Began as a merchandiser, now I’m a Professional in Home!
After working as a merchandiser I feel this gave me a unique insight into how important this seemily minor position was to maintaining and making sure all products were available if in stock. This position prepared me for the next natural move which was as an Out of Home field sales representative, this gave me further insight into how the customers interacted with store keepers and the day to day challenges involved in fighting for additional SKUS. I also had the amazing experience of seeing exactly how CCEP products are situated in convenience, food to go and restaurants and who the real customers were. This position allowed me to see the actual real demographic and what impact new product launches had on store keepers and customers alike. The experience I gained from this role was immeasurable because it gave me the foundation to look towards a more professional role. I excelled in my OOH field sales role which is much more demanding than people realise, from signing CCEP coolers to making sure that customers are required to maintain a compliment cooler, especially if the CCEP cooler is not their only chiller. The transition from car sales to ATO (add to order) gave me a glimpse of what my latest challenge would be like, now that I am working with the Home channel as a professional. Making sure the supermarkets follow national compliance and trying to agree local displays to help the stores increase their stores revenues is my main objective giving me a whole different insight in this field.
Prof field sales rep ensuring national promotions are activated.
I visit outlets such as Tesco’s, Asda’s, co-op’s, sainsburys and Morrison’s and ensure our national displays have been activated in store. I also agree local displays and look at other ways to generate further income in their stores such as placing FC drinks with the pizzas. I work with merchandisers in my area and assign tasks to them if I make an agreement with the store managers that I cannot implement at that time to ensure the stores revenue will increase.
I can sign up coolers to these outlets and lead teams for the MIT which takes place at Christmas where all members of CCEP will help to keep our products on the shelves during busy periods in the stores.
The ability to be creative with displays and meeting new people
When building displays, we get to be very creative. For the World Cup, we made the British flag using the 24 pack Diet Coke and classic coke 18 packs which look amazing from the consumer point of view. The stores will always get a lot of stock delivered when there are a lot of events, so it’s just being able to use the stock that may not necessarily fit into the fixture, for a display at the front of the store creates a different shopping experience for customers. We also build Christmas trucks in store which customers are really excited for and as they can also sit inside them and it plays music, it’s really fun for all of the family to enjoy while completing their normal food shopping.
Be yourself and have a career plan
Being focussed on your overall outcome for your career is key working at CCEP. They are so open to helping you to succeed and progress if that’s the route you want to go down. They looks for individuals who are themselves, as there is no company that employs staff that are all the same right? Individuality is what sells to them as a company and is what they look for here.
Embrace yourself!
Being promoted to a Professional field sales rep
I’ve been at the company for two years now and have been promoted twice. I’m now based in central London and present on a lot of market visits allowing me to get visibility within my sector and to show off some of my best work since working here.
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