Job Description: Distributor Manager, Eastern Washington/Idaho/AlaskaSummary: Join a hard-working team in a successful business! Diageo Beer Company USA is growing its world-class brands in a competitive market through team work, exceptional customer service and demonstrating the resources of one of the world's largest and best-integrated premium drinks companies. This strategic business management role owns the sales performance and senior relationship management with our key wholesaler partners in Eastern Washington (based in Spokane), Idaho (in Coeur d'Alene, Boise and Idaho Falls) and Alaska (based in Anchorage).About Diageo Beer Company USAA fully integrated arm of Diageo North America Inc, Diageo Beer Company USA (DBC) manages the sales and marketing of Diageo's world-famous malt beverage brands across 429 distributor branches in all 50 states. Our three main brands are Guinness, the iconic Irish brewery, Smirnoff, especially the Smirnoff Ice brand, and Lone River, the agave-inspired FMB brand from Texas. All three brands are performing well in the hyper-competitive US beer market, and Diageo Beer Co has consistently grown share for the past several years.Our company is anchored by three guiding principles: quality, integrity and passion. We believe in solutions that work for our customers and in building world-class relationships. Market CoverageThis role leads the performance of DBC brands in the territories of The Odom Corporation (out of Spokane WA, Couer d'Alene ID and Anchorage AK), Hayden Beverage (out of Boise ID) and TEC Distributing (out of Idaho Falls ID). Diageo's depletions sales were approximately 340K cases in the most recent Diageo fiscal year, of which the majority was Smirnoff Ice, followed by Guinness and Lone River, with an impressive start for the Captain Morgan Sliced FMB brand.Geographically the majority of our sales are in the greater Spokane/EWA/N ID area (40%) and Boise/S ID (35%) with Eastern Idaho (12%) and Alaska (17%) playing a smaller role.The role will be based in either Spokane WA, Couer d'Alene ID or Boise ID, but plenty of time will be spent traveling to visit wholesale partners and retail customers in the smaller Alaska and E ID markets. Management ResponsibilitiesReporting into the Sales Director, Pacific Region, this role is a strategic distributor manager, accountable for the performance and P&L of mature, established markets with exciting growth potential. The work of the distributor manager is broadly in these buckets:
- Owning and positively managing the relationship with contacts at our wholesaler partners, from rep-level to senior management, with the objective of being a preferred supplier
- Developing annual and quarterly plans in partnership with wholesalers for our brands, and measuring and evaluating performance against them, including inventory and price management
- Managing execution against resets and promotional programming with key retail chains, in collaboration with Diageo Beer Co chains sales teams
- Driving increased distribution, quality and display/promotional support in the independent/small-chain segment of both on-premise and off-premise channels
- Spending time in trade driving execution and developing relationships with key on and off premise accounts
- Representing Diageo's brand values and corporate values in market to ensure our sales are not only optimized, but also managed the right way, in line with the law, Diageo's values and standards
The DM, EWA/ID/AK will be a leader in the Pacific Region, being a critical partner of the Sales Director, Pacific and will closely work with the SD to help him/her/them understand the strategic direction of the business, the resourcing needs in the present and the future, have insight into the consumer, retail and competitive landscape and will present critical business issues alongside thought-through solutions with clear recommendations.
TravelTravel is a critical part of the Distributor Manager role, to fulfil the following purposes:
- Maintaining & growing share of mind with distributors & retailers through face-to-face contact and relationship building
- Presenting to distributors & retailers
- Observing the market, on & off premise, for trends, competitor activity and execution of distribution, retail & promotional programs
- Travel to Diageo, DBC & regional team meetings and training
- Travel with distributors on incentive & brand education programs
In an average week in this role travel will be 2-3 days a week, with overnight stays where practical/required.
Team StructureThis role reports into the Sales Director, Pacific Region, alongside five other distributor managers and six sales specialists. The role currently has no line management responsibility. The role has close links with our chains team, working closely with the Key Account Manager Intermountain/NW (based out of Denver CO) and our Regional Activation Manager (based out of Phoenix AZ).
Qualifications & ExperienceUndergrad degree highly desirable. Must have 5+ years of market development experience, probably in a CPG environment. Alcohol, especially beer, experience preferred. MBA desirable.The successful candidate will be a natural strategic thinker and leader, very comfortable working with data and insights to lead a team to sustained, well-managed success. He/she/they will be equally confident having senior-level planning meetings and presenting to large sales teams, using clear, meaningful language to generate trust, respect and action. This role has several critical internal and external partners, and the successful candidate must be adept at managing relationships coolly and confidently to generate mutual respect and long-term mutual benefit.Are wholesaler partners are complex businesses, with an enormous and varied account base, thousands of diverse employees and a large and diverse supplier base. The successful candidate for this role must not only be a natural and savvy sales person, he/she/they must excel in these three areas:
- Data and insights management to deeply understand and track business performance, and hold mutual accountability
- Stakeholder and senior relationship management to understand who, internally and externally, can make decisions and implement action
- An ability to prioritize and flex in a complex and ambiguous business environment, to ensure DBC's long term business objectives are met while also meeting our customers' strategic needs
This role will have significant internal and external relationship management accountability, across a diverse range of contacts, from internal finance and leadership to street-level reps to wholesaler management and ownership. The successful candidate will therefore be a proven leader and person-manager, who can create business success while growing his/her/their team and creating a team culture of personal & professional growth, inclusivity, equitability and performance.
Location: The ideal location is either Spokane WA or Coeur d'Alene ID (which are 30 mins apart) as that is where approx. 40% of the business is. However, Boise ID would be almost the same it's 35% of the business, with easier access to eastern ID where another 12% or so of sales happens. Either way, the role can either be based in greater Spokane with frequent travel to Boise, or vice versa.