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America's
Best Sales
50 years of show producing-1958 to 2008!
Excellence, Entrepreneurship, Ethics in Enterprise
Companies
My name is Bob Cole and I hold several degrees
starting with an Associate’s Degree in Science, a Bachelor’s
Degree in Science Business Administration and Economics, a Master’s
Degree in Education, and in 1995 the University of New Haven awarded
me with an Honorary Doctorate Education in Economics and Business
Administration on their 75th Anniversary and as the first
four year Bachelor graduate even from
After college I became a District Scout Executive
for the Boy Scouts of America in New Haven, Connecticut. I was then transferred to West Hartford, Connecticut where I
spent six fantastic years representing the Boy Scouts and working with
adults that support the Boy Scout organization.
The territory of West Hartford included the wealthiest town in
the Country. Hartford is
the home of United Technologies, i.e. Carrier, Hamilton Standard,
Otis, Pratt & Whitney, Research Center, Sikorsky, UTC Fire &
Security, and UTC Power, plus Kaman Industries and fifty five home
offices America’s leading insurance agencies, i.e. Aetna, Travelers,
Connecticut General, Phoenix, The Hartford Group, and many more.
The insurance industry is still has a massive impact on
Connecticut and most especially the Greater Hartford area.
It was a pleasure to serve in this capacity because in my
responsibilities for recruiting volunteers to extend and expand the
Boy Scout program, I became involved with fund raising, motivational
activities, meeting planning, scheduling of events, recruiting and
working with sponsors, even producing a movie for the Boy Scouts,
developing National trends such as the National Boy Scout Honor
Society, Alpha Phi Omega at Yale, sponsoring inner city Boy Scout
activities for poor families, etc.
We brought this activity into the National Council, Boy Scouts
of America.
Then a position to become an adviser to the
Regional One Executive in Boston regarding Scout Expos and as such, I
then had the opportunity to travel throughout New England training
local councils on how to succeed in producing highly successful Boy
Scout events, i.e. Cubbing on Parade, Boy Scout pioneering activities,
and explorer post activities for our older scouting members.
One of the reasons I was hired by the Hartford Council was
because the prior year, they had scheduled a Cubbing on Parade event
as a revenue source for the Council, budgeted for $20,000.
The event failed and cost the Council an additional $20,000,
therefore, they were below the budget by $40,000 in 1961 and had to
put a mortgage on Camp Pioneer to continue normal activities that
year. We paid off the
$40,000 mortgage when we turned over $40,000 after expenses to the
Charter Oak Council Boy Scouts of America, 100% of these monies were
from that event.
In 1967, I formed my own corporation, American
Recreational Activities, Inc. and I obtained an ICC brokers permit to
be able to charter bus companies with pick ups in Connecticut and I
ran youth camping tours for both boys and girls.
I also formed the first show I ever produced, beyond my Boy
Scout activities, The New England Sports and Camping Show at the old
Hartford Armory, on Washington’s Birthday weekend 1968.
That show was an absolute bonanza, with fifty four thousand
people attending our first ever event.
When that event ended, my telephone in my very small,
two-person office, in West Hartford never stopped ringing and it never
has since.
What became a major trade/consumer show business
from Savannah Georgia to Bangor, Maine was started as we opened the
first ever New England Sports and Camping show at the State Armory in
Hartford, Connecticut, next to the Connecticut Capital.
The opening press conference was highlighted by a hot air
balloon launching event was sponsored by Stop & Shop and when the
balloon landed two bags of groceries and a $100 gift certificate to be
presented to the first greeter upon the balloon’s landing.
A note of humor, the first recipient refused the gifts because
he was at the Hartford Golf Course on an unauthorized day off from
Traveler’s Insurance Company and he did not want a front page
photograph in the Hartford Times the next day nor did he want a
television interview WTIC, television, Channel 3, that night, who also
covered the balloon departure and landing.
I then started expanding and by 1970 we were
recruited by the Bangor Daily News in Bangor, Maine to assist in
putting on a ski and winter sports show.
We also purchased the New England’s World of Snowmobiling
Show at the Portland, Maine Expo and by 1971, we had added to our
Hartford based shows Bangor and Portland, Maine.
We also expanded to four shows at the old Portland Expo.
In 1973, we were privileged to be the first show
producer to present a consumer show at the brand new Augusta Civic
Center, Augusta, Maine, one of New England’s best buildings.
From that time forward we extended our event schedule and our
activities to serve our clients, which include motivational and
training courses for our client’s sales staff sot that they would
be.
In 1982 I received a construction permit to build
WCME-FM, 96.7 radio station, Boothbay Harbor, one of four stations
WCME-FM, WSNV-FM, Bangor, Maine, WAAW, Williston/Aiken; South Carolina
and Augusta, Georgia (WAAW which I sold to the King of Soul, James
Brown) and WXGL-FM, the Eagle, Topsham/Brunswick, Maine.
I remained very active in community activities,
participating in regional activities through Rotary International, and
came onto the National scene when we became the Producer of Record for
the Arthur Fiedler Boston Pops concerts that were presented outside of
Boston. We were also
befriended by Bob Hope in a business and friendly relationship as we
produced numerous Bob Hope events in the Northeastern areas.
In fact, I developed a personal relationship with Bob, and in
the last several years of his life, the relationship was between Bob
Hope, Ward Grant, his agent, and myself.
We had the privilege of working with many sponsoring groups
with Bob Hope. The most
significant is two events that we did at the US Naval Base in
Annapolis, Maryland, both of them Bob Hope shows; one of them was his
birthday show, which was hosted by WNBC, in New York the other
sponsored by Pleebs.
Other talent that we served was the Glenn Miller
Orchestra and Listening and Dancing Concerts, Pat and Debbie Boone,
Judy Collins, the Captain and Tennille, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston
Pops, and Seiji Ozawa, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra,
sponsored by the Bell Telephone hour.
At one time during 1976-1978 we produced more
Arthur Fiedler/Boston Pops concerts then Columbia Artists with New
York offices, while our office was Suite 400 at 477 Congress Street,
Portland, Maine.
Currently I have four sub-divisions, Wood Pond
Village, a residential single-family community, when completed will
have forty-one mixed condominiums and detached single family homes.
Chamberlain Woods, a thirty-three unit attached condominiums,
and Churchill Woods, a twenty unit detached condominium subdivision in
Brunswick, Maine and the Captain Fuller Home a planned four-unit
condominium on Linken Bay in East Boothbay Harbor, Maine.
As I find time and interest to write about my activities I
intend to write a book about the profits and losses of land
development called the Great Land Boomerang.
Our associates are handling our consumer show
schedule, so that I can start this new venture of serving in the
capacity of motivational speaking and organizational and motivational
activities. I have also
been engaged by Oakwood Homes, and Clayton Manufactured Homes, which
are now both owned by Berkshire Hathaway Companies, Warren Buffet,
Chairman. I have done
dealer motivational seminars for the New England Ford Dealers, for
exhibiting and selling Ford trucks and Ford products, including
chassis for motor homes and pick up trucks and light duty trucks for
campers and RVs and Central Maine Power, a local electrical utility.
Attached is a resume.
We invite you to review this biographical material.
Please review our resume attached and call us at 888-539-$ell
(7355). Even our
telephones branding are for sales purposes.
Please call Executive Assistant Ann Ahearn for
rates and availability of dates.
Sincerely,
Robert J. Cole, President
America’s Best Sales, Inc.
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