Under direction from the Chief Executive Officer and in partnership with the executive team, the Vice President is responsible for building and maintaining a world-class sales organization, defining the infrastructure (people and process), as well as the road map, to drive profitable growth. This position is entrepreneurial and fast-moving by nature and is the key leader in the development and execution of the strategic sales plan, as well as the tactical execution plans, to support the planned growth and future business initiatives. The Vice President is responsible for strategically planning, directing, and overseeing all aspects of the company’s sales operations and has full responsibility for meeting corporate sales expectations and/or exceeding sales goals to ensure the company’s overall growth across regions, customers and channels. With 35% of company revenue generated outside of the U.S., the Vice President will collaborate with international counterparts. This can be a remote position with the ability to travel an estimated 50% of the time.
The ideal candidate has CPG experience selling to big box retailers such as Target, Walmart, Costco, etc and experience across multiple categories (i.e. small kitchen and/or household appliances/devices).
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS AND OTHER DUTIES
Setting Strategy
• Own the region/customer/channel P&L by overseeing the creation and execution of customer strategies and plans that support customer goals and deliver financial targets
• Assist team in developing the annual sales plan/budget by customer, category, and SKU, and develop strategic plans to grow revenue and retail programs within key retailers and national accounts, regions and channels of distribution; be ultimately accountable for the plans that are put forward
• Manage Sales and Revenue forecasts and Expense budgets
• Lead channel segmentation and architect sales programs across multiple channels
Executing Results
• Make effective choices for the customer – provide authority and flexibility to change the overall strategy to make plans relevant to customers and meet customer needs (e.g., choices, spending, assortment, etc.); Participate with customer and internal team on joint business planning process to inform customer plan
• Analyze and evaluate changing market conditions and support management in developing short-term and long-term sales strategies and business objectives
• Review roll-up of the P&L across customers/categories and have very clear sense of the financial performance versus plan – coordinate cross-functionally to adjust plans based on performance
• Define what success looks like in the store; Deliver in-store execution performance; Regularly walk stores to stay as close to the business and flag issues/celebrations with team
• Oversee customer business reviews and category performance presentations
• Ensure that there are impactful category insights at given customer(s)
• Actively look for business development opportunities and coordinate approach accordingly (e.g., private label, cross-business/channel) – should have a hunting mindset
• Manage business complexities (e.g., fragmented coverage across categories, difference in customer re-set periods, etc.)
• Deploy team resources/talent to maximize effective business plan delivery (i.e., how to separate category, customer, regional resources, etc.); Lead team members to execute against annual plans with assigned customers/channels/categories
Collaboration
• Partner with the executive team to identify opportunities for sales process involvement
• Facilitate successful implementation of new sales processes and programs; Coordinate with all cross-functional teams to execute plans and processes
Eye for Financial Nuances
• Establish high levels of quality, accuracy, and process consistency in the planning, forecasting, and budgeting process
• Project expected sales volume and profit for existing and new products
• Cascade outcomes and key metrics to organization based on overall unit KPIs, metrics (e.g., customer/category specific metrics)
• Ensure margin targets are realized
Building and Leading Teams
• Work with sales team to understand customers’ organizational decision-making structure and plan customer touchpoints accordingly
• Provide leadership to the sales organization for individual and team development through direction, coaching, mentoring, and planning to increase sales team performance; Apply training and coaching effectively
• Build and maintain strong culture within team to boost morale across organization
• Set and communicate clear objectives for the team and individual team members
• Identify, recruit, and retain a balanced and diverse team based on member/candidate strengths and role fit supported by relevant knowledge, skills, and experience
• Provide the foundation for team effectiveness by creating and maintaining team processes
• Complete performance evaluations for direct reports
Building Relationships
• Manage executive level relationships with distributor networks to maximize brand awareness and sales performance; Cultivate and manage deep, strategic, and profitable relationships with DMMs, customers, key retailers
• Serve as primary sales lead at trade shows and other marketing events
• Work collaboratively with Product Teams to meet expectations of customers; play a lead role in product road-mapping and stage-gate
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
- A minimum of 15 years of business experience, including at least 5 years leading a like-sized business or a business unit of a larger entity, and operating in an executive role
- P&L budgeting experience
- Experience working with Product Development to deliver customer solutions
- Experience driving brand expansion and further enhancing brand recognition
- Experience managing and developing direct and manufacturer representative based sales teams
- Proficient experience with MS Excel, Word, Power Point and Outlook, as well as customer-based forecasting and business analysis tools
- Experience considered to be a plus: international sales leadership experience, private label experience, stage-gate experience