‘It’s all about the cow!’ explains Gareth Wilson.
Wilson Agri was the first importer of cow mattresses into Europe in 1994 and today they supply everything to ensure that the cow has a clean dry comfortable bed, with clean fresh water and air, with reduced pressure on the hooves when turning at the feed barrier. While Gareth and his brother run a successful company has engaged with InvestNI export programmes in the past, Lead2Grow was his first time engaging with formal leadership training.
Before the programme, the big challenges for Gareth were managing and motivating sales staff to improve sales, clarity of vision and communicating this to staff and customers. He said: “Lead2Grow helped give me direction for the direction and bring clarity to our purpose as well as how to communicate this to our sales staff”. He has also acquired a new confidence in decision-making and a greater ambition for growing the business through the development of a strategic plan for the future, focusing on growing his sales team.
Beyond the main programme, the mentoring was critical in learning how to lead the sales team for the business. Gareth said: “sales staff are the strikers on the team and I have learned that company image and brand is critical factor in the completing sales process”. The Sales Academy leadership master class was also a highlight of the programme, where Gareth brought 3 of his staff. He said: “this helped staff to understand the mysteries of sales and simplified the process and most importantly the path to conversion”.
While Gareth has always been committed to growing his own skills as leader of Wilson Agri, in completing Lead2Grow he now is equipped to nurture the growth and motivation of his staff and sales team for even greater success and beyond the UK.