Project Sales Engineer at Venture Lighting Europe Ltd

I started my career with CEF as an aspire graduate trainee. This training course was fantastic and took a very hands on approach to help me develop my skills. It gave me opportunities to learn and develop outside of the branch environment which allowed me to learn at a much faster rate. When I wasn’t in branch serving customers and learning my trade, I was out visiting our manufacturing partners. As part of this I worked on the production line for a week, spot welding, wiring and… Show more I started my career with CEF as an aspire graduate trainee. This training course was fantastic and took a very hands on approach to help me develop my skills. It gave me opportunities to learn and develop outside of the branch environment which allowed me to learn at a much faster rate. When I wasn’t in branch serving customers and learning my trade, I was out visiting our manufacturing partners. As part of this I worked on the production line for a week, spot welding, wiring and assembling light fittings. This allowed me to understand the level of work that goes into quality products, the advantages of in-house manufacturing and the knowledge to avoid inferior products. The best section of the course however was the three months I spent on placement with an electrical contractor. What better way to understand your customers needs than to step into their world and understand the issues they face on the tools. Spending this time with the contractor, concentrating on domestic and commercial work, vastly improved my product knowledge and has allowed me to understand what the end user wants from a supplier. Though the course I took on ever increasing responsibility. From my first day In branch with little product knowledge to a trainee account manager responsible for dozens of customers. The course has armed me with the product knowledge, experience and business network to be a resource for my customers. It has been a solid foundation on which to build my career Show less

Working as part of a driven sales team in the showrooms department. The role allowed me to develop skills including sales, generating leads, stock management, order and after-sales processing, team building skills and effective time management.During the six years I enjoyed in the role I was able to take on ever increasing responsibility and ownership of tasks which I thoroughly enjoyed. Despite only being on a twenty hour contract I was able to manage my business efficiently… Show more Working as part of a driven sales team in the showrooms department. The role allowed me to develop skills including sales, generating leads, stock management, order and after-sales processing, team building skills and effective time management.During the six years I enjoyed in the role I was able to take on ever increasing responsibility and ownership of tasks which I thoroughly enjoyed. Despite only being on a twenty hour contract I was able to manage my business efficiently and delivered consistently good sales. In doing so I Increased my year on year sales in 2016 by over £60,000, to achieve an annual total of around £300,000, and finish with the second highest sales figure in the store. Whilst achieving my own sales targets I was also responsible for supporting and helping to develop the skills of new staff in the department. Being able to help my colleagues feel comfortable in the role, such as supporting them with product knowledge and their sales pitch, was an aspect of the job that was very satisfying. Show less