Cab Direct Sales Exec Stuart Sloan is a well-known face around Allied and a long-serving member of the team with more than 17 years’ service to him. But ours isn’t the only team Stuart dedicates his time to. As a talented bowls player Stuart has represented Scotland on the green and recently helped the team to a major victory. We caught with him to hear all about that, his role at Allied, and what else he likes to do on his downtime.
Describe your role here at Allied. What does a standard day look like for you?
On a standard day, I can be getting in touch with existing customers or following up on new leads who have sent in an enquiry.
Existing customers are people we’ve kept in touch with for a while. We tend to check in every three to four months just make sure everything’s ok with their vehicle and ask if there’s anything we can do for them. It keeps the Cab Direct brand front of mind for them, and the hope is they’ll come to us again when it’s time for a new vehicle.
We might also have business customers that buy multiple vehicles as well as the individual drivers.
And how long have you worked for Allied?
Seventeen and half years! Since January 2008.
I worked at McDonald’s before this, for ten years. I ended up as a shift running manager, but it wasn’t much fun.
To be fair to them, they were good to me there. My shifts were all fixed and set around the bowls and family time, but I got to the point where I really just needed a change.
You obviously liked the change you made, to have stayed 17 years, what’s kept you here all this time?
I like it here. I’ve always been supported, and well-treated by management. The Facennas, Peter, Gerry and David, have always treated me very well.
Things like when I’ve had issues with my health, when my brother died ten years ago at just 34 years old, they were very good and very understanding around that. I lost my mum last year and, again, they were so good.
Like any sales job, it has its stresses – you’ve got targets to meet so you’ve got be selling, but I absolutely cannot complain. You feel more like a part of the family here rather than just a number, so I feel a sense of loyalty towards that. They’ve been very, very good to me.
And there’s the accessibility of management as well. That’s a big thing here. You can go and knock on Gerry or Peter’s door if you need to, and they’ll stop and speak to you on the street. You don’t get that in a big multi-national corporation like McDonalds, where even your own direct manager is more aloof to you than the MD would be here. You’re treated as a person here, not just a body on a shift.
Can you share a favourite memory from your 17 years here?
Generally, a really good day is when you sign off your big deals! A few years ago, I had not so much a good day, but a good month! I’d been here for about four years at the time, and up to this point I was lucky if I’d sold one Peugeot E7 a month. Then this particular month I sold ten! So that was good memory.
There was another day where fellow Cab Direct sales team member Iain Graham and I took Peter Facenna and Peter Fiore from the sales team to play bowls in a day tournament. I was playing with Peter Facenna.
We got beat in the section stages by a total fluke, but we did a lot better than Peter Fiore and Iain Graham, that was for sure! I’m not just saying this because he’s the boss, but for his first time playing, Peter was pretty good.
Tell us about the bowls – how did you get involved in the sport?
I’ve played for over 30 years, since I was 14. My dad played and he joined the club, and I got in there. My dad died when I was 17 and I just stayed with it; my mum was a member as well, so it was a bit of a family thing, and I stuck with it and never looked back.
And you’ve played with different clubs since then?
I was at Killermont in Bearsden first, then moved to Partick near the West End of Glasgow in the same month as I joined Allied – January 2008.
Have you played a lot competitively?
I have. I won the Scottish Gents Singles in 2003. I was on the telly for two days; live on the BBC in the afternoon. I took two busloads of supporters and signed three autographs.
Since then, my form has fallen away; I was born with Hereditary Multiple Exostoses, so, I’ve entered into the Para Bowls.
I was selected for the Scotland team, and I had my first Home Nations tournament in June, and we won that. I played five of the six games and won four out of five. So, I got a gold medal for winning the British Home Nations.
What was the selection process like for the national team?
Over the last three or four months there has been lots of events – podium events and pathway events, they call them. Through those you qualify for the assessment weekend, and then you go through two full days of assessment where you get marked and scored on everything you do.
Any more competitions coming up where you’ll be playing for Scotland?
There’s a few that I’m hoping to get selected for. We’ve got the Atlantic Challenge in September, and that’s in Canada against the USA, Canada and Ireland. The World Championships, which includes the Para Bowls , is in Malaysia in November.
And then there’s other wee test matches against Australia, England, Ireland, but ultimately, I’d be looking to be selected for the Commonwealth Games next year.
So, outside of work and bowls, what else do you do with your time?
I like to spend time with my family. I’ve got two grown up kids, aged 27 and 21, and we have two grandkids now, Remy and Maya – Maya is coming up on two and Remy was just born in April.
I used to love reading as well but since I got COVID, I just don’t have the concentration anymore. There are a few TV series I like; we just watched Stick and Dept. Q, they were really good, and I like Lincoln Lawyer, Reacher, stuff like that.
What’s something that most people wouldn’t know about you?
Probably what I said about signing three autographs that time. My immediate colleagues would know that, but most people won’t.
I got to play in the Scottish Masters, and I played against the world number one, and I beat him. Later on, I was standing in the foyer, and this wee boy came up to me with his grandad and said, “could you sign this programme?” and I didn’t know what he was talking about. It was one of the other players who’d been doing it at that level for years and years, said to me, “he wants your autograph!”. So, I signed it, and I ended up signing three of them that day.
And finally, if you hadn’t ended up in this career at Allied, what do you think you would have been doing?
Oh, I have no idea. Honestly. I wouldn’t have been able to stay ay McDonalds as I’m not fit enough now, but I don’t know what I would have done.
I’ve got no intention of leaving Allied though; I’m happy here. The only way I’ll leave is if they kick me out the door.
