Hill started in business 15 years ago, selling stock from the back of his car. He now owns his own warehouse in Beith, Ayrshire, from where he operates his delivered wholesale business. A member of the Sugro buying group, Hill's company services over 350 customers per week with confectionery, drinks, snacks and crisps.

Hill has been recognised with the Manager of the Month award for an initiative with his 26 local Sugro Sweetbreak customers. Throughout 2006 Hill worked closely with his Nestlé Rowntree sales executive, Stef Craig, to offer a range of exclusive confectionery and biscuits deals to these customers.

The deals have been aimed at generating incremental sales from key pack formats at key times of the year. An excellent example of the incremental sales this kind of initiative can generate has been highlighted with chocolate biscuit bars. Hill offered a '2 for a price' deal across the Nestlé Rowntree 79p chocolate biscuit bar range, timed to benefit from the 'back to school' occasion when mums are looking for treats for their kids' lunchboxes. The range includes family favourites, such as the UK's most popular biscuit KitKat.

The customers who were offered the deal then turned it into a consumer deal for their own stores. Hill helped them highlight this consumer deal to their shoppers by providing display materials such as posters and dumpbins. By using a dumpbin to display a consumer deal sales can increase up to a fantastic 4.5 times.

What's more, to encourage excellent displays which shoppers cannot miss, Hill introduced a display incentive with prizes for the photographs of the best display.

Overall the sales result for Iain Hill Ltd, Nestlé Rowntree and importantly Hill's customers has been fantastic. Before the promotion Hill did not sell biscuits, during the three-week promotion period he sold more than 100 cases to his 26 customers, the majority of which now permanently stock the Nestlé Rowntree 79p biscuits range and are buying them on a regular basis.

Outside of work Hill is married with three children, and is currently renovating their newly bought home.

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