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After graduating with a BA Honors in Nursing Studies from Glasgow Caledonian University, I immediately started work as a staff nurse for the NHS, but quickly realised that this job was not for me. I then applied to Imperial Tobacco for a job as a Field Sales Representative and have never looked back.
After deciding on a career change into sales, I looked into applying to a company who looked after its staff and offered career progression and professional development opportunities. From my previous nursing experience I realised that I enjoyed being part of a team, but have the ability to work as an individual (a key factor in being a sales rep for such a large company).
The role of a Field Sales Representative presents many challenges on a daily basis. The main challenges are:
1) You never know what challenges you are walking into in each call. For example on my area I have a very strong market share, and so I have to continually maintain this against competitor activity.
2) There's never a quiet moment within the role. There's always brand targets, merchandising and securing units to think about. You really have to put in the effort to achieve great results.
3) More personal to me, my main challenges of my first year with the company was a brand new area which I had to build up and get to know by building a rapport with my traders. I also had the launch of Windsor Blue, the new Lambert range and the Golden Virginia 14g.
1) Since I joined Imperial 2 years ago, I have learned to work as part of a field based team and by this I mean that all the reps on my area live far apart form each other so being able to call upon others to help you out or to offer help where needed by someone else is a great skill to have.
2) Also my communication skills have improved greatly. I'm a lot more confident and relaxed in talking to new people.
3) Relationship building is key within this role. Without the support of your traders you will not succeed as a rep. When I started on my area I put the time in at the start to build relationships with my traders and it has paid of greatly.
As a whole I really do like my job. In particular I like the fact that everyday is different, you are always meeting new people and you are constantly kept busy with new challenges.
Imperial have also been very flexible in allowing me to branch out into different roles within the company. I recently took up a functional attachment to the Region 1 Space Planner and I am hoping to work one week a month within this department but keep my role as a sales rep for the rest of the month.
If you are willing to work hard, put in the hours, can set your own goals and enjoy the challenge of working in a dynamic environment, then go for it!
Information is correct at 10 March 2008.