What are the responsibilities and job description for the Regional Sales Manager position at First Search Inc.?
SUMMARY
The Regional Sales Manager is accountable for delivering top-line volume within their authorized trade budget. The Manger is responsible for leading a third-party Broker Sales Organization (Acosta), and setting direction with Acosta and our customers to deliver targeted volume results within the brand strategies for company products. This job has no supervisory responsibilities.
Our candidate must have experience calling on retail customers Ahold (Stop & Shop, The Giant Companies, Giant Martins), Market Basket, Shaw’s, Price Chopper, Bozzuto’s, C&S Wholesale
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following:
Job Complexity:
- Responsible for managing customer sales.
- Ability to build and execute a sales plan that delivers against the customer’s goals and consistently delivers top line volume within the authorized trade budget.
- Develop productive working relationship with key decision makers within the customer's organizational structure, typically Director and Vice President level.
- Responsible for managing a high level of customers or touch points.
- Responsible for penetrating and selling at the indirect level to drive wholesaler volume.
- Responsible for managing all categories within the company portfolio.
Principal Accountabilities:
Deliver Annual Operating Plan
- Deliver annual operating plan (dollars, cases).
- Maximize trade spending within authorized budget.
Develop alignment with Acosta
- Create direction and set expectations for Acosta within distribution, shelving, merchandising, and pricing standards and the basics of company strategic platforms.
- Distribution: achieve new item execution with net gain goals. Eliminate retail voids.
- Shelving: improve overall positioning and brand blocks – set to company standards.
- Merchandising: execute plan to deliver volume within promotional guidelines.
- Pricing: manage price by maintaining threshold price points, and price gaps to competition.
- Provide clear direction and prioritize initiatives with timely evaluation of results.
- Ensure all customer business plans are aligned with brand guidelines.
- Align financial goals and objectives, trade spending and deductions.
- Penetrate Acosta at all levels within the organization.
- Facilitate and lead communication with Acosta retail operations by working closely with Retail Managers across Acosta to maximize coverage.
Customer Management
- Ensure the customer plans are aligned to the corporate objectives to deliver the team's overall volume and share objectives for each brand/category.
- Assess customer's competitive position, behaviors and strategies and understand how they align with company goals.
- Track industry trends - identify opportunities and monitor competitive products.
- Establish and maintain customer management relationships - personally call on decision makers at the account.
- Provide market/customer expertise and direction to company HQ on all customer issues.
Financial Management
- Manage promotional trade funding within corporate approved boundaries to provide needed volume growth.
- Implement and enforce company policy; ensure customer compliance with defined contractual commitments. Establish relationships with customers that will address deductions and control unauthorized chargebacks.
Technical Skills
- Maintains a high level of system proficiency specifically within the Planning System, IRI/AC Nielsen, and all available Acosta systems.
- Demonstrated proficient in Microsoft Office platform; Excel, PowerPoint and Word.
- Proven ability to build and deliver effective presentations.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree (B. A.) in Business Administration, Marketing or related field from four-year college or university.
- 10 years of relevant experience; 5 years within the CPG industry experiences.
- Demonstrated high level of communication, problem solving, and leadership skills.
- Strong sales skills – demonstrated ability to consistently deliver a sales quota within authorized budget.
- Customer management experience.
- Broker management experience.
- Strong technical, business, and financial acumen.
- Travel Requirements: Up to 50%
