sales@chesterfields.co.uk
www.chesterfields.co.uk

As Britain’s original Chesterfield company…

This is a question we are often asked; the answer is we’re not sure! We have customers the world over who have their own ideas; our Canadian customers like to think that Chesterfield is a Canadian word although they refer to any sofa as a Chesterfield. We have done a little research and according to Robert Hendrickson in the Encyclopedia of word and phrase origins, the term chesterfield is commonly applied to a sofa in honour of Philip Stanhope, the forth Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773). However, Hendrickson points out that it is more likely that a latter Earl of Chesterfield invented them, which earl he does not know. At any rate, according to the OED (Oxford English Dictionary), it was used to refer to a couch in 1900.

According to Carver in American Regional Dialects the term appears to have come into use in Canada around 1903 and in Northern California about the same time. The Journal of the Canadian Linguistics Association notes chesterfield seems to be in general use throughout Canada, though the usual American sofa is also known and used . Almost everywhere in the U.S chesterfields are cigarettes and nothing more. Here in England, a davenport couch was sometimes referred to as a chesterfield but this is obsolete.

In present day England a Chesterfield is now generally accepted to mean a deep buttoned leather sofa with arms that are of the same height as the back of the couch.

Only the original chesterfield company makes chesterfields the old fashioned way, we don’t cut corners and wherever possible use traditional methods in our factory.

We would like a definitive answer to the origins of the Chesterfield sofa, can you help?

If you have any ideas about the origins of the word ‘Chesterfield’ or if you have any interesting Chesterfield facts and we may give you a mention on the site.

Our Factory

Our factory only uses traditional methods to manufacture our fine leather furniture and all of our chesterfield sofas and chairs are made in the UK.

We have a comprehensive quality assurance process from initial order through to final delivery.

All stages throughout the manufacturing process are supervised by time served tradesmen and women with specialised knowledge of the individual skills involved in creating fine furniture.

Manufacture

We go to great lengths to make sure that all of our furniture not only looks good today but will still look good in years to come. All of our leather furniture is hand finished to the highest standard. Each spring is hand inserted into the seats and backs of our furniture with each spring working independently of the others. This ensures that our furniture keeps its form. 

Leather

Only the finest quality leathers are used in the making of our furniture. All leather pieces are covered exclusively in select top grain leather procured from the finest tanneries. Unlike most of our competitors we do not use PU, splits or Bi-cast leather. These are passed off as the genuine article but are not suited to traditional Chesterfield furniture.

Real leather is a natural product. It breathes, is warm and has individual characteristics which make each hide unique. Leather will always bear the marks of its natural origin and these characteristics can show as healed scars, growth marks, areas of differing fibre density and hair pore structure. These hallmarks in no way detract from the wearing qualities of the leather. They are signs discerning owners cherish when buying leather. With the passing of time and use our leather develops a patina which enhances its beauty.

Every chesterfield sofa or chair we produce is totally unique due to the leather we use.

Most of compeitiors use a type of leather know as a “split” this is in essence re-constituted leather given an artificial top coat. At the Original Chesterfield Compnay we guarantee to only use the best UK sourced first class leather.

Frames

All our frames are constructed from hardwood,we use either English beech or English ash,which has been carefully dried, milled and processed to remove defects, which could cause structural weakness. All corners and structural stress points are reinforced with corner blocks that are firmly glued in place.

The construction of our frames as shown in the diagram gives an indication of the traditional methods our factory still uses.

