I didn’t know much
about the food service industry, just that they sell food products to
restaurants, grocery store etc. Stewart food services are a privately owned
company, they are a second tier distributor, and niche and they are based on
relationship selling. Sixty percent is selling to chain stores or multi stores,
forty percent of the business is individual selling and they visit each of
these every week. Stewart food services are also a commission-based
environment, where each sale is nineteen percent gross profit; furthermore,
they have around six thousand products that they distribute. It is not
imperative that Stewart food services sales team know the features and
benefits, they need to have a relationship with their customers and must know where to send them, such as which manufacturer to send them to who will
address the features and benefits of each product if they want to change
products (ex. salad dressing brands). Darcy makes sure that the selling team is
provided with all of the essential tools for them to be successful.
Rather than
Sysco foods that have their own ketchup as well as sell Heinz, Stewart food
services do not have their own brand. Their cost of operations is just under
eleven percent, whereas Sysco foods or other companies are eighteen percent. Most
companies use multiple distributors because one company doesn’t usually have
all of the products that a place needs. Darcy’s job specifically entails him
hiring sales representatives for their geographic region and tweaking up
contracts with sales representatives. The hiring process includes hiring recent
business graduates as well as individuals who have taken a sales and marketing
course. Darcy looks for the four T’s, Tuesday – Thursday 10-2, he also looks
for work ethic, good hygiene and a track record of accomplishments that one
has.
I learned quite
a bit about sales, selling and the selling process but mostly I have learned
that word of mouth, building relationships with clients who are buying the
products/services is the most important aspect of selling in certain
businesses. It is important to maintain a relationship with a customer in order
to achieve customer retention. Most customers want to deal with the same sales
representative because they have grown to know each other in a
relationship-selling manner. Based on what I learned throughout Darcy’s
presentation, it didn’t really have an impact on my future career because my
future career is based on marketing and not selling. I have an internship with
Kao Canada who own companies such as Goldwell and KMS California, which is part
of the beauty industry where I wish to be. I don’t believe that selling is my
forte, although it is something that I could do if need be. I would rather have
a job where I can be creative with the brand that I am working for and think of
ways to acquire customers in an advertising perspective rather than travelling
around and actually selling the products that my company has to offer. Commission
based selling is also something that I am not interested in which seems to be a
big part of the sales industry.
What I’ve learned about future opportunities is that most, if not all individuals need to be educated and hold a degree/diploma in order to apply to jobs in business sectors, as well as look presentable, have good hygiene and also have a list of accomplishments that might influence an employer to hire you.
Two goals that I
will set for myself in the next six months include - try to make a good
impression on my internship employers by excelling at every task they hand me
and also take each day as a learning experience. I chose the first goal to set
for myself because I really enjoy the industry that I was fortunate enough to
get for my internship, I want to make a good impression on my
managers/employers because I hope that they will decide keep me in the long
run. I want to be someone that they need and be someone who contributes greatly
to the company. I plan to take each task that they give me very seriously and I
will achieve them in a professional manner. I have chosen the second goal for
myself because I have never worked in this industry before nor have I ever had
a job in the marketing industry. Each day that I work for Kao Canada will be a
learning experience and I plan to write down at least one thing that I have
learned in a day so that I can remember it for future jobs or tasks that I
might obtain. Even learning something negative about myself or negative about a
job will be a good learning experience for myself and for growing my marketing
skills and experience. I will try to achieve these goals by asking people
around me for help whether it be my employers, friends or family so that they
can encourage me and help me to get through the goals that I have set for
myself.
