Wholesale We are Sub-Normal in Spain - Ancient Wisdom - Giftware and Aromatherapy Supplier

Greetings from Spain.

Last week I was in Sheffield getting ready for Brexit day - and yes of course it didn't happen. But Halloween went ahead as normal, or should I say sub-normal.. and last week I was telling you about our costume competition at AW HQ.. you can read about it here.

Whether you are a believer in Brexit or not you have to agree the disruption caused by the dither and delay is bad.. very bad. Every business that imports or exports to Europe (and we do both) is unable to plan effectively for the future in the UK.. the only sensible thing to do is move where possible operations to the safe and stable euro zone. You can't invest in staff you might not need, you can't make major infrastructure investments.. you maybe stock up more, but at the end of the day it's simply not good. Dear brexiter reading this - lets face it when brexit day finally dawns, hard, soft or scrambled.. it's still only the beginning of a transition faze that will consume years and years of further uncertainty. I have no idea where we are going.. or why we are in a hand-cart :)

So... that's why me Raul (the IT wizard), Rodrigo (the Brazilian) and Tomas (the marketing wizard) are in Spain..

We escaped the biblical downpour in Sheffield - massive rains and flooding all very close to AW - I read this morning that some shoppers found themselves trapped and had to spend last night in a shopping centre.. extreme sub-normal weather conditions seem to be becoming the norm.

I'm hoping by the time you read this things are getting back to normal in Sheffield.

Here in Spain, it's mostly sunny with the odd shower.. and we got the keys to our new wonderful warehouse. On the same day.. 27 pallets of stock arrived from Sheffield. several containers are on there way from China, Indonesia and India. It's all go and very exciting as we make big plans.

Lots do.. today we sign a deal with the racking company, in the end we should have a 1000 pallet spaces. The offices are being decorated, the internet should be connected. The alarm company, CCTV, folk-lift trucks, electric, water, insurance.. etc etc.. all need sorting but the most important thing is selecting our new team.. despite stringent criteria we have had over 900 applicants who want to work for AW Spain.. some are very keen. We start interviews on Monday..

One person we are not recruiting is a sales person. There are NO sales people (pushy or otherwise) at AW.. that's sub-normal no?

Let me explain: For sure our staff our people are vitally important assets, and our people must first and foremost love gifts.. love lovely things. Because at the end of the day it's about the products. If the products are good (and the prices are correct) you don't need sales people to persuade you to buy.. you do need effective marketing, and great customer service.. for this reason you won't find AW at trade shows - no sales guy is knocking on your door - our customers are smart enough to find us, realise the products/prices are good order directly themselves and they do so in ever greater numbers.

Our other sub-normal thing is that we don't secretly compete with you (our customers).. no shops, no Amazon / Ebay selling - no online retail stores. Our job is to focus on great products - yours is to do the great retailing.

There is no other gift wholesale company that can make these claims.. we are sub-normal!

So as we start the process of building a team in Spain.. we are looking for passionate people who can get passionate about gifts.. we need odd and unusual people.. normal we don't need.

I'm so excited..

It's only a couple of years ago (regular readers will know) that we started the distribution centre in Slovakia. At the other end of Europe.. the team there are amazing, and it's rewarding to see them grow in their job as the company rapidly expands. We are successfully selling to the Slovakian, Czech, Austrian markets and just launched into the Hungarian market.. (Check our English site AWGifts.eu supplying world-wide).

Time to do something like this here.

The Spain website: AWGifts.es has been running from the UK warehouse.. and growing super fast under the careful attention of Antonio Jesus and Rodrigo - and (brexit permitting will continue). But now we need a new website based in Spain.. "won't that be confusing?" you (rather astutely) ask.. and you would be correct.. so what is the solution?

We have a Sub-Normal - extraordinary idea.. haha I'll tell you all about it next week.

Meanwhile meet the winner of the Halloween costume competition..

Urszula - and I'm sure she doesn't mind being described as sub-normal :) wins the competition by a landslide vote (yet again).

Urszula is head of customer services in the UK.. and you would have to go a long way to find a person more passionate about gifts.. (and erm dressing up!)

She thanks you for voting for her!

More news next week.

Take special care.

David