Director of Sales

JMS Technical Solutions•Buffalo, NY

6d•Onsite

About The Position

Our retail client in Buffalo, NY, is seeking a Director of Sales to join their team! This is an onsite/full-time/direct-hire position Salary range based on experience: $100K-$110K + incentive compensation. Our client is seeking a Director of Sales to lead and modernize our sales organization during an exciting period of brand evolution and growth. Reporting directly to the Owner/President, this individual will lead a team responsible for our brick-and-mortar retail network, specialty and destination accounts, e-commerce partners, and major national accounts. This is a hands-on sales leadership role. The Director will be responsible for developing the structure, strategy, accountability, and tools needed to drive measurable growth across our retail network. The Director will work closely with the Owner/President, Sales team, and Marketing department to establish KPIs, develop incentive programs, create retailer campaigns, improve field sales activity, identify growth opportunities, and modernize how our client approaches sales and account development. We are looking for someone who can combine strategic leadership with active field involvement—someone comfortable analyzing data and developing strategy, but equally comfortable visiting retailers, attending trade shows, coaching representatives, and helping close opportunities.

Requirements

5+ years of B2B sales experience with meaningful sales leadership responsibility.
Demonstrated success leading and developing sales professionals.
Experience establishing KPIs, sales goals, incentive structures, and accountability systems.
Proven ability to develop new business while growing existing accounts.
Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate data into actionable sales strategies.
Experience building or modernizing sales processes and systems.
Comfortable operating as both a strategic leader and hands-on salesperson.
Strong coaching, communication, presentation, and relationship-building skills.
Experience working collaboratively with Marketing.
CRM experience required; Microsoft Dynamics experience strongly preferred.
Ability and willingness to travel monthly and attend approximately 4-8 trade shows annually.
Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S.

Nice To Haves

Experience in jewelry, wholesale, fashion, gift, accessories, collectibles, or consumer products is a plus.

Responsibilities

Sales Leadership & Strategy: Lead our client's sales organization across brick-and-mortar, specialty, destination, e-commerce, and major accounts. Work directly with the Owner/President to establish sales priorities, annual objectives, and growth strategies. Translate company objectives into measurable sales plans and individual team expectations. Identify opportunities for new account acquisition, existing-account growth, display and program expansion, and increased reorder frequency. Analyze account and territory performance to determine where the greatest opportunities exist. Maintain direct involvement with key accounts and significant sales opportunities. Develop strategies to reactivate underperforming and dormant accounts. Bring forward recommendations, opportunities, and challenges requiring executive support.
Modernize Our Sales Approach: Evaluate current sales practices and identify opportunities to improve effectiveness. Build a more proactive, data-driven sales culture. Develop repeatable sales processes, playbooks, outreach strategies, and account-development programs. Improve how the team uses data to prioritize accounts and opportunities. Strengthen CRM adoption and pipeline management. Help transition the organization from primarily reactive account management toward proactive account development. Explore new approaches to prospecting, retailer engagement, presentations, follow-up, and sales enablement. Ensure field insights are translated into actionable opportunities for Sales, Marketing, Product, and Leadership.
KPIs & Performance Management: Work with the Owner/President to establish meaningful Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the sales organization. KPIs may include: Sales growth, New account acquisition, Account retention and reactivation, Outbound sales activity, In-person retailer visits, Opportunities created and closed, Pipeline value and conversion, Reorder frequency, Display and program placements, Account upgrades and expansion, Territory performance. Create reporting and accountability around these metrics through regular individual meetings, team reviews, pipeline management, and performance discussions.
Compensation & Incentive Programs: Evaluate existing sales compensation and commission structures. Work directly with the Owner/President to develop modern incentive programs that reward growth and performance. Recommend individual and team incentives tied to measurable objectives. Develop short-term contests or targeted incentives when appropriate. Ensure compensation programs encourage the behaviors most important to the company, including new account development, account growth, retention, program placements, and overall revenue growth. Regularly evaluate whether incentive programs are producing the intended results.
Sales & Marketing Collaboration: Partner with Marketing to develop retailer sales campaigns and promotions. Create prospecting and account-development initiatives. Build sales tools, presentations, retailer enablement materials, and follow-up campaigns. Identify opportunities within different retailer segments. Coordinate product launches and seasonal initiatives. Share retailer feedback and competitive insights. Measure campaign effectiveness and sales conversion. Ensure Marketing initiatives are supported by consistent sales-team execution. Help create a strong feedback loop between what Marketing develops, what the sales team executes, and what retailers are telling us in the field.
Field Sales & Retailer Engagement: Establish a consistent field-visit strategy for the sales organization. Travel monthly alongside team members and independently to visit retailers. Meet directly with key accounts and prospective retailers. Coach Account Managers in the field. Identify merchandising, display, assortment, personalization, and program-expansion opportunities. Help develop and close larger opportunities. Gather firsthand retailer and competitive feedback. Ensure opportunities identified during trips are entered into the CRM and actively followed through to completion.
Trade Shows & Industry Events: Play an active role in trade-show planning and preparation. Establish sales goals and appointment strategies. Lead the sales team during shows. Meet with existing and prospective accounts. Ensure leads and opportunities are captured accurately. Manage disciplined post-show follow-up. Measure the return and effectiveness of each event. Weekend travel may occasionally be required.
Team Leadership & Development: Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing four-person sales team. Establish clear expectations for activity, accountability, communication, and results. Conduct regular individual and team sales meetings. Review pipelines and opportunities consistently. Coach team members on prospecting, presentations, objection handling, negotiation, follow-up, and closing. Travel with Account Managers periodically to observe performance and provide hands-on coaching. Recognize strong performance while addressing performance gaps quickly and constructively. Build a culture centered on ownership, accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and growth.
CRM, Reporting & Sales Processes: Maintain disciplined CRM usage within Microsoft Dynamics / Business Central. Establish consistent standards for opportunities, follow-ups, account notes, pipelines, and sales activity. Develop dashboards that provide leadership with clear visibility into sales performance. Modernize outdated or fragmented sales documentation and processes. Create scalable SOPs and sales playbooks. Use CRM data to identify opportunities and improve territory prioritization. Ensure sales opportunities generated through travel, trade shows, Marketing campaigns, inbound leads, and existing accounts are consistently tracked and managed.