Customer Manager Sr

Acosta Group•Oak Brook, IL

About The Position

Responsible for the management of the assigned principals' business (division and/or geographic), within designated “customer accounts”. Primary responsibility includes increasing sales and market share of the brands represented, while earning a profit for our manufacturers and Acosta.

Requirements

Bachelor of Arts Degree
A minimum of five years of relevant experience in retail (CPG industry), marketing, space management and/or resets.
Expertise in Microsoft software: PowerPoint, Excel, Word and Outlook and thorough knowledge of web-based applications.
Must have excellent presentation and communication skills.
Must be able to handle multiple projects simultaneously.

Nice To Haves

Sales administration or finance experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Deliver principals' objectives to include volume and sales fundamentals (merchandising, assortment, pricing and shelving) goals at the assigned customers at the lowest cost.
Develop a Customer Business Plan that will deliver the principals' business priorities.
Personally call on all decision-makers at the customer to sell business plans, programs and concepts that improve long-term business results.
Achieve results at the lowest possible selling cost while maximizing company revenue (to include brokerage, commissions, bonuses, contest earnings, etc.).
Oversee all manufacturers' expenditures at the customer.
Achieve competitively superior in-store presence in the assigned stores.
Personally call on headquarters, supervisors and other customer operations personnel for both direct and indirect customers.
Manage manufacturers' trade marketing funds, process direct shipments (via the Sales Support Coordinator) and leverage data to sell concepts to the customer.
Operate within the designated budget.
Pro-actively communicate with key principals.
Collaborate with Retail Sales Managers on all major retail initiatives (new product introductions, selling drives, contests, etc.)
Effectively use knowledge of customer, market and principal—involve marketing, technology and administrative resources to accomplish objectives.
Provide timely information of selling priorities to Retail Sales Managers, supervisor and shared resources (marketing, technology and administration).
Pro-actively share information and customer/principal information with other team members to build organization capacity.
Utilize computer systems and technology to achieve the objectives of the Customer Business Plan.
Develop and maintain skill levels to support the use of Acosta communication systems.
Provide feedback to the Team Leader and/or General Manager on how to build organizational capacity and improve our business.
Demonstrate strategic planning in order to maintain principals' business and build volume.
Demonstrate business development (pioneering) skills to result in new and increased business.
Serve as customer's primary point of contact on principal-specific issues (i.e. Category Management, Consumer Shopping Behavior, and Promotion Strategies).
Complete special projects as requested.