We are seeking a highly motivated and results-driven Sales Manager to join a tight-knit and dynamic team, specializing in B2B ingredients sales within the dairy & spirits manufacturing industry. In this role, you will be responsible for driving business growth by identifying new opportunities, building & maintaining strong customer relationships, and providing tailored ingredient solutions to dairy & spirits manufacturers. The ideal candidate will have a deep understanding of these industries, exceptional sales skills, and a passion for developing long-lasting business partnerships.
Location: Hybrid (1 week/month in office) - Northern New Jersey; 35% - 40% total travel (domestic & international)
Job Responsibilities:
- Policy Input: Development of a sales strategy in conjunction with the Executive Vice President for own customer base, based on expertise and experience, with regard to channel development, promotions, price, presentation, and product development.
- Region/Account Plan: Account plan will be in line with other relevant commercial plans and, after approval, realized and updated regularly based on analysis or trends and developments. Travel is estimated at 40% annually.
- Account Management: Will initiate, maintain, and improve relations with customers and prospects. Will monitor the developments and performance and act as a business partner for accounts and support accounts in optimizing & growing business.
- Project Management: Manage liquid development projects together with a multi-disciplinary team, based on customers' qualifications and needs.
- New Business: Will develop new relationships and discover and realize new business opportunities in cooperation with other functional disciplines.
- Management Information: Provide insights at request or at own initiative regarding quantitative and qualitative developments by means of periodical and ad hoc reports and/or analyses, based on reporting guidelines.
- Contracting and Negotiations: Prepare proposals for contracts. Lead and/or participate in negotiations, including defining the negotiation strategy. Expected to expand new business opportunities within these areas.
- Responsible for managing numerous accounts with locations in North America.
- Consistently thinks & acts with a Customer-obsessed mindset.
- Demonstrate creative anticipation of the customer's opportunities and actively explore these opportunities for the customer.
- Demonstrate/gain in-depth knowledge of the customer regarding their products, market and trends, competition, processes, and strategy.
- Maintain contact with the customer at all levels: Executive, management, technical (research and development), operations (planning and production), marketing, and purchasing.
- Work closely with customer partners in developing and renewing products and applications.
- Stimulate co-development and success by determining consumer needs together with the customer, looking for new concepts, and turning them into concrete innovations.
- Attend and participate in trade shows/functions, both national and local, to gain a greater understanding of current market trends, meet new contacts, and strengthen relationships with current contacts (customers, prospects, vendors).
- Demonstrate the ability to translate market trends, innovations, and concepts into applications for other customers and possibly market sectors.
- Actively manage customer's forecasts, and ensure they are in line with the Demand plan and align with plant capacity.
- Proactively updating administrative tools; CRM tool with relevant Account and Opportunity information, Demand Management tool, SAP, etc.
- Act as the driver for colleagues from R&D and Sales Support, Product Management, and Operations, through a key account team, to ensure the satisfaction of the customer and the Company's financial results.
- Work closely with Product Developers to translate customer needs & ideas into a physical product.
- Maintain appropriate communication via telephone and email.
- Demonstrate flexibility in scheduling & travel.
- Has multiple interfaces which requires extended communication. Sets direction for other departments.
- Will have a deep and broad knowledge of all business processes and/or value chain of market and understanding of market processes including relations to own discipline.
- Is responsible for own product or account portfolio encompassing highly strategic products, lines, and markets.
- Displays an understanding and acts in line with the company's long-term ambitions.
- Responsible for attaining budget volumes, and profit margins by actively and regularly monitoring monthly financial figures (provided by Finance Department) and adjusting prices and strategy accordingly.
Required Skills/Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree with 5+ years B2B Food & Beverage Ingredients or Wine/Spirits experience.
- Proven track record of value selling in a co-creation environment.
- Proven track of new business development.
- 10+ years of overall Sales experience.
- Experience managing Key/Multi-National Accounts preferred, but not required.
- Experience selling to & working closely with the R&D department of customers preferred.
- Reading/Speaking proficiency in Spanish or French is a plus.
- This position will require up to 40% travel (90% domestically and 10%internationally).
- Excellent communication skills, fitting with the culture of the internal team, and external local market customs.
- Entrepreneurial attitude.
- Above average planning & organizational skills.
- Self-starting mindset & capability to actively cold-call new prospects.
- Strong teamworking skills, and ability to work with different cultures and different personality types.
- Ability to advise, consult, and guide customer's R&D department.
- Ability to multi-task and manage multi-level communication.
- Proficiency in Microsoft suite of products, & Salesforce