Helen Lyons
Helen is extensively experienced in the food & drink retail industry and is a familiar face in this space. Find out more about her work through LYONS, her previous work and much more here.
About Helen Lyons
Helen Lyons is a familiar face to all those in the food & drink retail industry. Helen has extensive experience in this space, having been at the helm of The Retail Industry Awards, The Quality Food Awards in the UK and Ireland and having been publishing director at Independent Retail News and Packaging News, as well as several other B2B titles in other sectors.
Through her work for these brands, Helen has a strong working relationship with a wide network of C-suite professionals and senior managers at independent and corporate food & drink household names. Her industry knowledge spans the history of food & drink retailing as well as being familiar with innovative new players in the market.
The success of the Quality Food Awards in the UK and more recently in Ireland is largely attributable to Helen’s passion, commitment determination and in-depth knowledge and breadth of contacts in the retail food and drink sectors.
Helen has formed first class relationships with many major supermarkets and understands their appetite to win awards in order to drive incremental sales of their own label ranges and to gain independent validation of the quality of their products. Helping retailers to ‘ shout’ about their award successes has been a vital element of the successful strategy of other awards that she has been involved with in the past.
Helen brings with her a network of highly respected, independent food and drink experts, who ensure that the independence of the food awards judging process is upheld and that authenticity in relation to the food science and technology aspect of the awards
Helen is a passionate advocate for smaller emerging brands and brings with her a genuine desire to help them to achieve their potential through a combination of expert sales , marketing and branding assistance.
About LYONS
The retail space is competitive and tough to navigate – let LYONS guide you to ever-greater success. We can provide a suite of services that meet your business needs and ensure that you stay one step ahead of the competition.
About LYONS' Services
These are the types of events that LYONS can help you with:
Events
- Awards – from launching a new award into the retail market to advising on the best way to present your entries into existing awards, we are your go-to for all awards information. We can also show you how to capitalise on your wins so that your trophies translate to a sales uplift
- Meet the buyer events – we are able to work with local and national governments, business associations and groups and supermarket chains to connect small independent suppliers with buyers; a win-win outcome for all parties
- Study tours – Want to achieve best practice as an independent retailer? Want to help your association members learn more about ways to increase sales? Book us to run a study tour of retailers in a high performing market and get some fresh new ideas
Sales:
From advising on how to get sales teams up to speed in this sector to signing up brands to increase sales revenues, LYONS are the only sales consultants you’ll need.
LYONS has formed a partnership with GB Brands, headed up by Andy Johns who has over 20 years’ sales experience in the UK FMCG sector.
Although the convenience and out of home market is often seen as a difficult arena to enter, LYONS and GB Brands will help make it as easy as possible, so you have a full understanding of not only the retailers themselves but also their route to market. Our partner GB Brands will tailor-make a package to suit the requirements of each brand ranging from a pure sales role in a specified sector to a far more strategic role, helping to build your brand’s presence in the UK and Ireland.
Here are some of the elements we can help your brand with:
- Setting up an ambitious, yet achievable, sales strategy
- Connecting you with key players in the retail sector to gain listings
- Motivating and showing your existing sales teams how to meet
- Advocating for your brand at key meetings, forums and events
- Providing personable, friendly staff to represent your brand at exhibitions and food fairs
About LYONS' Services
Media
The founder of LYONS has a long association with B2B and B2C publishing, having overseen the publication of industry bibles such as Independent Retail News and Packaging News. Helen can advise on publishing strategy for magazines, supplements, websites and social media. She is able to come up with innovative ideas to ensure that sales targets are met and a healthy return is achieved.
Among the many aspects she can help with, here are some highlights:
- ABC circulation and audit requirements – she has ensured her publications were compliant and has seen regular increases in ABC numbers for the titles she published
- Meeting with and building relationships with key advertising and sponsorship clients to ensure that all parties achieve their desired outcomes
- P&L management – through our links to publishing professionals, LYONS can ensure that your costs are kept to a minimum and your publications are produced on time and to budget
- Target your B2B audiences with innovative cutting-edge client-focussed creative commercial ideas – we can help you make it happen
Connecting People
Have a great brand but just can’t seem to get it in front of the right people? LYONS can connect you to who you need to speak to as well as advising you on how to present your ideas in the best way possible.
Discover how the right conversation at the right time can result in your brand becoming a household name. Here’s what we can do for you:
- Introduce you to the right people for sales and listings
- Set up meetings and forums in the UK & internationally with the people you’re keen to meet
- Help you build a network of key players in the food & drink retail space
- Connect you with PR professionals to ensure your brand is well-known and professionally represented
Let us be your go-to for successful networking.
