Case studies : Territory development manager: Steven

Steven graduated with a degree in business studies in 2005. He now works as a territory development manager in the sales department of a multi-national food manufacturer and has been in the post for two years.

After university, without any real career planning, I got a job in a local clothing company which involved cold calling retailers to sell the company’s products. This was a challenging role, but as I’m an outgoing person, I quite enjoyed it and was successful. I couldn’t see myself cold calling long term, so after a year in post and taking some time out to travel, I looked for a large, progressive company that offered a career in sales.

Day to day my role involves ensuring my company is well represented in retail outlets and I generally make six store visits a day across my territory. I work with supermarkets to support the work of the national accounts teams at head office. I’m the eyes and ears of my company in the stores to check compliance with agreements, and I also work with store managers and other contacts to sell in new products or up-sell promotions.

I see my role as being about relationship building. To do well you need to be able to communicate well, build trust and make people feel at ease. Key skills also include the ability to listen and advanced organisational skills. The two go hand in hand because, if you don’t listen and understand what the customer wants, you won’t get an agreement and you won’t meet your targets. And if you’re not organised, you won’t know what your priorities are and won’t be ready to speak to contacts in store when you get an opportunity.

In terms of qualities, it’s about being interested in people and demonstrating confidence. You’re with people day to day trying to convince and persuade. You have to believe in yourself and your products and be able to project that belief to the customer.

One of the main challenges is that you can feel a little isolated, especially when you start. The car is the office and although I’m meeting people in stores day to day, that’s business. I try to remember that I’m part of a team and I can contact my manager or another team member if I need to. We also have regular team meetings to discuss priorities and achievements.

The training when I started my job was very comprehensive and involved working with more experienced colleagues to ensure I felt confident in front of customers. Training now is determined from my annual review and my manager’s feedback on my performance. My manager spends one day a month with me, observing how I perform, and a coaching structure is used to help me develop.

My advice to graduates considering sales is to do your research and not let stereotypes put you off. There are people with many different personality types in sales as there are many different kinds of selling. My role is far removed from the idea of the pushy salesman.