Pepsi summer internship

MY SUMMER AS A PEPSICO INTERN

This past summer, I was blessed with the opportunity to work as a summer intern at PepsiCo

Beverages as a sales intern. As a 4th year marketing student, I was hoping to get into an

Internship position in my core area of study. Thus, I was initially sceptical when I was hired om sales

because I wasn't aware of all the potential skills I could obtain through the course of my

Internship.

After my two weeks of training, I was sent out on my first full week of assignment where I was tasked with the responsibility of covering for one of the sales representatives who was on vacation that week. With the benefit of insight, I would say that experience was probably one of the most difficult experiences that I've had in any type of work environment. The days seemed to be endless and because of the nature of the job, my day wasn't done until all my tasks were completed. A typical day consisted of taking an order, talking to the store owners and engaging in the least favourite part of my job: merchandising orders or back stocking extra stock of Pepsi products from the back rooms. This may not seem like a lot, but covering 7 stores in 11 hours was mentally drained for me. I remember thinking to myself after the first week that there was no way that any of these skills that I was learning were transferable and had already written this job off as another thing to add to my resume. 

It wasn't until I started discussing with some of my friends about our internship experiences that I started appreciating the value of this internship position and the experience that accompanied it. My position as an intern with Pepsi practically became a full-time job right away with real risk and real reward at the end of my week. If I were to mess up one week when ordering product, there would be noticeable implications when I walked into a store to realize that there was not that Pepsi product in the store. 

In the course of my internship, I gained a lot of insights into the workings of the retail industry and the internal dynamics of how everything works. From understanding specific terminologies and strategies that companies deplore to enhance sale and productivity; to other seemingly innocuous method on how products are to be merchandised in order to increase sales; to product shelf positioning in stores. Even though these specialized nuances were not learned in the classroom, getting my hands dirty has greatly enhanced my skill and knowledge tremendously 

Another important skill that I acquired because of my opportunity to work with Pepsi was the ability to distinguish between store managers (‘our customers’) their customers (‘our consumers’). The very first day of my orientation, my bosses made it clear that our immediate responsibility was to the stores, not the customers. The significance of this distinction did not dawn on me until I started working. During my first week, I remember thinking to myself, my whole goal was to make sure there were enough products in the shelf and to order more just in case, because I thought that as long as the customer had the product, I didn't think it mattered. How Pepsi's ordering system works is that the delivery comes two days after the order. So two days later when I got to the store and most of the previous order remained in stock, the store manager was really frustrated as he needed to find a place to make room for other products in his backroom. Next time around, and not wanting to make the same mistake, there was a short-fall which led to another store manager’s  frustration as his customers have been complaining about being out of this certain product. Finding the right amount to order that satisfies the manager, but also our consumer was a difficult balance and I am still not entirely sure how to do it today, but I've definitely improved since I started. 

Again, my customer service skill has been enhanced greatly during my internship position. As mentioned earlier, my direct customer was the store and store manager. One of the problems that beset my performance was ordering excessive products for my customers. I was able to alleviate this issue by better communication and a better understanding of store managers. By opening a line of better communication, it became clear to me that my customers, the store managers can usually be divided into two categories. One group was insistent on having a well-organized backroom with the least amount of stuff there and insisted I should only order enough to fill the shelves; while the other group was concerned with having enough product no matter what. Being able to distinguish between the two categories made my job a lot easier. 

Another aspect of customer service that I gained was understanding the importance of relationship building. On your first encounter with a store manager, there is a sense of scepticism and lack of trust that he feels about you being a green horn, but once your consistency and your positive energy and enthusiasm towards your job becomes noticeable, the store manager regards you as a partner in their business and may even be understanding if you were to make a mistake the next time. Since I was only working with these stores for a week or two at a time, it was important for me to build a good relationship right off the bat or it would be a long couple of weeks. 

Another reason why having a good relationship with the store manager was necessary was that each week we would have things we were supposed to attempt to sell into a store? A lot of the time these products have been pre-paid, so it wasn't difficult. However, if a store owner is unwilling to have these products on display in their store, it became an uphill battle to get them. I remember arguing with the store owner for hours on getting a display for one of the products and telling her that it was paid for by my company but she wasn't bulging it. It took the intervention of my hierarchy of bosses before we were able to resolve that issue which would have been different has there been an enhanced level of trust.

The final thing that I would like to touch base on is how these aforementioned skills will help me translate to my future pursuit in my chosen career. I major in marketing and it is my hope to pursue a career in marketing. So going into this summer, I was fortunate to be given this opportunity by Pepsi. Even though my intern was not a core marketing job, I realized how much sales and marketing are interrelated. All the theoretical underpinning of many courses in my university studies crystalized vividly in the front line experience on how these things played out as an intern. For example I experienced and practised the concept of the 4 Ps (Place, product, price, promotion) of marketing and I was actually able to see the demonstration in action in the business world. A real life example in terms of product and place are that some products sold better in certain places. If there was a retirement home near a store then diet Pepsi typically sold well than a regular Pepsi or King can pop would sell better in areas where there was a high school nearby. 

In terms of promotion and price, the large amount of product that would sell when such product was on sale was something incredible. At a certain price, discount products sales would nearly increase the volume sold by ten times a normal week. I would again state that it was refreshing to experience the practical demonstration of some concepts that were taught in our first year of marketing class in a real business setting. This is just one example of how my knowledge from school has translated to my knowledge in business. 

My sales experience actually enabled me to fully grasp the practical technique of marketing. Instead of continuing to learn about marketing, I was actually able to see marketing in action which is an experience I would not trade for anything. If any marketing student has the opportunity to work in sales, it is definitely something I would personally recommend.

Finally, I would like to thank Jerry Galaway, Denika Weir-Cotnoir, Jennifer Weiss my bosses this summer. They helped me get through this long summer. Even when my days were long, they were easy to approach and always found ways to accommodate my nervousness and oversight. Special appreciations also to Dana curry and the rest of the sales representatives and / merchandisers at PepsiCo Beverages at their Cambridge, Ontario branch who helped and assisted me as I worked my way through my summer as a Pepsi sales intern.