California National Accounts Manager

[Virtualam]

Full Circle Brewing Co. is seeking a National Accounts Manager to oversee and execute the overall strategy of delivering sales and marketing goals through the building of partnerships with major national, regional and other key on and off-premise chains. This position enhances the awareness of our products by improving the availability and visibility of brands in high-profile, high-volume outlets. This person has a strategic impact on the company’s brand development, innovation and program delivery, with a focus on the company’s success in revenue and margin contribution through effective sales and commercial execution.

Job Duties

• Develop annual business plan for all major national and regional on and off-premise accounts and identify resources needed to execute the plans.
• Establish and maintain relationships with a high level of interaction and communication with retail chain buyers and their respective division and district management teams.
• Identify and communicate distribution objectives within accounts and develop selling and action plans to close against, balancing product mix and profitability.
• On-going communication and coordination with Demand Planning/Production to ensure effective & efficient volume planning.
• Develop, implement, and execute promotions within chains. Partner with marketing team to create and deliver chain specific programs that are consistent with overall brand image and awareness and pay a long-term return on the investment required. Evaluate the effectiveness of chain promotions.
• On-going communication and coordination with wholesalers and Director of Sales to assure store-level execution of SKU and program authorizations. Coordinate plans within ABP Meetings annually.
• Prepare and present monthly and quarterly reviews for management highlighting execution against plan as well as other current opportunities. Communicate what’s working, what’s not, wins, losses and needs to ensure success.
• Provide leadership on category and channel opportunities.
• Plan and manage resources to address chain account opportunities and assist or own driving distributor goals, plans and reviews against POD, velocity and programming targets.
• Analyze internal and external data resources to develop fact-based presentations that support business plans, including IRI and VIP data.
• Developing metrics dashboards and KPIs with others to measure our impact by channel against category and national/regional competitors.
• Keep abreast of market trends through regular market and store visits in assigned account base territories to discover opportunities and evaluate performance.
• Maintain attention to the current climate of the craft beer segment to anticipate the needs of the customer and remain forward thinking.
• Share monthly gap reports with distributor for assigned chain accounts and work to maintain 100% compliance. Address out of stock issues in assigned account base on a weekly basis.

Qualifications

• 3+ years' experience selling alcoholic beverages (preferably beer) to national and regional off-premise chain accounts (ideally in CA).
• Demonstrated network connections in the domain and relationships with players serving it a strong preference.
• An effective and persuasive communicator with outstanding presence, presentation and negotiation skills that constantly strives for simplicity and clarity.
• Broad-based knowledge of beverage marketing, sales, and merchandising strategies.
• Adult beverage sales experience required.
• Experience in understanding and applying insights garnered from IRI and/or Nielsen.
• Experience with VIP
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills.
• Demonstrated ability to multi-task and set priorities.
• Strong written and oral communication, including ability to develop and deliver executive-level professional presentations.
• Demonstrates resourcefulness in getting things accomplished and solving problems with a sense of urgency.
• Conduct daily business in an autonomous fashion while maintaining a good "business sense" with regards to time constraints, production complexity, financial guidelines, and company ethics.
• Delivers projects and initiatives within budgetary guidelines.
• Industry networking ability and strong interpersonal skills (intercompany, supplier, wholesaler, and retailer).
• Strong computer skills a must, including demonstrated experience with MS Office suite of applications.
• Ability to travel as required.