Fergus Claffey

B.Commerce
Senior Management Associate, Spearhead Training, U.A.E.

Fergus is a native of Ireland who has worked in the U.A.E. since January 2006. He holds a post graduate qualification in Computer Programming, and a Bachelors Degree in Commerce from National University of Ireland, Galway.

He has extensive management, sales and account management experience, from his working career in Ireland and the U.K., where he worked primarily in the retail, distribution, and logistics sectors.

After completing his tertiary education in 1994, Fergus began his commercial career as an Assistant Manager for a U.K. and Irish retail chain, gaining rapid promotion to Manager, and then Area Manager within two years. As Area Manager he had overall commercial responsibility for nine retail stores. In 1998 he was promoted again to the position of Operations Manager with overall responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the complete retail and distribution functions throughout the whole of Ireland, with responsibility for 21 national outlets. In 2001, together with two partners, Fergus was part of a MBO (Management Buy Out) team that took over the Irish operation from the U.K. parent company. The new team then developed the organization into the leading company in its industry in Ireland.

Having sold his shares in this operation in 2003, Fergus subsequently set up a retail consultancy business, in Ireland, that assisted retail start-ups by creating and developing their sales, logistics and distribution channels. In this capacity he also conducted training programmes in sales and customer service for his client organizations, as well as holding one-to-one coaching sessions for retail managers.

His early experience as a field trainer in Ireland proved particularly relevant to developing new sales teams. In the training field he was mainly responsible for sales, marketing, customer service, and product training. An example of the success of his training was reflected in a significant growth of sales (35%) and GPM (Gross Profit Margin) over a two year period, 2004 / 2005, for a leading IT sector client.

Looking for a new challenge outside of retail, Fergus moved to Dubai in 2006 to take up a Senior Management position with a U.A.E. based software development company, targeting the MENA region. His responsibilities here included developing the brand and sales force to effectively provide client focused solutions in line with the customer requirements.

In 2008, he joined Spearhead Training as Senior Business Development Manager and Trainer, with responsibility for developing the Spearhead brand across the Gulf Region and running courses in Retail, Sales, Customer Service, Management and Leadership.

Working with a cross section of nationalities is a challenge Fergus has always enjoyed, and his practical, ‘hands on’ approach to sales, marketing, management and leadership has enabled him to successfully transfer his real life experiences into the training room, where delegates find his training lively, practical, and highly participative.

As part of a very successful Business Development team in Spearhead Training, Fergus divides his time between training and business development. In either area of the business, whether training or developing business, Fergus’s 100% commitment is to ensure that his customers benefit from interacting with Spearhead in a way that ensures they can drive their business forward and improve their business performance.

Fergus is able to deliver the following courses for Spearhead:

Management & Leadership
> Developing Management Skills
> Supervisory Management Skills - For 1st / 2nd Level Supervisors
> Leading High Performance Teams
> Strategic Thinking & Planning
> Change Management

Sales & Marketing
> Advanced Negotiation Skills
> Advanced Selling Skills
> FMCG Selling
> Improving Your Sales Skills - The Key Elements Of Successful Selling
> Key Account Management
> Negotiation Skills
> Retail Excellence

Personal Development
> Self & Time Management

Additional Courses:
> Teambuilding