Pip Hunt

I work as the Area Sales Manager covering the Lower North Island, where I sell wines from our Marlborough and Hawkes Bay Vineyards.

These wines are grown and owned by Otu Wines, a NZ Owned company with a small sales team across both Islands.

My role involves selling our wine portfolio to FMCG, Off and On-Premise accounts in various regions, including Taranaki, Whanganui, Hutt Valleys, Wairarapa, Kapiti Coast and Wellington.

Diplomat Global NZ is the exclusive NZ distributor of Proctor and Gamble's products, which include category-leading brands such as Gillette, Pantene, Head and Shoulders, Duracell Batteries and Fairy cleaning products.

As an ASM, I was responsible for servicing 19 Foodstuffs accounts in the Hutt Valley, Wairarapa and Hawkes Bay Regions on a weekly/fortnightly basis.

My main role was to establish strong relationships with my buyers, sell our diverse portfolio, present and sell in new products, negotiate fair Share of Shelf and plan and conduct shelf relays, also meet any merchandising needs, such as core range checks and display bookings.

I worked with a large but very well controlled co-op budget that I managed well. I also supervised a small team of merchandisers in my territory.

As part of an exciting business change for this employer, I was hired to be established into the first ever Direct Sales Team for Sprig and Fern Brewery.

My main role was to seek out all opportunities including cold calling to sell in all of their sku's and to build and maintain a strong client base within the On Premise, Grocery and Retail markets.

I was also tasked to increase ranging and sales of the Sprig and Fern Products including the Limited Releases and Core product lines, of which I was very successful due to prior relationships built up from my time at Tiki Wine and Vineyards.

Position 1: Lower North Island Area Sales Manager.

Position 2: Domestic Sales Team Leader.

I worked as a Sales Manager for a privately owned family wine business that was established in 2009, and in 2011 I was hired to be part of the newly created National Sales team.

My main objective was to build our client base from Zero spanning the entire Lower North Island: covering Wellington, Wairarapa, Palmerston North, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay and Gisborne regions.

I successfully built a customer base of over 300 clients, including On-premise, Off-premise and Grocery sectors, and met or exceeded my sales targets most months

I also served as a Domestic Sales Team Leader, providing day-to-day support to our small sales team, facilitating communication between sales and office staff, and managing several key accounts such as Foodstuffs North Island, South Island and Big Barrel Group (a liquor retail chain with 42 stores).

Regularly building and maintaining 80 to 100 restaurants, bars and some traditional liquor outlets in Wellington CBD/Hutt City area, representing a wide range of premium international and local wines, spirits and beers.

I was also the Regional team's go-to person for all On-premise needs.

A key part of this role was to host wine clubs, trade tastings and wine education sessions for staff and customers, as well as to negotiate wine listings and work with owners/operators on how to best support their brand in alignment with our offerings.

I managed the Wellington territory of Grocery and Traditional liquor sales, which involved promoting products, selling new SKUs, conducting tastings, and maintaining relationships with about 160-180 customers per call cycle.

My main responsibilities were implementing in-store and head office promotions, managing stock, and building presentation and display.

I was responsible for running in-store promotions and tastings of the company's product, as well as servicing small grocery and traditional liquor outlets with promotions, point-of-sale materials and general support.

I ensured that the product was excellently presented on-site, and I developed and installed displays.