Commercial Manager
Vestey Holdings
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I’m James.
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I work for Vestey Foods International as a commercial manager,
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based in Runcorn in Cheshire.
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As a commercial manager,
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I will buy product and sell product.
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Breaking that down, I will speak to my supplier.
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I will see what they might have available.
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Let’s take for example, frozen chicken drumsticks.
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I’ll buy a container of that – I will
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then look to find a market for that product.
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That market might be South Africa. On the sales side,
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I will speak to my customer in
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maybe South Africa or Ghana
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and try and work out what their demands might be
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and then try and find that product for them from the suppliers.
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And on top of that we have certain exhibitions we will attend –
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It might be
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Germany, it might be Dubai, it might be China –
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to basically exhibit our company
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and the products and services that we provide.
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The best part of my job is meeting people,
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talking to people.
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Each day is different
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and if I’m honest, I don’t think there’s really a bad part about it.
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There’s difficult parts.
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I do work away a lot, which is hard when you’ve got a young family,
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but they’ve grown up with it as well and understand
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it’s Dad’s job.
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School was great.
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I really enjoyed it.
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I enjoyed the social side of it.
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Academically, I wasn’t the strongest.
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I then progressed to A-levels because that was the right thing to do at the time
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but didn’t go to university.
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The A-levels I did were business studies, history and German.
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But looking back, I look back at school fondly.
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I wish I probably could have stayed there longer.
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Skills and strengths that are
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useful in my job would be
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certainly maths.
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Working out percentages and profit margins,
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cost prices, adding the freight, using different currencies.
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A language would help. Communication.
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English,
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being able to write obviously
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in a correct, professional way, which links in
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probably with business studies too.
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During my A-levels, I started to work for McDonald’s.
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and I loved my time at McDonald’s. It was great.
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The teamwork, the camaraderie, the training you get is fantastic.
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I decided to leave there though
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and then worked at Burtons menswear.
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I worked for a nightclub as a bar manager and a cleaner. I started
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working as a sales
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rep for a local poultry producer.
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Stayed there two years,
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got approached by a different company
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to go and work for them as a frozen meat and poultry trader,
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and was there ten years before I joined Vestey.
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It’s okay to change your mind.
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Just ask the advice of somebody.
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Just speak to somebody that is in a role
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that might interest you or
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ask what are the possibilities, what the requirements to do this job
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or where could it lead?
“I don’t think there’s really a bad part about it.” James had a range of jobs after his A-levels but it was a job with a local poultry producer which set him on the path to his current role. He gets to travel the world and meet lots of people – exhibiting the company and buying and selling meat – a job he really enjoys.
More information about Sales supervisors
The UK average salary is £29,813
There are 37.5 hours in the average working week
The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male
Future employment
- Directly supervises and coordinates the activities of sales and related workers;
- Establishes and monitors work schedules to meet sales and productivity targets;
- Liaises with managers and other departments to resolve operational problems;
- Determines or recommends staffing and other needs to meet sales and productivity targets;
- Reports as required to managerial staff on departmental activities.
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