Bradley Bridges’s Summary

Specialties

cold calling, customer satisfaction, database administration, macintosh, marketing, microsoft office, production, quark xpress, sales, ups,

Bradley Bridges’s Experience

Supply and Demand Management Specialist

UBS

Public Company; UBS; Financial Services industry

March 2011 – Present (6 months)

Liverpool Street, London

Supplier

Allied Building Products

Public Company; Building Materials industry

October 2010 – March 2011 (6 months)

Sales Associate

Cbeyond

Public Company; CBEY; Telecommunications industry

October 2009 – July 2010 (10 months)

• Consult with business owners and decision makers in D.C., Northern VA, and MD, providing top-notch communication needs for small and medium-sized businesses
• Generate qualified leads through cold-calling on a daily basis
• Set and run appointments with prospective clients several times a week

Marketer

Costco Wholesale

Public Company; COST; Retail industry

May 2005 – October 2009 (4 years 6 months)

Arranged receptions and on-sites through cold-calling local businesses
Visited businesses to inquire about products, services, and customer satisfaction
Responsible for producing new member sign-ups (gold-star, executive, and business) and American Express sign-ups
In charge of collecting member and non-member information through Costco’s database in order to help define that period’s marketing objectives

Bradley Bridges’s Education

Radford University

B.B.A., Marketing

2005 – 2009

Conveniently situated 5 minutes from Junction 20 of the M62 in the heart of Rochdale makes this an ideal and easy to find venue for conference, meeting or training purposes. 

Our  fully equipped room for up to 20 delegates may be adapted to suit your specific requirements. With installation of the latest in audio-visual technology our customers have access to a range of presentation equipment which are all included in the price of the room hire:

• Overhead projector
• Flip chart & pens
• 32” TV’s and DVD
• Internet connection

Tea, coffee, water and biscuits included with all room hire. Hot & cold lunches available - menu’s provided on request.

If you’d like to find out more about our times and rates for room hire, please call 01706 522 922 or contact us.

The letter or email hits your inbox with an offer of service, and the concluding sentence that says this person you don’t know is going to call next week to discuss these important matters with you.

Please don’t, ok?

The cold call is older than fictional salesman Willy Loman—and less effective, particularly for consultants. A cold call campaign is founded on the one-two punch theory of sales. First, you send out a stack of “enticing” letters to people you don’t know, and second, you call them and solicit their business.

The underlying logic of the campaign is that having a large number of targets will work in your favor. You know that most of your calls will result in failure, but you hope a small percentage of those you contact will agree to meet with you. And from that group, some small percentage will want to discuss a proposal, and a smaller percentage may hire you.

What’s Wrong with this Picture?

If you’re selling aluminum siding, investments, or cell phone service, maybe nothing is wrong with that strategy. But most consultants would rather work for free than make a cold call. Placing a call to a complete stranger to make an offer is self-serving, not client-serving.

Your call is a solution in search of a problem, and everyone knows it. You can be sure that if you do make contact, that person’s guard will be way up.

Cold callers are lucky if they get through toanyone of significance. You’re more likely to reach gatekeepers and tire kickers, not decision makers. And remember, most direct mail is thrown away or ends up in a spam folder before it’s opened. So don’t be surprised if the person answering your call has no idea who you are or why you’re calling.

Even if you’re fortunate enough to reach a decision maker and your message is well-received, that doesn’t necessarily help you. In the consulting business, most service buyers obtain recommendations from colleagues on which consultants to hire. So, it’s possible that your call will give the prospective client a great idea and, because you are an unknown, that client will hire someone else to do the work.

An Offer They Can Refuse

A cold calling operation wastes valuable time and energy. Before you can experience the joys of cold calling, you must have a data base of prospects, a targeted letter, a phone script, and time to place your calls. You also need a good system for call scheduling, tracking, and follow-up. But don’t forget to put on your hard hat because most people are just going to say no.

Like everything in the consulting business, you’ll find an exception to any rule. It’s possible to find consultants who swear by the effectiveness of cold calling. For some professionals, cold calling is at the center of their lead generation strategy.

For most consultants, though, cold calling is best suited for initial introductions. And it takes a fair amount of time to get those prospects into the sales pipeline.

I think of cold calling as a spaghetti strategy: “Let’s throw it all against the wall and see what sticks.” It’s a high effort, low success numbers game that begins with the false assumption that you can identify your real prospects without knowing them, or their issues.

“Sir, Step away from the Phone!”

