Serving the Teesside Business Community | 25
“Everyone has computers nowadays and there are
a lot of places you can go to buy them but you really
don’t get the service. We’ve brought the true service
element to the IT business.”
company that built Abbey Hill School in
Stockton and later studied to become a
surveyor, working with Sir Robert McAlpine
during a period that saw them build Holme
House Prison.
But then Chris found his true calling in life.
Sales.
He leans back in his chair and his eyes
smile as he recalls the day he first set eyes
on a sales rep on the construction site where
he was working.
“It looked to me like it was all about
speaking to people, drinking tea and
driving a nice car!” he laughs. “I loved the
construction industry but I was sick of being
in and out of work. So I decided I wanted a
sales job.”
Without realising it, this was a role Chris
had been training for most of his young
life. Even during his unhappy schooldays
he’d been what he describes as “a bit of a
salesman”, selling to classmates the razors,
cigarettes and booze he had nicked from the
local shop.
Having initially taken up a job selling frozen
gourmet food door-to-door, he later sold
double glazing and then textured coating for
external walls before winning an award for
his sales ability after taking on a commissiononly role selling Kirby hoovers.
So how did he land himself in a role as
MD of a thriving IT firm? As tends to be the
pattern for Chris, he got there via a circuitous
route.
He first got into IT sales after spotting an
advert offering a £150 grant for computer
training if individuals invested £25 of their
own money too.
“That’s how I got into computers,” he
explains. “I didn’t know how to switch a
computer on but I got a list of these courses
and went round door-to-door selling the
courses to people. I was earning shed loads.
“Then I came across a company called
CPA Systems in Stockton, asked them for an
interview and got the job. They told me one
of the packages I’d be selling was a Sage
accounting system. I knew I’d previously
been selling Sage but I didn’t even know
what it was.”
But his natural flair for selling quickly saw
him become CPA’s top salesman. He moved
on, however, when a Newcastle company,
TSG, bought the business and he was
overlooked for the role of Teesside director
after being told they couldn’t afford to lose
his sales figures.
When a spell as a director and shareholder
of another business ended in acrimony, Chris
launched Cornerstone in May 2008 with
fellow directors Chris and John, with an initial
team of just five, acting as a one-stop shop
for computing and telecommunications.
Hard-earned success came through a
strategy of offering service excellence
whilst catching the eye by winning business
awards.
He recalls: “We kicked off our business
at the start of the credit crunch and we
struggled like mad. I took a big reduction in
my salary and I couldn’t even pay my wife,
who was an employee. People just weren’t
buying.
“Quite quickly we realised that we had to
look at what we were going to do. I felt we
had to provide excellent service to ensure
we came through it all in a strong position.
We got out there and knocked on doors. We
pitched for jobs on our service. Steadily, we
just grew and grew.
“Everyone has computers nowadays and
there are a lot of places you can go to buy
them but you really don’t get the service.
We’ve brought the true service element to
the IT business.
“It’s not just about selling a box - it’s
having a strong business relationship with
the customer.”
Having recruited six new staff in the past
year, Cornerstone now has a team of 20 and
achieved a record turnover of £1.3 million last
year.
They are official technology partners for
Middlesbrough Football Club and boast an
impressive client list that includes Endeavour
Partnership, TTE, Cameron’s Brewery,
Darlington FC and Butterwick Hospice.
But Chris insists: “I don’t see what we’ve
done as having achieved anything yet. For
me, we’ve still got lots to do. There’s shed
loads of growth to be made and we’re having
fun as we do it.”
And he can’t resist another wisecrack to
finish. “My head teacher told my mother
‘He’s either going to end up in prison or as a
millionaire.’ And she always tells people ‘And
he’s not in prison!’”
He’s not a millionaire yet either. But if
Chris Petty keeps