Wednesday, 03 October 2012 11:31
IFP conference ends with speech from Jacqueline Gold
The IFP Annual Conference ended today with a speech from Jacqueline Gold, chief executive of lingerie store Ann Summers, who said having the right people was the most important part of her business.
Ms Gold was a controversial choice by the organising committee but won over delegates with her speech about the business.
She said the firm had a staff motto of PRIDE which stood for passionate, respect, inclusive, daring and experts.
She said: "We employ some passionate people who I trust and who I want to spend time with."
This was a topic mentioned by IFP President Nick Cann in his earlier speech when he told delegates that creating a robust Financial Planning firm took time with the right staff and the right support.
Ms Gold said the Ann Summers chain was doing well, especially since the popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey, but that retail was not recession-proof and that it was important to maintain the unique proposition and strong brand of the firm and its multi-channel offerings to customers.
Ms Gold also spoke about some of the challenges she has faced since working at the store.
When she opened the first Ann Summers store in Dublin, she said, she faced a large backlash from certain corporations. This culminated with her being sent a bullet in the post but despite this she persisted with the store opening and the store was now one of the top three branches in the UK.
She also took the Government to High Court after they requested that she stopped advertising job vacancies in the JobCentre. When she won, the case was featured on the News at Ten and she joked they hadn't even needed to advertise in the Jobcentre since the publicity.
Ms Gold was the final speaker at the three-day conference; others had included John Cremer, Carl Richards from Behavior Gap and Ian Taylor from Transact.
Ms Gold was a controversial choice by the organising committee but won over delegates with her speech about the business.
She said the firm had a staff motto of PRIDE which stood for passionate, respect, inclusive, daring and experts.
She said: "We employ some passionate people who I trust and who I want to spend time with."
This was a topic mentioned by IFP President Nick Cann in his earlier speech when he told delegates that creating a robust Financial Planning firm took time with the right staff and the right support.
Ms Gold said the Ann Summers chain was doing well, especially since the popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey, but that retail was not recession-proof and that it was important to maintain the unique proposition and strong brand of the firm and its multi-channel offerings to customers.
Ms Gold also spoke about some of the challenges she has faced since working at the store.
When she opened the first Ann Summers store in Dublin, she said, she faced a large backlash from certain corporations. This culminated with her being sent a bullet in the post but despite this she persisted with the store opening and the store was now one of the top three branches in the UK.
She also took the Government to High Court after they requested that she stopped advertising job vacancies in the JobCentre. When she won, the case was featured on the News at Ten and she joked they hadn't even needed to advertise in the Jobcentre since the publicity.
Ms Gold was the final speaker at the three-day conference; others had included John Cremer, Carl Richards from Behavior Gap and Ian Taylor from Transact.
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