SALES & MARKETING - TECHNICAL SALES REP TECHNICAL SALES REP - SALES & MARKETING 31 32 visiting clients. Generally, sales reps travel to tradeshows, expo and conferences to learn about the newest innovations in their fields, networkwith potential clients and sell their products/services. Additionally, these professionals may travel to a client’s processing plants to help troubleshoot problems which arise during production. Imagine a job where you are paid to travel around the globe to help solve industry problems! 8. Technical Sales Reps are Good at Research, Communicating, and Listening Being a technical sales representative requires a wide range of skills. However, there are a few which are more essential than others. These skills include: • Research/ Information Gathering – The food industry is constantly changing, so technical sales reps need to find ways to stay on top of market trends, clients and rival solutions in order to have a competitive edge. Having strong research skills allows a salesperson to make better decisions and gain a broader technical knowledge. It can even help their company when developing new products and services. • Communication – The job of a sales rep revolves around their clients, making the ability to properly communicate imperative. Technical sales reps effectively know how to communicate both through oral (i.e., phone call, presentation) and written (i.e., emails, reports and proposals) communication channels. They tailor each approach and change it depending on whom they are talking to. • Active Listening – Technical sales reps help solve problems where clients might even have any idea what caused them. Sales reps listen carefully picking to pick up clues from stories, photos and body language. Actively listening also helps to build trust between them and the client. food industry likely have post-secondary degrees in agriculture, business, science or any related field. It is not uncommon for them to have a masters or doctorate degree. These degrees provide foundational knowledge that is likely not to be fully developed during their undergraduate. Generally, individuals have work experience prior to entering this position in jobs ranging from account management to research and development. Companies, however, provide technical training for new professionals primarily focusing on the company’s product or service line. This is a position where having a lot of experience beforehand helps. 5. Technical Sales Reps Build Relationships Good relationships are the key to sales success. Technical sales representatives build relationships over time and make sure that prospective clients gain trust early in the process. One way they build trust is by actively keeping track of documentation and other relevant information which could aid in finding solutions for clients. Technical sales reps know how to identify problems, share potential solutions and set up contracts with prospective clients. This is where those active listening skills come in handy! 6. Technical Sales Reps Stay on Top of Current News, Trends, and Science To keep a competitive edge and better assist clients technical sales reps need to stay on top of current trends and science. They do so by attending tradeshows, reading industry publications and scientific journals. For example, a technical sales rep at an ingredients company (a company that sells different ingredients to clients) might notice that vegan milks are on the rise. Knowing this is the case they would go to the scientific literature and discover a new plant based protein that is showing promise to replace milk proteins. They would then go to their research and development team about their findings which could eventually lead to their company selling soy protein to clients. Those that can adapt are the ones that will succeed! 7. Technical Sales Reps Travel Technical sales reps usually spend their time between the office, working from home and Anton Paar - What experiences should students have? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7WN6rVLeNs&t=12s Our FoodGrads campus ambassadors caught up with Evaldo Carmo, a technical sales representative at Anton Paar. Here we asked Evaldo about what experiences he thinks students show have before they graduate to have the best value for a company. Tradeshows are events held to bring together members of a particular industry to display, demonstrate and discuss their latest products and services. Students are encouraged to attend these shows even if they are not apart of the industry. They provide individuals chances to network as many have scheduled social event times. As well, it gives broad overview of major players in the food industry. If that wasn’t enough you also get to try a lot of tasty food! Some of major tradeshows in Canada include the CIFST table top event, Restaurants Canada Show (RC Show) and IFT First Annual Event and Expo. University of Guelph is an Education Partner of ours, check them out on FoodGrads! Click their logo below! Available Programs: Food Industry Management, Food Science, Food and Agricultural Business, Mechanical Engineering, Food and Agricultural Business University of Guelph Looking to learn more about the technical side of food? Check out some of our favourite food science articles: • The science, history and health benefits of black garlic. • Fat Crystallization. • The Making of Maple Syrup. Get a bigger picture of the food industry by following popular food industry blogs. Here are a few of our favourites! • Food and Beverage Magazine • Science Meets Food • New Food Magazine • Food Quality & Safety • Food Processing Photo by Pixabay/Pexels Photo by hxdbzxy/iStock/GettyImagesPlus Hi! I’m Quinton, the FoodGrads Bot! For any questions please come visit me at FoodGrads.com!
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