Find Food & Beverage Sales Representative

How to find a Food & Beverage Sales Representative

Restaurants, supermarkets, and other retailers that get food in large quantities rely on the wholesale supply of food products to do business. They need food and beverage sales reps to get them food products they can prepare into saleable food items. 

The food industry firm, Technomics, estimated that approximately 225 million meals are eaten away from home each day in the United States. This includes both restaurant and non-commercial eating places. Americans can be very busy and at the same time social. Many Americans prefer to have at least one meal outside every day. It could be the lunch during work, or the breakfast at a restaurant opposite the office, or a late dinner with a friend at a nice place; it is a dominant culture in the country. 

AdAge reported on the American per capita beverage consumption for 2010. It was stated that there is an average consumption of soft drinks per person of 44.7 gallons per year. There are over 312,000,000 Americans and it can be deduced that in a year, there is an average consumption of 15 billion gallons of soft drinks alone.

All these show the amount of job sales reps do. Food and beverage companies produce but sales rep feed these markets. They get their supplies and partner with the company distributors to get these products supplied.

How to Become a Food and Beverage Distributor

Gain Experience Beforehand

A survey of postings for this job requires experience and proven relationship building skills. You should take some time to get experience in the food and beverage sectors. You may need to take some internship or do some sales program to get experience in this line. However, it is very important. 

Your relationship building skills are very important. You need to be able to build long relationships and make friends along the way. Many employers rely on sales reps to make prospects into repeat customers. 

Gather Sales Skills

There are some essential sales skills that you need to be geared with. These skills are very important in turning prospects into converts and making them repeat customers. Develop yourself to acquire these skills through constant practice. These skills have proven to be classic as they never go out of relevance. Some of these skills are: 

• Excellent communication skills
• Rapport building skills
• Relationship building skills
• Active listening skills and empathy
• Persistence and tenacity
• Ability to handle rejection
• Demonstration and presentation skills
• Ability to close sale at the perfect time

Understand Varieties

This is a market of varieties. Everybody wants to take something different from the other person. Your offerings should be varied and not just one. If your offerings are still narrow, look for ways to provide varieties.

Final words…

The food and beverage business is big. However, the competitors are many. Reputation is important as well as marketing. Ensure that you are constantly painting a good image of your brand and expanding the reach of your products.