Chris wright, sales director, feel good drinks

For Chris Wright, sales director of healthy juice drink brand Feel Good Drinks, there is no such thing as a typical week.

During the week, Wright could be working on anything from the sales agenda to managing field sales and national account teams.

“My biggest task is getting the brand out there and trying to get it into as many stores as possible,” he says.

And Wright has been successful. In 2001, when he set up Feel Good Drinks as a “shoestring operation” with MD Dave Wallwork and marketing director Steve Cooper, its first customer was high street retailer Superdrug.

Now, its brands are sold in 11,000 stores across the UK including Asda, Morrisons, Somerfield, Sainsbury, Tesco, Boots, Budgens, as well as in foodservice and the on-trade.

His career background in beverages, which has included 10 years at Coca-Cola, has also helped. He joined Coca-Cola straight from
college and held a variety of roles in field sales, national account sales and trade marketing.

During the week Wright also makes sure that he spends as much time as possible with the sales force.He recently set the sales team up with wi-fi technology in an effort to tackle his “bugbear” of the useless downtime that sales people can have.

Wright says that it allows the sales team to be more flexible, giving them the opportunity to work from home one day a week and spending at least three days a week meeting their customers.

“We also encourage our guys to travel by train instead of driving,” he explains. “Instead of wasting their time in a car, they can now sit and work on a train. It increases the usefulness of travel time.”

Wright is currently working on preparations for Feel Good Drinks’ spring range in order to be ready for the multiples’ review of their ranges.

“This is kicking in in earnest now, so it’s a very busy time for us,” he adds.
YOu’ll feel better and Do more work if you go by train