SIA The Intelligent Partner - Summer 2007 - (Page 24)

I N DUST RY | R EP | BY I S EULT D E V L I N | Chris Copley Founder and Owner, Copley Consolidated, NE regional rep for Burton Snowboards W hat job lets you ride 65 days a season (at least), develop products, run a company and be part of a growing sport right from the beginning? Being a rep doesn’t always sound like a glamour job but it turned out to be for Chris Copley, owner/founder of Copley Consolidated, the NE regional sales rep for Burton, who is passionate about what he does. When he started in 1989 with Burton, he interviewed with Donna Burton ﬁrst who called Jake into the interview. “My goal was to work in marketing, ” says Copley. But Burton didn’t have a speciﬁc marketing department at that time. “I made boards, worked in shipping, accounting – it was so small if you had the skills you did whatever needed to be done. I just jumped in. ” Hiking up hills, Copley started snowboarding in high school and in college went to Colorado for his winter breaks. “I started to ride real mountains and get into the sport in the mid-80s, he says. Before ” he headed to Vermont, he lived in Vail, Colorado, doing projects promoting snowboarding and helping resorts open up to the sport. Copley loves how diverse his job is. “I really enjoy being part of the product development. I can see and feel some of my inﬂuence on new products. ” How long have you been in the business and how did you get started? I’ve been in the business since 1989 when I started in-house with Burton as a pro team manager. There were 34 employees then and now there are 600-700 worldwide. It’s been cool to see how it’s grown. In ’92, I went independent. We have eight people who work in six New England states – we do a lot of business. We have the third largest dollar total and the third largest territory. What have you seen change most over the years? America woke up to action sports around ’98-2000 after the Nagano Olympics and the X Games. Snowboarding exploded and became legitimate. Big sponsors like Mountain Dew started to come in around then. This is a huge business and now it’s part of corporate America. It’s intriguing and popular and something everyone wants a piece of. What is a typical day for you during the season and off-season? A typical day (when I’m not the road) starts with looking at e-mails in the morning. Then there’s a lot of interaction responding to different product managers and different sales managers. I have a staff of eight so there are weekly planning sessions and scheduling. Then I’ll try to go on the road once a month –visiting stores, checking on products, chasing additional business. During the off-season, I’m very involved in product development and different programs. We work year round selling since we have year-round products between Gravis, Analog, Anon, bags and apparel. 24 | SIA | T.I.P. | SUMMER 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SIA The Intelligent Partner - Summer 2007

Contents Word off the Slopes SIA Staff Contributors SIA Business SIA Board of Directors Greening the Biz Want Instant Success? Just Add Snow Out and About Day in the Life – Supplier Day in the Life – Retailer Day in the Life – Rep Products & Services Index to Advertisers

SIA The Intelligent Partner - Summer 2007

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