Image Source: The European Tour
Following Dave Jones’ ‘thought provoking’ link between the church and Reward, here’s another interesting connection, this time with golf.
Lots of you will know Clive Briggs from our Manchester office who joined the team last year to help grow the business across the North West. But what you might not be aware of is that his son, Oliver, is the caddy for Swedish rising star Alexander Bjork, who secured his first European Tour title with a one-shot victory in the China Open at the end of April 2018.
Like most businesses, the successful partnership with Alexander hasn’t happened overnight for Oliver.
After achieving a Masters in Town & Country Planning at Newcastle University Oliver worked for a couple of businesses in Manchester before wanting a lifestyle change. As a good golfer, playing off a handicap of three, he decided to try his hand at caddying, starting on the Seniors Tour where he carried the bag for Eamon Darcy, who told him that he had potential.
With this confidence boost he went to a ‘high rollers’ club in Melbourne at 25 where he caddied for sports stars like Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne, as well as politicians and the super wealthy, including shipping magnates.
After that he spent a short time in America as a caddy, returning to join the Challenge Tour, before joining the full European Tour where he looked after a number of ‘hopefuls’ for six months at a time. He then had the opportunity to look after Alexander and hasn’t looked back; having been with him for just over a year.
As you can probably imagine, Clive has accepted credit for much of Oliver’s success as he applied the same principles to caddying as his dad does at Reward Finance! I bet you wondered when we would get the tenuous link in didn’t you?
Bear with us on this one…
Like a top class caddy, Reward Finance can spot a business with potential, which will do even better with expert help and guidance.
We will get to know the directors, like a caddy will get to know the player, looking at the strengths and weaknesses and areas for improvement. We also need to adapt to the temperaments and idiosyncrasies of the individuals just like caddying for different golfers with different approaches to the game.
Whereas a caddy will pace and map out the course enabling the golfer to use the right club and identify the slopes on the green, Reward will look at the market and spot potential hazards and market movements.
And when everything has been mapped out and planned, we can act quickly and give them the perfect finance deal to help them hit their target.
Finally, just like the caddy advises about the ‘borrow’ on the green, we will help the business grow by enabling it to ‘borrow’ the right amount to build on the success.
In effect the golfer is the business and the caddy, like Reward, can help them reach potential.
As analogies go, I hope you agree that it’s not a bad one.
So thanks to Oliver for letting us use it, and here’s wishing him continued success with Alexander. And, following on from their victory in the China Open, if they make it into the Ryder Cup Team then our September 2018 Manchester event is off, as we are to France for a Sales & Marketing Team Meeting!