Tom Welham, Sales Director - Leisure

Department: Leisure

Tell us a little about your role, how long have you been with ForFarmers?

I joined ForFarmers in 2015 and am the Sales Director for the Leisure Team, which is responsible for game nutrition, smallholder and pet.

It’s a really interesting part of the business as we sell very specialist to a range of markets from game keepers and estates, merchants as well as large multi-national pet food businesses.

Why did you join ForFarmers?

After completing a master’s in international Agribusiness, I was interested in working for an international agricultural business that was very values orientated, like ForFarmers. My first role with ForFarmers presented lots of opportunities to work with the various teams in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany on a range of marketing projects.

Working in sales for pig, poultry, and leisure, tell us about a typical day at work?

No day is the same in my role. The Leisure division has a variety of different customer segments, so I often find myself having to think about game feed, then smallholders, and then pet food, in quick succession.

I can have a conversation about a 2-tonne delivery of game feed to a local farm shoot in one breath, to discussing growing extruder business with our largest Petfood customer, and Walmart in the USA in another!

But in a typical day I will always make time to speak to my team about sales planning, prospecting and customer opportunities and issues, as well as working closely with the wider business. I am lucky to work with some great teams, including Marketing and Technical, Sales & Operational Planning and of course our manufacturing colleagues.

What’s your favourite part of the job?

I really enjoy working with a great team. We’re all very engaged on one mission to grow game feed and Farmgate sales. Our collective drive gives me a lot of energy and we have fun along the way!

What are you currently focussing on in the business at the moment? 

This time of year, we are gearing up for the game season ahead, which includes buying raw materials and quoting for business for the season.

We are also growing our pet food business and on the Farmgate side have been  refreshing the brand to make our offer more attractive to our customer base, and our merchant network.

What’s the best advice anyone has ever given you?

S.U.M.O. My boss, Chris, often tells me when something is out of your control Shut Up and Move On!!.