The Nestlé Rowntree Manager of the Month for September is awarded to Alan Mills, general manager of Booker in Shawfield.
Shawfield serves around 1,200 customers per week, of which catering customers make up around 70% of the business.
Mills has been recognised for this month's award as the result of working closely with Nestlé Rowntree sales development executive Stephanie Craig to develop confectionery sales with the branch's catering customers.
As the No.1 After Dinner Mint, worth £35m in the UK, Mills and Craig recognised After Eight as the ideal brand for catering customers and restaurants in particular.
Mills and Craig planned an incentive which would be motivating from two different perspectives. First, they offered the After Eight catering pack at a special price for four weeks to motivate customers to trial it, and second they incentivised the team at the branch with a bonus for every box sold, to be paid into their social fund.
The thorough communication of this activity was critical, therefore, to ensure all colleagues were as confident and knowledgeable as possible when talking it up to customers, Mills invited Craig to one of the weekly branch meetings to talk to the team about the After Eight brand and its catering pack format and also give them a chance to try the chocolates for themselves to remind them how good they are.
Mills also organised for the catering pack to be pre-sold to targeted customers who either had previously bought the After Eight catering pack or were suited to taking it. While in branch, the pack was ensured high visibility through an additional full shelf display next to the Nescafé coffee catering packs. The incentive proved a tremendous success, and sales of the catering pack more than doubled during the promotional period. As a result it has been allocated the full shelf display on a permanent basis.
Mills said: "We have an incredible number of people here who have worked in the branch for many years, and have a unique knowledge of our customers. We have therefore utilised these relationships to make sure all our relevant customers were aware of the After Eight catering pack, and it was great to work together with Nestlé Rowntree to provide our customers - and the team - with a great incentive."
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