Liam Burke

6.30 AM

I wake up, have breakfast and jump on my bike to enjoy a nice ride with some friends in the national park. This helps me to feel energised before the workday starts!

8.00 AM

I grab some snacks for the day, my laptop and put on a podcast for the train ride into Town Hall station.

8.45 AM

I arrive at World Square – a short 5-minute walk from Town Hall station – catch the lift to level 46 and say hi to a few people on the way to my desk. I log on to my computer and get set up for my meetings and commitments for the day. Before the meetings begin, a group of us will typically go downstairs to Kingswood (the best coffee in World Square!) to grab a coffee.

9.00 AM

I will then settle into my typical morning routine as an Account Executive in the Metcash (IGA) team at my desk with a view! After reviewing urgent emails and setting my top 3 priorities for the day, it’s time to review sales data and assess sales performance for each product within the Pest (Mortein and Aerogard) and Fabric (Vanish) categories that I manage. I update my excel model which tracks sales performance for each product for the week. This allows me to analyse historical trends and provide insights into the effectiveness of promotions to inform my forecasts and future promotional planning. Finance will then send through the daily sales report, from which I can evaluate the in-month performance of my categories and check if there are any major variances to my forecast for the month, which I will flag with my line manager if necessary.

10.00 AM

Meetings begin. I have a weekly 1-on-1 meeting with my manager to align on key priorities for the week, review financials and to receive the support I require in completing the key projects I’m working on. My manager will provide feedback on a promotional plan strategy that I’m planning to implement in Metcash and provide recommendations to optimise the plan. This is followed by a team meeting where my manager updates us on important information affecting our customers and categories, aligns on key priorities and events for the upcoming week and each member shares important updates relevant to the whole team.

11.00 AM

During a typical week as a sales graduate at Reckitt, I have regular interaction with different business functions, such as finance, category, marketing and supply. I meet with the demand planning team in the supply function to align on my sales forecast for the month, ensuring the stock quantities being supplied to Metcash are in line with expected sales volumes. In this meeting, the demand planning team will inform me of supply challenges that might impact my sales forecast. These might be out-of-stock issues, product quality issues or shipping constraints caused by container or commodity shortages. I will then jump on the phone or email the customer to inform them if there are any upcoming supply risks and discuss implications on upcoming promotions and the launch of new products into stores.

12.00 NN

After working on presentations for upcoming customer meetings and replying to customer emails, I’ll then head out to grab lunch. There are plenty of options at World Square to choose from; Burgers, Mexican, Indian, Japanese and many other places to eat in or takeaway and bring back to the cafeteria in the office!

2.00 PM

A critical component of the Independents National Account Executive role is leading range review meetings where I present a sales performance overview, present exciting new products coming to the Australian market and the full-year promotional plan recommendation to drive mutual growth for Reckitt and the customer. For these important customer meetings, marketing supports by preparing and presenting slides for the new products we’re selling, showcasing the additional value that Metcash will generate from incorporating the new products into their range. I will then present a recommendation for how the new products will fit onto shelves in IGA and defend poor-performing products from being deleted in stores with insights on shopper behaviour and overall category trends and performance. Post-meeting, I will send minutes, a timeline of key deadlines for the range review process and enact any key actions that the customer has requested.

3.00 PM

As a graduate, Reckitt invests in our learning and development with several helpful training courses throughout the year designed to develop our commercial capabilities and leadership competencies. As well as the appeal of the delicious lunches provided, this is a great opportunity to connect with fellow graduates in similar roles with like-minded career ambitions to enhance our skill set.

5.30 PM

It’s time to finish up for the day by closing off key tasks and head out to a team dinner near the office to celebrate the arrival of some new starters in the team, followed by some futsal with friends to cap off the day.

10.00 PM

Before heading off to bed, I will prepare for the next day by planning my schedule for tomorrow’s workday in the office again!