Context & Challenge

Applauder VIC was born out of a practical necessity. Initially, it started as a way to subsidise the cost of maintaining a dedicated field team for O1 Distribution and SOS Hydration. But it quickly became clear that the service itself was not only viable but highly profitable. With that realisation, Applauder grew into a stand-alone operation representing a wide range of FMCG brands.

The market environment was competitive. Field sales and merchandising agencies existed, but most operated in silos — focusing either on pharmacy or grocery/independent supermarkets, rarely both. Applauder’s unique proposition was its ability to bridge these worlds, offering head office support and broad field representation across Pharmacy, Major Grocery Chains, and Independent Supermarkets, including regional areas where coverage was often neglected.

Early on, the main challenges for FMCG clients were twofold:

•Balancing the quality of head office relationships with reliable in-store execution.

•Ensuring consistent field coverage, particularly outside metro hubs.

As cofounder, I split responsibilities with the Managing Director: he focused on client relationships and new business growth, while I shouldered everything operational — from staff management and logistics to client reporting and compliance. Over time, I also took over managing key clients in the Independent supermarket space.

Approach & Execution

Building the Field Team

Drawing from hands-on sales experience in the field over that last several years, I developed a practical training model and staff onboarding process. Having new reps shadowing me in the field to learn customer engagement, before being supported with clear procedure manuals and ongoing phone/email support. This blended approach ensured consistency and gave the team both structure and confidence.

Client Reporting & Data Analysis

I recognised that data was only useful if it was clear and actionable for clients. You created custom dashboards that translated CRM and sales data into insights they could actually use — tracking ranging increases, out-of-stock levels, and compliance across all product placement points including major chains. These reports not only gave clients visibility into performance but also highlighted growth gaps and opportunities for category and brand expansion.

Operational Systems & Automation

I progressively improved the CRM and sales system to make it both more functional for reps and more valuable for clients. Modifications allowed field reps to capture richer data with less effort, while automated workflows streamlined reporting and boosted productivity across the team.

Governance & Risk Management

As a young company, Applauder didn’t begin with a full governance framework. I worked on building compliance processes from the ground up as issues arose, ensuring the business stayed on solid footing. A key strength I brought was proactively identifying risks — from data handling to service delivery — and implementing fixes before they became major problems.

Expansion Support

One of the biggest operational challenges was supporting a QLD distributor’s expansion into Victoria. You tackled this with a systematic approach:

•Choosing the right mix of products to launch first, trying to balance generating initial sustainable sales with SKUs that had less resistance to getting to market.

•Prioritising sales coverage for those SKUs before broadening the range.

•Recruiting additional staff and restructuring existing sales runs to absorb the extra workload.

•Protecting service quality for Pharmacy and Major Chains while scaling Independents — ensuring that growth in one area didn’t jeopardise performance in another.

Results & Impact

•Market Growth: You drove substantial growth across Independents, averaging 30% annual sales increases, achieved through stronger ranging, compliance, and upselling.

•Scale: Applauder represented around 20 brands with a field team of 10, covering metro and regional areas, spanning right across VIC.

•Operational Wins: With resource allocation models and logistical coordination, I significantly improved efficiency and profitability, not only across the brands we represented but this also this was reflected back and responsible for Applauder’s growth year on year.

•Client Success: I directly secured and maintained critical client relationships, including winning and executing the initial onboarding of the QLD distributor and maintained and strengthened the relationship of Applauder’s second-largest Independent client simultaneously.

Personal Reflection & Leadership

Applauder was the acceleration point of my career — the moment I shifted from being in the trenches of sales execution to owning the operational leadership of a fast-growing FMCG services company. At first, I tried to juggle both worlds, spending days in the field while managing operations. But as the company grew, the need for a dedicated COO role became obvious.

The transition wasn’t without challenges. Delegation came naturally in numbers, logistics, and reporting, but client management in the Independents required stretching new skills. This was a catalyst for growth as a leader, learning to balance support for the team, accountability for clients, and the discipline to keep operations structured.

Ultimately, stepping back from direct sales and focusing fully on operations was the turning point allowing my to embrace role in leadership.

The key lessons carried forward:

•Structure beats firefighting: operational systems prevent you from being trapped in the weeds, the hardest part is stepping away from those weeds to get systems and processes in place.

•Communication is everything: across departments, clients, and teams, a clear feedback loop is critical, without this there are too many spinning their wheels or trapped running on that hamster wheel.

•Values matter: strong values attract the right clients, staff, and stakeholders. The work ethic and energy you show as an example positions you to be the best leader you can, this instils confidence and mutual understanding to those around you.

Applauder became the bridge between my early “execution-heavy” years and the strategic leadership I now deliver as a Fractional COO. It was where I learned how to transform operational chaos into repeatable, scalable systems — and where I began applying data-driven processes to drive decisions, not just activity. Managing a fast-growing business with lean resources taught me how to balance precision with pragmatism — how to build infrastructure that supports growth without stifling agility.

That experience sharpened my ability to see across the entire operational landscape: from supply chain bottlenecks and sales inefficiencies to underutilised teams and unstructured data. I learned how to design frameworks that give founders visibility, accountability, and confidence — systems that run smoothly, even when they step away. It’s also where I built my leadership philosophy: empower people with clarity, align systems with strategy, and create space for growth through simplicity and structure.

Today, I bring that same philosophy into every engagement — helping founders and small business operators scale smarter, streamline complexity, and reclaim the time and control they’ve lost to reactive management. My value lies not just in diagnosing what’s broken, but in architecting the systems and processes that make businesses scalable, profitable, and ready for whatever comes next.