Government ‘hindering’ grocery sector

STATE intervention is hindering rather than helping the cause of the Irish grocery sector, according to Michael Carey, chief executive and majority shareholder of Jacob Fruitfield Food Group.

“The extraordinary inefficiencies in the Irish energy sector are passed onto the business sector,” Mr Carey said at the sixth annual conference of the Sales Institute of Ireland, which took place yesterday in Croke Park conference centre, Dublin. “The State run companies don’t seem to run according to the same rules as the private sector.

“Similarly, the Government was too easily influenced by the hype caused by Eddie Hobbs’ TV programme. Although the show was popular, the Government’s decision to abolish the Groceries Order on the strength of it was sadly misplaced.”

Mr Carey applauded Irish brands on overcoming many competitive difficulties to occupy five of the top 10 sales positions in the Irish grocery market.

Founder and managing director of Dublin-based sales training consultancy Evolve, Conor Morris, explained how his company was helping enhance Irish firms’ approaches to mentoring in the sales field.

He noted that the top 10% of sales reps all had a few key characteristics in common. In every case, he found that they did more research on a potential client’s needs before meeting them, they were better listeners and better deal closers.

Sales Institute national chairman and Irish Examiner head of advertising Aidan Forde cited education as being paramount to a future sales career. He stressed the Sales Institute’s new suite of courses in conjunction with UCD and the Smurfitt Business Group was one very attractive route to a challenging sales career.