Eventually, every consultant needs to meet prospective clients to begin relationships and win new business. Otherwise, you can’t grow a consulting practice. But instead of mimicking telemarketers, use your precious time to create a strategic lead generation campaign, rather than engaging in a low probability numbers game.

Begin by identifying a small group of clients you’d like to work with. It’s helpful to rank the prospective clients using criteria that suit you. For example, you may only want to work in certain geographies, or for a particular size of company.

For some of the clients on your list, it’s likely you can use the power of your network of contacts for introductions. It may seem difficult to find people who can provide you with an introduction, but it is well worth the effort. A single introduction by a trusted colleague will almost always guarantee that client will take your call.

In other cases, you may not know anyone who can help you, so you need a different approach. This is the point at which some consultants resort to cold calls. Resist the temptation: you have many other options for raising your profile among your targeted clients.

Learn as much as possible about your prospective client’s industry and business. Identify the relevant trade or professional associations that serve your targeted client’s industry. Participate in those events, volunteer to speak, or write articles for the group.

Broaden your network in the industry, and you’ll meet people who can, and will, help you. If you have a newsletter, keep building your list. Share your best ideas on your Web site, and contribute your articles to others’ Web sites.

Use your valuable time building your marketplace eminence, instead of compiling cold call data bases. Bring value to your targeted market and execute a strategy of creating relationships with prospective clients before you try to sell them something.

When you’re seeking new clients, put relationship development ahead of short-term lead generation and you’ll win without having to become a telemarketer.

Will sales reps cold call – and learn to like it?  Yes, if shown that cold calling is effective in gaining access to decision makers and Key Player executives.  The sales person needs to learn to approach cold calling differently — and should use cold calling to cultivate an internal referral and not to initially call the Key Player. Why not?

A survey* of senior executives was conducted to determine under what circumstances they would respond to a contact from an unknown salesperson. Responses showed that eighty percent (80%) of senior executives are unlikely to ever respond to an inbound sales call. Not great odds. Other than golf, not many people enjoy an effort that yields such disappointing results.

The executives surveyed further indicated that the most likely way to gain access to them is a referral from someone inside their own company. Eighty-four percent (84%) will always or usually respond to an internal referral. A prospecting technique that has been shown to have 84% effectiveness?  What sales person wouldn’t use it? — once they are shown how to use cold calling to generate internal referrals. I conduct CustomerCentric Selling® Cold Call Seminars and real-time Cold Call Coaching, and the most common error made by reps is the lack of a plan for a successful calling session. Before calling the targeted Key Player, I coach the rep to intentionally call laterally or one level lower, as well as to non-key players within that company.

The objective of these calls is to gain an insight into the prospect company that cannot be gleaned from researching their website or other sources.  The sales rep is looking for a “hook.” I recommend that the rep be very upfront about the reason for the call – they are gathering facts to prepare for a conversation with one of the prospect’s executives.

The rep should be prepared with questions that reflect the research done on the prospect before the call.  The questions will help the sales person to identify a goal, need or issue within that prospect that might be addressed by your company’s offerings. Conscientious and relevant questions also demonstrate to the prospect that the rep is credible, interested and respectful of the contact’s time.

Surprisingly, most people called are open to these conversations, and at ease in responding to questions. After all, the sales rep isn’t trying to sell anything to them – they are just asking for help. Even very busy executives rarely rebuff a sincere request for assistance. Often a lateral or subordinate executive will offer that, “Yes, you may indicate we spoke, and these were my thoughts.” Bingo! The sales person has crafted the referral from inside the company.

The result of cold calling with such an approach is this: The rep can make each cold call productive. Knowledge - if not access - can be harvested from every conversation. After only a couple calls, the sales person will have documented many pages of useful notes from these “staging” conversations within the target company, and, as a result,  will be much more knowledgeable about the prospect. This achievement in itself makes cold calling much more satisfying. And the sales person becomes increasingly confident as they polish their cold calling abilities.

