Running The Business – Samantha Hale

DO YOU SEE A STRONG CONNECTION BETWEEN SPORT AND BUSINESS?

Yes, definitely. And there’s the added benefit that if you have fit staff as well I’m sure they’re more productive, so I think it all links in. I’m the commercial director for the Perkins Great Eastern Run in Peterborough, and we try to engage businesses and schools to try and get their staff running and involved – even if it’s just walking around the fun-run – we just want this inclusivity of people, and getting them out there doing it.

DO YOU THINK IT’S PERSONALLY HELPED YOU, INVOLVEMENT WITH COMPETITIVE SPORTS AT A HIGH LEVEL?

Yes, because I don’t compromise on anything. It’s never “Oh, that’ll do….” It’s only ever the best – whether that’s having the best staff, or looking after the customers in the best way, or the best products, I don’t compromise. I just make sure I know that everything is right.

WHEN YOU OPENED THE CAMBRIDGE STORE, WAS THAT A BIG STEP OR DID IT SEEM A NATURAL ONE?

Both, really. It was a massive step for us, because we still are, at the end of the day, a family business owned by myself and my husband. So, it was a big thing for us to think about Cambridge rents and extra staff – all of the logistics of having a second store… Because of what we do with the running shoes, there’ll only be one or two running shoes that suit any one person, so we can’t say “Oh, we haven’t got that one today…” we’ve got to have it , in all the styles in all the sizes including half sizes from size 2 up to size 15. That’s a massive commitment in terms of stock. But equally, we do get people travelling from all over the country to us for our expertise, and we did get an awful lot of people from Cambridge, and we knew that if we didn’t go to them, somebody else soon would. We looked and looked for premises, and again we thought outside the box. We didn’t want to be on a high street, because we’d get lots of people in who weren’t really interested in what we do. So, now we’ve got a lovely little barn conversion in Cambridge with parking – which is essential in Cambridge, because it’s a nightmare for parking. And we’re open late in the evenings, because most of our customers are not athletes, but normal working people, so we try to make it easy for peope to come through the door.

DID YOU FIND A DIFFERENT DYNAMIC IN CAMBRIDGE?

Yes. We were expecting more students, but actually we’re getting more professional people – people from the science park and that kind of thing. I’ve never had budget to advertise massively, so it has all been word of mouth, so one of the things I did for Cambridge was think “How am I going to get all the runners to know about me?” So, I actually put on a race in Cambridge, and partly organised the Cambridge Festival of Running. I’m always trying to think outside the box and how to do things differently, just because I’ve had to – I haven’t always had massive budgets
to work with. so being a bit creative is one of my good points that I’ve been discovering. I also found out quite a lot about myself in the last ten or twelve years. I had to turn from being a very shy, blushing, unconfident person to being a confident businesswoman. I just had to do that, almost overnight. So that’s been a massive learning curve.

DOES PRACTICE MAKE THAT EASIER?

Last year I was asked by Barclays to go to talk at one of their seminars in Peterborough, in front of 300 people, but then it was also broadcast to other satellite areas throughout the UK with 300 in each place. The other person interviewed was the head of Virgin Galactic, and then there was little old me, so there were a few sleepless nights before that one, but actually it was fine! And that’s helped me to move on, and I try not to let scary things frighten me now, because I know that if you get on and do it you’ll be all right!

YOU’VE WON NUMEROUS AWARDS, INCLUDING THE PETERBOROUGH EVENING TELEGRAPH RETAIL AWARD IN 2010 AND EAST OF ENGLAND BUSINESSWOMAN ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR 2008. THOSE MOMENTS MUST BE VERY SATISFYING.

We’ve won a few awards. One of the reasons I enter awards is because it’s easy to get involved with just the day-to-day stuff of your business, whereas if you enter an award, people ask you awkward questions, you have to find out information, you have to think about things differently, you have to go and be judged… So that has really helped me, that whole process. That’s one reason I enter awards. And then the nice thing is that quite often we win! And we get lots of publicity from that, so I’d recommend it to any business that’s confident in what it’s doing.

YOU SEEM TO RELISH PUSHING YOURSELF INTO CHALLENGING SITUATIONS…

Well, I’m never scared of hard work – and that comes from the horses, because you have to be responsible when you have horses and they have to come first, so I’ve always put other things and other people first. But I make sure I get a work/ life balance as well, and we’ve managed to do that quite well. But I try to stick to my guns and not compromise. I go with my gut – if I feel it’s right, I do it. If it’s not I don’t. It’s as simple as that, really.

AND THEN YOU WERE SELECTED TO GROOM HORSES FOR THE OLYMPIC TEAM AT LONDON 2012…

That was my dream job! I’d applied two years before – because another part of my life is still the horsey side of things. I try to get myself away from business and keep my hand in at the top level. A friend of mine events at the top events – Burleigh, Badminton etc. She’s a one-man-band – she doesn’t have any help or any sponsors, which is a bit of an achievement in itself to event at that level, with the costs involved. So, I groom for her, at Badminton and Burleigh, and because of that experience I then applied to be part of a stables team at London 2012 – and got my dream job. I was right in the thick of it, and had access to pretty much wherever I wanted to go at Greenwich, and was in my element. Five o’clock starts in the morning, working really hard… But a dream. Perfect. It was wonderful!