Vineland, NJ (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=500+West+Elmer+Road+Vineland+NJ+08360)

Sales Job Type Full-time

Description

From our headquarters in Vineland, NJ,F&S Fresh Foodsdistributes fresh-cut fruits, vegetables, and meal solutions to nearly 100 million customers daily. Strategically and centrally located, our main hub has easy access to every major interstate on the Eastern Seaboard. With 650,000 square feet of devoted facilities and more than 1100 dedicated employees, we process over 100 million pounds of produce annually for our retail, food service, and industrial customers alike.

We have spent 40 years perfecting our production and safety processes, and our support and partnership have generated new possibilities for an array of customers from restaurants to convenience store chains to supermarket prepared food operations, and every high-volume fresh foods marketspace in between.

The Director, Industrial Sales is responsible for leading development and execution of sales strategies and plans to achieve specific targets and objectives for the categories.

While the role involves sizeable existing customer management, the Director, Industrial Sales must also exhibit passion and tenacity for developing new opportunities; approximately 40% of time will be focused on prospecting. The Director Industrial Sales is responsible for developing strong relationships with key personnel at all levels of these accounts, including Procurement, R&D, Marketing, Operations, Category Managers, etc. This role will leverage strong relationships with key customers and collaborate with internal teams to determine pricing strategies that will fulfill the budget requirements. The Director, Industrial Sales is involved in all aspects of customer relations and is responsible for the achievement of specified volume and Market Profit objectives for their customers and territory.

The sales responsibilities within Food Ingredients are very diverse with multiple product categories that have long term new growth potential across multiple product categories. Therefore, the successful candidate must have a thorough understanding of the full spectrum of the food industry channels and F&S product portfolio. It is essential to identify new markets and target customers that we should approach that fit our specialty value added process of IQF Vegetables and Puree and capabilities while growing margin and pounds.

The Director, Industrial Sales must: negotiate pricing and quantity for contracts with customers on an annual/ongoing basis as necessary, review customer specifications with our QA department, monitor contracts throughout the year to ensure that all contracted pounds will be shipped prior to the expiration of the contract and look for spot sales where appropriate, work with all peer teams to optimize operations and planning vegetable production, support CS on frontline business with active orders, pricing, and forecasting, work with QA and Technical Team to develop new products and resolve any customer issues, attend Trade Shows and conventions to meet existing and potential new customers to generate new sales, and actively work with Sales Team to effectively deliver on current FY goals and long-term strategy.

Duties And Responsibilities

Define and implement overall sales strategy for Industrial sales in the IQF, Puree and Fresh segments.
Oversee forecasts, contribute to competitive intelligence, and strategic market assessment.
Develop a competitively advantaged team that uses best in class tools- systems- and processes.
Penetrate multiple points of contacts within key customers. Define and grow HQ relationships- implement key critical initiatives to drive joint-business planning- remove roadblocks internally and externally to deliver on strategy.
Identify and Develop New Business Opportunities at Food Companies in desired geography.
Prospect in the territory to uncover potential target accounts that could benefit from RTE vegetables and other value-added processing (fire roasting, reduced moisture, blended vegetables, seasoned, organic etc).
Expand SKU count, pounds, as well as grow margin with existing customers.
Negotiates long term contracts and pricing with key chains customers.
Collaborate closely with cross-functional leaders- especially Sales Operations & Planning- Marketing- and Finance
Bring the best of that F&S has to offer to meet/exceed the customer's expectations.
Add new customers - Cold call and network within territory by adding new customers based on definition of what a good customer is for F&S products and growth strategy.

Sell Identified Target Accounts

Liaise between F&S Resources and key influencers at customers including the appropriate application specialists (marketing managers, food scientists, chefs, and buyers) to develop appropriate formulations that solve the customer problems or needs.
Develop territory plans that include overall account plans, that uncover account needs and move the business forward through successful projects completion.
Develop relationships with all key influencers at accounts including R&D, Marketing, Purchasing and others.
Prepare and give professional presentations and provide targeted demonstrations that highlight the features/benefits and value of F&S products.
Prepare and communicate product, pricing, and other information to support the selling process.
Prepare and submit regular forecasts and as needed.
Attend key tradeshows in territory, and the major national shows (RCA, IFT, AFFI)
Maintain, drive, and internally communicate projects.

Requirements

Required: Bachelor's degree or better in Food Science, Culinary, Agriculture related field of study or equivalent work experience
Required: Minimum of five (5) years of ingredients sales or other equivalent related technical experience required.
Experienced in the ingredient industry and have a keen ability to understand manufacturing processes.
Prior leadership- direct managerial experience demonstrating the ability to lead and develop a team of sales professionals in the foodservice industry and with a major distributor(s) is strongly preferred.
Experience in CPG- restaurant- culinary- and/or foodservice distributor industry required.
Command of business & financial acuity proven by discernment that not every sales opportunity is equal and a track record of securing profitable volume and walking away from less profitable opportunities.
Strong analytical skills demonstrated by previous experience utilizing systems for tracking and recording sales- effective business planning and data-driven strategy for maintaining current and securing new customer relationships.
Strong interpersonal, persuasive, negotiating and networking skills. Effective communication skills- both verbal and written- demonstrated by the ability to build a customer-ready presentation (PowerPoint/ Excel)- influence- and negotiation with internal and external collaborators.
Passion to challenge the status quo and find new solutions and drive out of the box ideas.
Not afraid to "roll up sleeves" with individual contributor responsibilities; seeks to go beyond comfort to learn & pushes teams to do the same.
Ability to understand and discuss technical product information with PhD, Masters, and other level food scientists.
Strong math skills for calculating percentages for pricing, forecasting and technical formula problem solving.
Strong Microsoft Office Suite skills and the ability to learn internal systems.
Communicate any changes that customers request.
Travel as required, with a minimum of 50%
Embrace and promote F&S Culture, Vision, Mission, and Values at all times.
The above list reflects the general details necessary to describe the principle and essential functions of the position and shall not be construed as the only duties that maybe assigned.

Success Competencies

Customer Focus - Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external stakeholders; Establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers, carriers and transportation brokers and gains their trust and respect.
Drive for Results - Bottom line oriented, pushes self and others for results.
Negotiation - gains trust quickly of other parties; can be direct and diplomatic at the same time, can negotiate skillfully in tough situations.
Core Thinking - Analyzes and interprets data and information to develop conclusions.
Problem Solving - uses logic and methods to solve difficult problems; looks beyond the obvious and doesn't stop at the first answer.
Decision Quality - makes good decisions based on sound analysis.
Communication - expresses and transmits information with consistency and clarity.

F&S Fresh Foods

New Jobs

DIRECTOR, INDUSTRIAL SALES