A food sales representative acquires and maintains customer accounts, provides product demonstrations, monitors inventory, and produces sales reports. They must have culinary knowledge, interpersonal skills, and the ability to close sales. A college degree is ideal.
A food sales representative is a person who maintains existing accounts and works to expand a food supplier’s customer base. Being successful in this career often requires someone with extensive culinary knowledge, excellent interpersonal skills, and the ability to consistently close sales. While it’s possible to gain a position in this field with just a high school diploma, having a college degree is ideal. Some common tasks include acquiring and keeping customers, providing product demonstrations, monitoring inventory, and producing sales reports.
One of the most important parts of being a food sales representative is acquiring new customers. Essentially, he is responsible for contacting and building relationships with potential customers such as restaurants, hotels, schools or any other facility that requires a caterer. His job is to identify the needs of these establishments and win their business. Consequently, it is useful for an individual to have a friendly demeanor and be able to communicate with a variety of customers.
Along with this, he must maintain customer accounts and strive to ensure satisfaction. This can include routinely contacting customers to ensure orders are filled correctly and received on time. It can also involve negotiating product prices and meeting the specific needs of each customer. When discrepancies arise, it’s often up to the rep to effectively handle the situation and keep customers happy.
Another part of this career involves providing product demos from time to time. For example, a food sales representative might hand out product samples at food industry trade shows. Doing so helps to network and publicize the company an individual works for. Consequently, he must have a thorough understanding of the food products his company sells and be able to provide effective demonstrations.
In many cases, a food sales representative is also responsible for monitoring inventory. This can include checking products to ensure they have been properly rotated and updated. It can also involve counting inventory to ensure there is always enough to complete customer orders. In turn, it is helpful for the rep to have good math skills and organizational habits.
In addition, he will usually be responsible for producing sales reports. To meet targets and be aware of progress, a food sales representative often prints daily, weekly, and monthly sales reports. This helps him and company supervisors visibly see how well or poorly he is performing and understand trends.
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