Industry news

Spotlight on agents: George Vey

It was the love of a car that lured George Vey to his current position as sales representative for Soviet footwear in the Johannesburg and Pretoria region. “A sales representative who worked for my neighbour, Stanley Kotkin, drove a Golf Gti — and I really wanted that car! So, I went to Stanley’s house, knocked on his door, and asked him if I could work for him as a sales representative so that I could drive my dream car.

“Stanley did give me a job — packing orders in the warehouse. Still determined, I soon progressed to floor manager, then warehouse manager and finally, three years later, when the position opened, I was moved into sales. I got the car I wanted!”

Vey is now responsible for the key accounts and independent sales for Soviet Footwear in Johannesburg and Pretoria, and is also responsible for building the Soviet range, which involves a lot of overseas travel.

His approach to Stanley Kotkin was certainly not without merit — at that stage he already held a sales position with an international hair care company, after having studied marketing business management.

Vey says that when he initially started working in sales, he was solely motivated by the rush of making the sale, “which is my forte. However, the more time passed, the more I learnt and I quickly developed a huge passion for the shoe industry as a whole,” he says. “I still love selling, but I have also developed creatively by being involved in building the Soviet range.”

Know your clients

A successful agent must ALWAYS be on top of his game, and never loose momentum, believes Vey. And an agent can only stay on top of his game if he understands the retailers’ needs and their businesses, so that he knows what they are capable of achieving, he adds.

“You need to be acutely in tune with the product mix for each individual retailer. What sells in one store may sit on the shelves for another. Make sure you understand your retailers’ businesses and their market.”

You only gain hands on experience and a better understanding of their business by visiting retailers — which will also tell you what your competition is doing in their stores.

“You also get to know their stock levels, merchandising and where your brand is placed and fits in the store”.

Relationships with your retailers are key! “Reliability, integrity and efficiency builds a successful long term business relationship.

“Always listen to what your retailers are saying and doing in their business so you can identify new opportunities. If you are not listening during a sale, you can easily miss out.

This will also entail identifying early trends so that you can maximize on the sales for that trend’s time-frame — and have products ready.

“Basics always sell. Always make sure your customers have stock of the basics in their stores.”

While he believes an agent should be aggressive in his sales technique in order to get a brand into stores (“If you don’t somebody else will”), this should be balanced by the knowledge of what is right for the individual retailer’s business.

“Brand promotion is essential and you need to ensure that your brand is displayed to the fullest potential in the stores. The selection of the product must make a statement and tell a story in the stores. Selling across the range is important,” he adds.

He also says that it is very important to “be on top of your accounts and know their statistics. After all, I would like to think that we are account managers and not merely sales people. Always know what each of your retailers achieved in previous years, and have their current and future growth plan mapped out.”

As an account manager, he says, you need to have self-discipline and continuous drive and passion. The more you have the more successful you will be.

“Know your competition and what they are up to at all times, and honestly access where your strengths are compared to theirs?

“Ultimately, what you put in is what you will get out.

Learn to meet challenge

The knowledge you need to become a successful agent comes with time — and the more you are committed to your industry, the quicker you will learn, is his philosophy

Training of agents should start with the basics: how to present a range; how to get your vision through to your retailers so that it makes sense to them. “Remember that the right product, at the right time, in the right quantity, equals success.”

His biggest challenge as an agent is to ensure the longevity of his brand in retail “We all know brands have their peaks and valleys, the biggest challenge is identifying where you are on that scale and having a plan of action to keep your brand inspirational.”

His experience is that the industry has become a lot more competitive, especially in the recent tough economic climate.

“Chain stores are showing better sell through than the independents during these tough times.”

But, tough times like these are not necessarily a bad thing,” he believes. “It creates the opportunity for us to sharpen our pencils. There will always be opportunities, but identifying them is the challenge.

“Where is the market going and how fast will it get there? Who knows! Just get out there and Rock ‘n Roll!”