Director of Sales

Director of Sales
Remote Position — Must have residency in one of the following regions:

• Southwest: Arizona (AZ), New Mexico (NM), Texas (TX), Oklahoma (OK), Nevada (NV)

• Central: Illinois (IL), Indiana (IN), Iowa (IA), Kansas (KS), Michigan (MI), Minnesota (MN), Missouri (MO), Nebraska (NE), North Dakota (ND), Ohio (OH), South Dakota (SD), Wisconsin (WI)

• Southeast: Alabama (AL), Arkansas (AR), Florida (FL), Georgia (GA), Kentucky (KY), Louisiana (LA), Mississippi (MS), North Carolina (NC), South Carolina (SC), Tennessee (TN), Virginia (VA), West Virginia (WV)

• South-Central: Oklahoma (OK), Texas (TX), Arkansas (AR), Louisiana (LA)

Flexible Travel 50-60%

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Director of Sales will lead the strategic development of the company's expansion into an assigned customer base. This role will provide leadership and manage Distribution and Broker partners for new account prioritization, distribution growth, and channel penetration in the Southwest, Central, Southeast, and South-Central regions. Responsibilities include evaluating and selecting distribution partners, developing and maintaining existing accounts to increase ACV, expanding SKU sets, securing feature and display promotions to grow year-over-year sales, and collaborating with Marketing to execute programs that drive customer awareness and product trial in the convenience channel. The Director will be responsible for creating a vision, objectives, and plans for their region and delivering enterprise results with customer-first solutions.

 

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

• Develop and execute key account distribution expansion strategies and select distribution partners.

• Manage communication for the Southwest region, serving as the primary liaison between the company and its distributors, brokers, and accounts for information flow, priority management, planning, problem-solving, and conflict resolution.

• Collaborate with broker and internal teams to ensure market and account information is shared in a timely manner, aligning on customer plans and objectives (including promotions, pricing, display execution, merchandising, service opportunities, and results).

• Set strategies and objectives for broker partners, establishing and monitoring key measures to effectively manage broker performance.

• Build and maintain strong relationships with retail account customers at all organizational levels, utilizing persuasion, influence, and negotiation skills. Coordinate internal resources to support customer meetings.

• Generate and develop new business opportunities with retail accounts, driving national year-over-year sales volume growth in the Southwest.

• Partner with brokers and distributors to develop and maintain account plans that outline strategic and tactical growth programs.

• Collaborate with brokers to sell in promotions and merchandising programs to existing retailers around key annual events, securing display space to drive sales volume and margin growth.

• Translate insights into actionable strategies to drive business results and category growth.

• Analyze situations and data to provide category inputs for business planning, working closely with customers to influence strategic execution and decision-making.

• Manage trade funds effectively, applying business acumen and analytical tools for sound decision-making regarding trade funds and slotting.

• Execute shopper marketing programs, trade communication, POS, and platforms aligned with account strategy and customer needs.

• Work with sales and marketing teams to develop marketing, trade communication, POS, and promotional materials, ensuring proper timing, resources, and budget adherence.

• Lead the annual customer planning cycle, develop communication strategies and support materials based on category and shopper trends, and engage distributor partners around key initiatives.

• Prepare periodic sales reports showing sales volume, potential sales, and areas of client base expansion. Analyze sales statistics against forecasts and budgets to identify trends and opportunities.

QUALIFICATIONS & REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s degree required.

• 7-15 years of sales experience in the consumer products industry.

• 5-7 years of National Account Sales and/or Broker Sales Management experience.

• Proven track record of success in growing sales and developing new customers.

• General Consumer Goods Category knowledge (Meat Snacks Category knowledge a plus).

• Experience with customer planning and management tools and processes.

• Proficiency with syndicated retail databases such as IRI, Nielsen.

• Advanced skills with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint applications.