Less TV and more sleep, know the difference between pressure and stress, and make an effort to de clutter desks, inboxes, homes and cars. Those were just some of the tips given to the 70 plus women at the first Women's Fresh Perspectives brunch on how to succeed in the produce industry.
Women’s Fresh Perspectives was held on the last day of the three-day PMA A-NZ Fresh Connections event, in Melbourne, on Thursday. The tips were part of the story shared by special guest speaker Carolyn Creswell, founder of Carman's natural muesli and snacks brand. "Be careful about giving away your time, too." She said. "You wouldn't just hand over $20, so think hard before you giveaway 20 minutes."
Confidence, persistence and resilience were three key attributes MsCreswell emphasized throughout her presentation. She explained how they enabled Carman's to become a household name and a brand synonymous with health and vitality, which sells a product every 2 seconds. “You never know when you’ll have a bad day,” she reminded the audience.
Marketing advice took on a more traditional bent but stayed very true to the theme of the entire PMA conference - put the customer at the heart of everything you do. Ms Cresswell told a captivated audience how she would sneak into stores to arrange the Carman's shelves, gave Prince Charles a sample muesli bar from her clutch purse at an exclusive dinner event and wrote to all people within Australia with the surname Carman. Those were basic principles, which she succeeded with long before social media and digital marketing were prevalent. "Focus on the person that's walking along the aisle at the supermarket and what they want. I always think if I'm catering to them and what they want the guys in the middle are happy," she said.
Listening more than talking, and making every interaction with the customer count because it would be the only interaction in a lot of cases were other hints as to how Ms Creswell operates her business.
Networking as a way to avoid industry ‘lag’
Women in the industry are benefiting from $38bn spent on education in Australia and New Zealand, but there is a lag in representation among those who have had children, attendees heard. Rachel Palumbo, commercial lead for vegetables for Australia and New Zealand with Monsanto, the event sponsor, said that the partnership was well suited to an organization such as hers. Monsanto boasts a 51% female representation among the corporate workforce and 60% among the leadership team for Australia and New Zealand. “We’re always looking for ways to attract diversity, and we see this as an opportunity to help the industry connect,” she told Fresh Plaza.
From a global perspective Cathy Burns, President of the PMA, said that PMA’s Foundation For Industry Talent works to attract top talent from all areas to the industry. “This is obviously the women’s slice, and the opportunity for networking is incredible. Also the opportunity to listen to a speaker such as the one we heard today,” she said. “Not only one that is inspiring, but one to be able to break things down into behaviours that are actionable is great. My experience in the short time that I’ve been here is that women care deeply about this industry, the connections they make in this industry and to move the industry forward. One great indicator of that is today’s attendance level.”
PMA’s Richard Owen said there was also a lot of interest from those who attended the event in doing similar networking events more frequently. They were concerned that the event didn’t ‘stand alone’ according to him. “They were asking how do we create this electronically? And that’s part of what PMA can do, to make this part of a global conversation and bring some of those best practices here to Australia and New Zealand.”
As a working mother of four children, Ms Creswell was chosen as the speaker to tell women about how to achieve the ultimate goal of a fulfilling career and home life, having established an emotionally connected brand with herself as the face. She is also considered a leader among entrepreneurs, having a spot on Channel 10 TV show Recipe to Riches.