This position leads Sales, Client Operations, and Sales Operations for ILLUME. The position is responsible for driving top line revenue, expanding profitability, cultivating client relationships, and exploring new business opportunities. The VP of Sales will undertake strategic planning, team development, and improve business processes and is a critical role on the executive team.
Five Key Accountabilities
- Leadership
- Company Sales Plan Development
- Company Sales Strategy Development
- P&L Management
- Customer Satisfaction / Issue Escalation / Negotiations
Duties And Responsibilities
Leadership
- Hire, develop and mentor employees in Sales, Client Operations and Sales Operations
- Implement employee performance management programs, including writing and delivering reviews, monitoring employee morale, and creating a positive working environment for employees
- Establish training program and materials to support the development of Sales, Client Operations and Sales Operations team members
- Identify top talent and promotion opportunities for internal team members, creating a department succession plan
- Hold Sales Managers accountable for achieving sales revenue and profit goals by channel, customer and brand and adhering to guidelines for custom development in partnership with the Project Management.
Company Sales Plan Development
- Develop strategic sales plan based on company goals that will promote growth and customer satisfaction based on the capacity of internal resources
- Present company sales plan to Executive Leadership with context for Board presentation
- Direct sales forecasting activities and sets performance goals accordingly
- Approve all new customer terms to ensure company profitability, engaging in negotiations as necessary
- Report on company sales performance monthly to Executive Leadership and companywide
Company Sales Strategy Development
- Create sales strategies that will help ILLUME achieve its business objectives
- Develop annual Sales Strategy Calendar
- Align with all executive functions on a rolling 5-year strategic plan by brand, incorporating consumer and customer insights
- Lead 5-Year Planning meetings with Sales
P&L Management
- Create annual sales budget to ensure company profitability based on the sales plan
- Monitor expenditure and progress against the annual plan
- Identify margin expansion opportunities
- Manage expenses/budget
- Update Executive Leadership on any budget forecast changes
Customer Satisfaction / Issue Escalation / Negotiations
- Engages with key accounts and manages relationships as appropriate.
- Participates in negotiations related to new customer terms, new program margins and chargebacks to ensure company profitability
- Leads difficult customer conversations to keep a strong Sales Manager relationship intact and offers an Executive presence for escalated issues
- Represents ILLUME at tradeshows, meeting with key accounts
- Evaluates market trends and adjusts strategy to meet changing market and competitive conditions
- Monitors competitor products, sales and marketing activities
Skills & Knowledge Required (includes Education, Industry/Relevant Work Experience, Computer, Soft Skills)
- Bachelor's Degree and 10+ years related experience
- Must be dynamic, performance driven sales professional with a proven track record of building business in CPG, with multi-channel retailers, and across a broad range of channels
- Must have outstanding leadership, negotiation, presentation, and communication skills
- Must be an energetic, results-oriented, competitive, self-starter and team player
- Proven leadership style of making decisions through data and analytics
- Must have high business, financial and customer acumen
- Competent with computer software such as Microsoft Office (Excel, Word)