We speak to Rob Williams, Sales Specialist at Wynnstay to find out about his role within the agricultural industry.
Tell us about yourself
I’m 35 years old and I am a Sales Specialist at Wynnstay. I have worked in the commercial side of agriculture for 10 years now, and I have worked at Wynnstay for 8 years.
I’m not from a farming family but my father has always been involved in the industry and my love for agriculture started at a young age. After leaving college I worked on a range of farms and have done most jobs from milking cows to combine driving. This has given me a good practical understanding of the sector.
Not wanting to be working long hours for the rest of my life, I looked for a career that would keep me linked with the practical aspects of agriculture, but also gave me the opportunity to progress, so in 2011 I joined Wynnstay as a Trainee Sales Specialist.
Tell us about your role
Ultimately my role is to sell a range of products direct to farmers, to enable me to do this I have built up a good knowledge of the all products Wynnstay have to offer, my focus is primarily on feed, fertiliser, and seed as these are big product categories for the company and link together well, during my time within the company, I have gained my AMTRA and FACTS qualifications which have allowed me to give more technical advice to my customers.
Having such a big product portfolio keeps things interesting, but we can't be experts in everything, so a big part of my role is working with specialist colleagues such as the Dairy Technical team and the Calf and Youngstock team. By bringing these colleagues to my customer's farms we can add value to their business with expert advice.
A big part of my role is delegation, making sure the right people, advice and products are available to my customers as and when they need them, I like to think of us all as one big team from myself being the key contact to the customer service team at the mill, down to the team at the local store, everyone has a key part to play in serving my customers.
What aspects of your role do you enjoy the most.
The most enjoyable part of my role is building relationships with my customers, the relationship you have with a customer is very important, my customers are reliant on me for up to date advice, support, and to keep bringing something new to their business. A good relationship with your customers is crucial for keeping accounts running smoothly and creating effective problem-solving methods.
Working in the countryside has got to be a big benefit of the job, I’m a practical type of person and being stuck in an office day to day wouldn’t suit me, this job allows me to be out and about, meeting new and exciting people on a daily basis.
What are the down sides to your role
Lack of time, I never seem to have enough time in the day to visit as many farms as I would like, over the years we have seen farm numbers decline but those who remain have grown in size meaning we now need to cover larger areas. To combat this, daily call planning is key to seeing customers at the right time of year.
In the last few months raw material and fertiliser markets have been very volatile and it’s been hard to try and keep updated with market trends, my customers look to me for advice on matters such as when is a good time to buy, and it has been increasingly difficult to give this advice over the last few months.
What is your key advice to farmers
My key bit of advice to farmers would be not to get hung up on price, as sometimes your cheapest product could end up being your most expensive. As prices are going up at a massive rate at the moment quality could be compromised, and buying an inferior product could end up costing downtime in performance, whether it be finishing lambs, beef cattle or producing that extra litre of milk.
