Director of Retail Sales (Travel)

Lakeshore Learning Materials, LLC•Chicago, IL

9d•$120,000 - $140,000•Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking a Director of Retail Sales to own revenue production for Lakeshore’s retail channel. Working in close partnership with the Vice President of Stores, you’ll be accountable for total retail revenue, setting the sales strategy for assigned goals and driving the programs and selling behaviors that generate conversion, basket growth, institutional sales and outstanding customer engagement. You’ll be the revenue leader for our stores. Together with the Vice President of Stores, you’ll set the selling strategies, priorities and recovery plans, and our Retail Territory Managers will lead the teams that bring them to life in every location. You’ll lead through the quality of your plan, the strength of your programs, the clarity of your insight and close partnership with the field. You’ll translate company priorities into a clear, measurable sales plan for every store. We’re looking for a commercially sharp leader who brings a clear point of view and a recommendation backed by evidence. It’s meaningful work: every program you launch helps more teachers, families and schools find what they need in our stores.

Requirements

7+ years of progressive retail sales leadership, including chain-wide or multi-region sales strategy ownership
3+ years carrying a revenue number or P&L line with demonstrated delivery against it
Proven record designing sales programs and scaling them across a multi-unit fleet with measurable revenue results
Strong financial fluency, including budgeting, forecasting, opportunity sizing and margin impact
Candidates should ideally reside in the Mid-West area.
The role requires overnight stays 3 times per week, with 75% of the time spent traveling
You have sharp commercial judgment and know which revenue opportunities are real and which are noise
You build the case from data and can defend it with executives
You effectively influence peers, executives and field leaders without direct authority.
You communicate concisely, lead with a recommendation and back it with evidence
You bring program design and project management discipline from concept through measured outcome

Nice To Haves

Experience building B2B, institutional or community outreach sales within a multi-unit retail business

Responsibilities

Driving total retail revenue with the Vice President of Stores, including the annual sales plan, the rolling forecast and executive updates that lead with a clear recommendation
Leading chain-wide selling programs, such as customer outreach, educator partnerships, community events, loyalty and four-wall conversion, and scaling what works
Defining recovery plans for at-risk stores with the Vice President of Stores and Territory Managers, using store visits to diagnose root causes and tracking results against KPIs
Leading the retail B2B and outreach strategy across educator, school, childcare and community segments, and connecting stores with Inside and Institutional Sales so no lead gets lost
Evolving the Lakeshore selling model and standards, along with the playbooks and training that help store leaders deliver it
Optimizing performance through data, setting the two or three highest priorities each period with the Vice President of Stores
Providing one of the retail channel’s voices with Marketing and Merchandising on promotions, pricing tests and launches, and measuring the sales lift