Selecting from the gathered notes, the rep crafts a unique script.  Yes, the rep should prepare a written script for the call to the targeted Key Player, and should practice that script until it sounds fluid but not “scripted.”  This script can refer to the earlier conversations within the company, use the referring colleague’s name, and highlight the issues or goals uncovered.

Then, with confidence and skill, the rep tackles that critical cold call to the Decision Maker — this time with the odds in your favor.

hragv:

Best.Poll.Ever.

utnereader:

(via The Atlantic Wire)

Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-leaning polling organization out of North Carolina that likes to make news with flashy headlines, released the results of a survey today that included a question not too often asked by pollsters: “If God exists, do you approve or disapprove of its performance?” Fifty-two percent of the 928 respondents approve of the job the Almighty’s done while 9 percent disapprove.So about half the public isn’t too thrilled with the way God is handling, well, everything. These people realize that, if God exists, He knows how they answered, right? Looks like we’ve got a new flood to get ready for.

http://financial.atlanticinternationalpartnershipnews.com/


Julia Gillard, Australia’s prime minister, took direct aim at Rupert Murdoch’s Australian media arm on Wednesday, saying News Limited – News Corp’s local subsidiary – must answer “hard questions” in light of the UK phone hacking scandal.
Amid calls for an inquiry into Australia’s concentrated media industry proposed by Bob Brown, the Greens senator, Ms Gillard warned News Limited that it had a responsibility to be transparent.
“When there has been a major discussion overseas, when people have seen telephones hacked into, when people have seen individuals grieving… then I do think that causes us to ask some questions here in our country,’ she said.
The comments came just hours after Australia-born Mr Murdoch, News Corp’s chairman and chief executive, and his son James faced a near three-hour grilling before a British parliamentary committee. However, Ms Gillard did not make clear in what forum News Limited would be quizzed.
Mr Murdoch’s Australian unit swiftly responded, describing Ms Gillard’s comments as “unjustified and regrettable”.
But John Hartigan, News Limited chairman and chief executive, said the unit “would be happy” to respond to the prime minister’s questions.
“No one is more appalled or is more concerned about what has happened in the UK than we are,” he said. “It is an affront to everyone here at News in Australia and a slur on the professionalism of our people, especially our journalists.”
Australian government ministers led by Stephen Conroy, the communications minister, have been in recent weeks engaged in an intensifying battle with News Corp’s Australian newspapers, particularly The Daily Telegraph and The Australian. Mr Conroy claims the publications are waging a campaign for “regime change” and that the News Limited stable cannot be trusted, although there is no evidence that the company’s newspapers engaged in the type of phone hacking that led to the demise this month of the News of the World, the now defunct UK Sunday tabloid.
An editorial in The Australian on Wednesday hit back at the News Limited critics, with particular emphasis on Mr Conroy. “Sadly, the reprehensible and illegal behaviour of journalists in Britain now is being used, opportunistically, by our competitors and some politicians such as communications minister Stephen Conroy to besmirch Murdoch publications and journalists in Australia,” the newspaper’s editorial said.
“The same minister now claims this paper and The Daily Telegraph are seeking to force a snap election. His evidence? The newspaper, along with other News Limited dailies, has dared to publish opinion polls that show, among other things, that the public supports Coalition calls for an early election,” it added.
News Limited controls 70 per cent of Australia’s newspaper market as well as owning a 25 per cent stake in Foxtel, the country’s dominant pay-tv operator. Via News Corp’s holding in BSkyB, it owns a 33 per cent stake in TV news channel Sky News Australia, which is chaired by Mr Hartigan.
Australia’s competition regulator is expected on Thursday to give its preliminary view on Foxtel’s agreed A$1.9bn (US$2bn) takeover of regional rival Austar, amid speculation the government could disrupt or even block the deal as part of a wider probe into the nation’s media industry.
Mr Hartigan last week attacked the country’s media and politicians for attempting to link the UK phone hacking scandal with the group’s conduct in Australia.
However, Mr Hartigan also said News Limited would conduct a review of all editorial expenditure during the past three years to “confirm that payments to contributors and other third parties were for legitimate services”.