Director of Sales at Wholesaler/Distributor in Nashville, TN

[dmendelson]

Please submit any questions or resumes to Danielle Mendelson at dmendelson@bestbrandsinc.com

[dmendelson]

Title: Director of Sales – Beer Division
Reports to: CEO/Owner
Location: Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Memphis

About the Role:

• Grow the profit, volume, and share of the beer portfolio within Best Brands Inc.
• Manage and increase the share of mind of our beer division within Best Brands Inc. as an entity by recruiting, developing and coaching the right people, and top-down consistent communication.
• Be the “go to person” for anything beer within the internal sales organization and the Liaison between our Craft Supplier partners and our beer overlay team/general sales team.
• Identify new supplier/brand opportunities and court brands that are a potential good fit for Best Brands Inc. accordingly.
• Continually work with Craft Suppliers to manage marketing programs, order-planning/warehouse inventories, pricing, and strategic planning.
• Implement new sales systems and processes, along with training and team building essentials, to build and develop an effective beer overlay and general sales team.
• Work with various suppliers in yearly and monthly planning for effective brand building and sales execution.

Plan & Prepare
Key Responsibilities:

• Research potential new breweries/beer suppliers and identify ones that will be a fit to fill gaps in our current portfolio, and expand on niche/local brands.
• Manage the process of bringing on new breweries/beer suppliers from contracts, to launch plans, to receiving beer, to managing market plans and execution. Plan and prepare successful launches of new suppliers with beer overlay and general sales teams.
• Work with current and new/potential suppliers on business plans that drive brand awareness and pull in the market.
• Prepare and deliver monthly business objectives for beer team, and incentives for general sales teams and division managers.
• Schedule, coordinate and manage sales rep work-withs with Craft suppliers, and attend the work-withs whenever possible.
• Assist and educate the sales organization and beer team in selling beer to their retail outlets – “right brand, right place.”
• Continually identify and recruit new talent for beer overlay and general sales team.
• Evaluate Rate of Sale (ROS) and Days of Supply (DOS) on current inventory on a weekly basis, and order accordingly. Continually communicate craft inventories sales teams to ensure market execution, while managing supplier quality standards in the warehouse and at retail.
• Based on monthly ROS and current DOS, work with suppliers to forecast product 30-60-90 days out as needed, requested.
• Continually evaluate market competitive pricing to ensure our brands are priced correctly. Manage yearly General Price Increases to increase profits and margins wherever possible.

Execute

• Manage current and potential Craft Supplier relationships and brand execution to the fullest, to ensure supplier satisfaction.
• Be the liaison between Craft Brand Suppliers and our sales teams. Clearly communicate and manage supplier new brand launches across sales divisions and operations.
• Set, plan, and execute assigned monthly supplier and company goals. Meet or exceed number of promotions, placements or features within the market. Maintain designated percentage of draft handles and new package/brand/product placements in the market(s).
• Continually reference, monitor, and execute annual business plans between all suppliers to be sure all initiatives, sales objectives/goals, and budgets are managed accordingly.
• Lead weekly/bi-weekly meetings with beer overlay team to communicate goals, plans, current trends, and monthly goal gap—closing.
• Manage beer overlay team to ensure we are adding value and our goals/visions are continually communicated to each of the other divisions.
• Provide sales tools (sell sheets, samples, programs, incentives, etc) for the beer overlay team and sales organization, while keeping everyone up to date/educated on new items. Ensure G-drive is up-to-date with current and new sales materials.
• Order product weekly based on DOS and ROS and work with logistics and our suppliers to get it when needed to avoid any out of stocks as best as possible.
• Work with and communicate to both beer overlay and general sales teams to move current inventory, avoiding any overstocks/date-issues in the warehouse and/or at retail.
• Point of Sale ordering – Work with beer overlay team and Beer Div Merchandiser to identify POS needs and order thru our suppliers. Communicate POS needs to Exec. Vice Pres. – Beer Div. for ordering.
• Work with On Premise Craft Specialist/Manager and BBI event coordinator to ensure events are organized, well executed, and our suppliers are well represented.
• As time allows, assist sales team members as needed/requested to help sell new distribution and more volume of beer in accounts outside of assigned accounts.
• Manage new items, damaged keg, pick-up/replacement, and sample requests for beer division.
• Manage beer allocations and secondary inventory for beer division.
• Manage expenses and company spends affectively. Submit accurate expense reports on a monthly basis in accordance with company guidelines.
• Perform all other duties and tasks as assigned/requested by the Sr. Management team.

Measure & Improve

• Create and monitor draft surveys for both beer overlay teams and general sales team to ensure we are “gain-taining” tap handles at retail.
• Collect and review beer overlay team preplans and recaps weekly and identify areas of success and need for improvement.
• Monitor dollar and volume sales on a continual basis and manage trend swings with the sales organization.
• Continually evaluate brand performance and work with suppliers and sales organization to address brand/package performance issues.
• Assess retail performance on a weekly basis with beer overlay team and division managers; provide input to team; summarize findings and submit feedback/issues/needs to Exec. Vice Pres. – Beer Division.
• Continually monitor and adjust beer overlay team account base and call frequencies.
• Have current industry knowledge and understanding of current market trends in order to better present opportunities to current and new/potential suppliers.

People Management

• Train, develop, and work with beer overlay team=on a continual basis to ensure our portfolio is being executed to the fullest at retail, and our goals and objectives for brand/package sales and distribution are being managed/met.

• Monitor direct reports’ weekly performance to determine successes and opportunities of monthly volume/distribution/profit goals and objectives.
• Continually monitor sales representatives’ time-management.
• Know, understand and enforce all company policies and procedures. Document any and all employee violations of policies and procedures through the disciplinary process. Managers are expected to enforce and follow the disciplinary/counseling report procedure for any and all employee violations.
• Manage assigned sales representatives’ monthly expenses and timely/accurate expense report submissions.

Basic Qualifications/Requirements

• Minimum 5 years of relevant sales and/or relevant field experience
• Knowledge of Beer Industry
• Bachelor’s Degree
• Proficient in word, excel, PowerPoint, PDF.
• Budget management.
• High knowledge and experience in planning and forecasting.
• Ability to work Monday thru Friday business hours, and flexibility to work nights and weekends
• Maintain appropriate dress and personal appearance standards.

Preferred Qualifications

• Passion for Beer
• Time Management
• Self-motivated and managed
• Customer service oriented

• Act as an Entrepreneur
• Comfortable and confident when speaking to others