Director, Business Specialists

Sysco•Riverside, CA

20h

About The Position

The Director of Business Specialists is a key member of the senior sales leadership team, participating in all strategic planning, decisions, and execution related to region sales. This role, alongside the VP, Region Sales, Director, Local Sales, Director, New Business Development, Director, Sales Strategy & Operations, and Director, Contract Sales, will drive the region’s strategic plan to grow sales, increase penetration, and reduce lost business. Specifically, this leadership position is responsible for managing performance, coaching, and deploying the region’s specialist resources to enhance customer experience and achieve financial goals. The role requires exhibiting core qualities, shaping the future, delivering business results, and leading people, as outlined in Sysco’s Leadership Framework. Up to 50% travel within the region is required. Sysco is a global leader in foodservice distribution, operating 333 facilities worldwide, serving over 700,000 customer locations with more than 71,000 colleagues and a fleet of over 13,000 vehicles. The company offers opportunities for personal and professional growth and generated over $68 billion in sales for fiscal year 2022.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a related field or 5 years managing professional sales team in the foodservice industry and 5+ years leading a B2B sales team in a professional sales environment, with demonstrated success in contract sales
Strong financial acumen and ability to properly plan and execute business plans
Embraces change and champions corporate initiatives
Demonstrated ability to coach and mentor associates and peers
Track record of success in the area of consultative selling, networking and negotiations
Proficient communication and interpersonal skills and ability to work with and influence a variety of key stakeholders
Experience building trust with prospective customers and securing new business
Strong business and restaurant operations acumen to manage sophisticated customers
Analytical problem-solving skills, including familiarity with analyzing reports and deriving insights from data
Ability to learn the use of proprietary CRM tools for planning and forecasting sales growth
Proficient in Microsoft Applications Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
Demonstrated ability to deliver against deadlines and produce high-quality results (accuracy, thoroughness in the deliverables they are producing)
Excellent organizational and project management skills, including the ability to execute multiple initiatives at the same time
Understanding of marketing principles, product lines, ordering procedures and Sysco’s credit terms

Responsibilities

Lead a high-performing regional team of specialists to secure new business and increase penetration in alignment with region’s financial plan
Develop and execute targeted specialist strategies to acquire new business, penetrate existing accounts, and minimize lost business across categories, specialty segments, and Sysco brand
Under the direction of the region VP of Sales; support or lead the coordination and execution of corporate, market, or region initiatives
Drive team selling efforts around new business, lost business and penetration of existing accounts, aligning specialist resources toward unified goals
Cultivate a culture of team sales excellence through clear communication of specific, timebound goals and by upholding a metrics driven performance management strategy
Coach specialists on developmental opportunities and ensure there is a robust and measurable plan in place to deliver against individual and region results
Interpret and harness data insights to provide feedback to the team, align priorities, and discover profitable business opportunities and focus areas
Utilize KPIs/metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of business specialist growth strategies including specialist deployment and performance manage the team to deliver results
Establish clear expectations and advocate best practices regarding utilizing Salesforce (Sysco’s CRM tool) as the primary sales communication, collaboration and analytical tool
Drive brand and specialty focus, and champion innovative items and Category Management conversion products through support of merchandising
As the region’s Specialty company relationship owner, create clear lines of communication and partnership and identify additional opportunities to unlock growth
Communicate growth and retention opportunities to a broad range of stakeholders, including the region VP and Directors of Region Sales on a frequent basis
Determine the best usage of specialists as direct customer sales resources to support industry and region special events with Sales and Marketing
Support the development of Emerging/Local Contract Customer concepts both originating in the region and market