I spent 18 years working in FMCG, in infant nutrition for a major European organic producer as Head of Sales for their Eastern Division (Eastern Europe, Near East, Asia).

Working in international sales and business development means that there’s almost no such thing as a typical day. There are office days and there are field days.

On office days, my schedule was determined by the time differences with my customers. As they were east of my home base that meant starting early (sometimes 6am) so that I could be in calls and meetings until around 10 with clients. The rest of the day would be spent in discussions with:

• My product managers regarding new product development. What adaptations do I need for Asia to the formulation or packaging
• The marketing team. How do the standard materials we use in the domestic market need to be adapted for the various export clients?
• My sales managers to discuss developments and problems.

I used to go regularly to meetings at key accounts to run central negotiations for the central and eastern European area

During Field visits with my sales managers, a typical day would start at 5:30 to reply to emails followed at 7 with a breakfast meeting. We might spend the morning doing store visits in whichever country we were visiting (e.g. Vietnam).

Back to the client’s office after a quick lunch somewhere for meetings until around 8pm.

Dinner with the client and back to the hotel around 11pm.

Quickly check email and make any urgent calls to the office (who are still working due to the difference in time zone).

Pros

• Lots of variety
• High amount of travel (nice hotels, expensive restaurants)
• Well paid
• Good chances for promotion

Cons

• High pressure environment
• Not everyone likes to fly or be away from home so much
• Extremely high workload
• You visit lots of places but don’t actually see much except supermarkets

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