Need help to succeed in Retail and CPG industries or in related fields?
Helping people succeed is what I have the pleasure of doing each day through the thousands of individuals, students, and corporate learners we serve. I love to build skills and capabilities within organizations and among individuals to help them succeed.
Specifically, there are ongoing and new challenges and skill areas that we address through coaching and training services, including:
- Data to insights, including Shopper perspective
- Strategic thinking/Critical thinking/Business Acumen
- Fact-based presentation and storytelling
- Category Plan/Business Review Development
- Industry trends (e-commerce, shopper insights, omni-channel, AI, AR, IoT, etc.)
What I enjoy most is working with individuals to help them achieve success in their Category Management, Sales, Marketing, and many more roles, regardless of how experienced they are or what their goals may be.
That’s why I’m shifting the focus on this blog to become more geared to someone very important—YOU.”
You as an individual—who you are, what’s most important to you, your career aspirations, and what you need to succeed in your goals. If any of the topics above are important in your current role, then I can provide you with resources and materials to help you succeed — whatever that might mean to you.
Let’s get your success started by asking a few questions …
Who are you?
Retail category manager, retail operations, sales, shopper insights, marketing, category analyst, category manager, business analyst, space management analyst, team leader, department leader, other?
Who do you work for?
Retailer or CPG Organization, Distributor/Broker, Solution Providers, Private Label Companies, Auto Aftermarket, Convenience Channel, other?
Which best describes your experience level?
New to the industry / Entering the industry (less than 5 years)
- You need to understand the career options in Retail and CPG Industry.
- You might be considering coaching/training on how to meet your personal growth objectives to better meet or exceed expectations in your category management role.
- You are considering seeking a new job in category management and may want some help in understanding how to build your personal profile to land that career-changing role.
- I am looking for more engagement in my current role.
Been in Retail or CPG awhile (more than 5 years)
- You may feel a bit overwhelmed (and sometimes in the dark) with all the changes in the industry. You could use some help navigating your way through a more complex world.
- You are a manager of a team in category management and are looking for ways to develop managerial and leadership skills to help individuals on your team achieve success in their roles through personal development.
- You are in category management in a company that provides all the coaching and training you need to excel in your role, personal development, and career goals. If you chose this option, lucky you! Make sure that you take advantage of the training and resources available and take ownership of your personal development with an “always learning” mentality. If you want to dig deeper to understand where some of your gaps may be, I invite you to complete our:
What do you need to accomplish short-term?
Where are you at today? Do you need anything else to meet your current role requirements? What do you need to meet other role requirements?
Short-term examples:
- Feel more confident or assertive in your role,
- land that next promotion/get a job in another company,
- become a better team leader,
- encourage and facilitate your team’s individual development,
- be the highest rated employee in your peer group,
- reach your highest potential,
- attain the highest pay grade in your current role,
- survive and thrive within the next consolidation,
- feel more engaged in conversations,
- gain confidence in your decisions and recommendations,
- develop your presentation confidence and effectiveness,
- get more accomplished/be more productive,
- focus on strategic rather than tactical,
- manage your time more effectively,
- become more collaborative with your team and/or peers,
- take on more responsibility,
- build business acumen,
- feel more comfortable presenting to managers, and/or
- your career fill-in-the-blank.
Long-term examples:
- Become a subject-matter expert,
- build strategic collaboration with retail or manufacturing partners,
- start your own company,
- build an expansive network of like-minded professionals,
- learn to become more adaptive,
- change careers,
- break into management,
- build your personal brand,
- become the next President or CEO,
- retire, and/or
- survive.
How do short-term goals fit into your long-term plan?
Regardless of what your career and individual growth aspirations are, realize that YOU own your future. It's easy to blame your inability to achieve success on your company’s inability to keep pace with the fast-moving industry, a bad manager, and/or the lack of access to training/coaching/mentoring to hone your skills.
Your company and your manager can certainly make it easier (or harder) for you to succeed, but no one cares about you and what you want to accomplish more than YOU. On a personal note, my “worst boss”, who made my life almost intolerable, actually helped guide me to become a better leader through his lack of leadership. Know that I feel for you if you are in one of those scenarios right now—but things will get better if you take action!
Once you have an idea of your short- and long-term aspirations, set goals for yourself and develop a plan to help you get where you want to go.
You can stay on track with this goal by:
- Understanding your strengths & weaknesses
- Defining your goals and prioritizing them
- Creating your personal growth plan
- Implementing your plan
- Reviewing and revising your plan
Want to learn more about your professional development?
I’d like to invite you to participate in a personal growth journey with me through coaching that includes:
- Free Webinar with a group of like-minded individuals who are in a similar situation to yours (based on the “Which best describes you?” descriptions above), that will give you some tools & resources to develop a roadmap for yourself.
- Free Assessment that will identify your knowledge gaps across all areas of category management. This will further help you understand your needs from an educational perspective.
- Free Personalized Short- and Long-Term Goal Assessment that will help you understand your career journey and goals and how best to take action.
I want to help you reach your highest potential which is why this program is FREE, meaning no cost to you, to participate. You will have the choice to access additional materials and tools for a small fee but will benefit from the overall program without paying anything.
Register for the Retail/CPG Industry Coaching Webinar based on your experience.
Remember, you’ll get FREE Skill and Career/Goal Assessments plus some great free resources — just for registering and attending.
