworking and dedicated member of the team – we will be extremely sorry to lose John after 28 years here.
“John will be missed by everyone at NQP, along with all his customers who he has traded with over the years. We’d like to say a big thank you to John. We all hope he has a very happy retirement.”
