Institute of Sales & Marketing

Robert Parker

Robert Parker entered the sales profession in 1973 after a career as an officer in the Royal Air Force. He has had a hugely successful career in a variety of industries at senior board and management levels and is now Chairman of his own multi-million dollar company Holborn Assets Ltd. based in Dubai.

He has spoken at well over 300 engagements in the UK and overseas aswell as being a main platform speaker at Industry Conferences with over 2,000 people.

An outstanding speaker with tremendous enthusiasm and humour, he is skilled in adapting training and development activities to a multicultural work environment and in facilitating cross-cultural communications.

In 1973 he started his career with the Mars Group of Companies, selling their new range of vending machines. He was their number 1 salesman for two years running and sold the single biggest order in the companies' history.

At 29 he joined an Insurance backed Investment Company as an Investment Salesman and by the end of his second year he was promoted into Management and a year later led his team to the top position and at only 32 the youngest manager to do this – a record held to this day.

At the age of 38 he became the Sales and Marketing Director of Guardian Royal Exchange Financial Management leading a Sales team of 1,400 Sales people and 200 Managers covering the whole of UK and Germany which at its peak he built to 3,000 direct sales personnel.

In 1997 he fulfilled a long term goal and moved to Abu Dhabi to become Regional Director for a successful off-shore life assurance company. Within two years of arriving he conducted a management buy out and now heads up his own organization which he has grown to 25 Chartered Financial Planners covering Taiwan, Indonesia, Ghana, Spain, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The company now has 52 million under management and a 5 million plus USD turnover with projected growth of 50%.

His main areas of expertise are Team Building, Leadership, Selling, Sales Management, and Strategy. A highly effective communicator who brings an innovative and resourceful approach to the development of the individual, the team and the organisation.

In 1999 he was asked to become honorary chairman for the Institute of Professional Sales ME by the CEO of the IPS UK John Mayfield.