Director, Sales Strategy & Operations

Sysco•Arlington, TX

About The Position

The Director of Sales Operations is an member of the senior sales leadership team. This position will be included in all strategic planning, decisions, and execution as it pertains to region sales. The senior sales leadership team will consist of the region VP of Region Sales, Director, Local Sales, Director, New Business Developers, Director, Contract Sales, Director, Sales Strategy and Operations and Director, Business Specialist. Through the senior sales leadership team, this position will provide strategic thought leadership for the Regional Sales organization with tight linkage to Regional and Market leadership teams. Overall, this position will capture center-led strategies, tailor it for the region, and strategize with other senior sales leaders on how to effectively execute it to achieve the region’s financial plan. As noted in Sysco's Leadership Framework; On-target performance includes exhibiting the following framework components; Core Qualities, Shaping the Future, Delivering Business Results and Leading People. Up to 10% Region Travel Required.

Requirements

Minimum: Bachelor's degree in a related field or 10 years sales experience, and 5+ years leading a B2B sales team in a professional sales environment or equivalent experience, with demonstrated success in sales planning, performance management and insights-driven strategy
Note to HR: Incumbents in role excused from Bachelor's degree requirement
Solid analytical problem-solving skills, including familiarity with analyzing reports & deriving insights from data
Demonstrated ability to partner with senior leaders to develop unified sales strategies
Ability to express information in terms of profit and loss, food cost and expense ratio
Strong financial acumen and ability to properly plan and execute business plans
Embraces change and champions corporate initiatives
Demonstrated ability to coach and mentor peers and associates
Demonstrated ability to apply business financial knowledge to support growth and to provide meaningful analytics
Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work with and influence a variety of key stakeholders
Strong communication skills; ability to effectively communicate with internal and external teams
Ability to learn the use of proprietary CRM tools for planning and forecasting sales growth
Lead a team of high performing associates to deliver against deadlines and produce high-quality results (accuracy, thoroughness in the deliverables they are producing)
Proficient in Microsoft Applications Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
Excellent organizational and project management skills, including the ability to execute multiple initiatives at the same time
Business and restaurant operations acumen
Demonstrated skills in the area of consultative selling, networking and negotiations
Proactive, self-directed, with the ability to structure a weekly schedule to be successful
Understanding of marketing principles, product lines, ordering procedures and Sysco’s credit terms

Responsibilities

Under the direction of the VP, Region Sales, this position will lead and support the coordination and execution of corporate, market, or region initiatives among regional associates
Translates center-led strategies into best in class regional strategic initiatives to maximize growth
Influential in senior sales leadership discussions to ensure we are positioning Sysco to meet and exceed planned objectives
Proactively identifies opportunities to improve strategic initiatives, and constantly provides critical feedback to center led teams
Manages the regional execution of key priorities and strategic initiatives, including but not limited to sales forecasting, sales planning processes, pipeline management, customer retention planning, deployment of go-to-market strategies and performance management tools/processes
Partners with Finance and Regional Sales Leadership to develop region’s financial plan, optimize sales resource coverage and set clear sales targets
Leverages advanced analytics from Center to identify growth and sales targets
Leads sales forecasting, planning, and processes used within the sales organization.
Proactively monitors and strives to maintain high levels of quality, accuracy, and process consistency in the sales organization’s planning efforts
Provides insights and data that allows region sales leadership to properly allocate resources for all territory sales roles in the organization
Understands key metrics to include outside data, year over year performance and run rates in relationship to overall company goals with a bottom up approach
Leads and is accountable for standard bottom-up forecasts based on current pipeline, win information, and historical sales and customer information
Leads the execution of strategic projects and ensure that results are carried through the regional sales organization
Deploys standardized sales process and sales practices team to ensure consistency and effectiveness
Reports and leads discussion concerning regular process tracking, standardized KPIs, and team and executive dashboards
Manages execution of customer retention process and action plan
Interprets and harnesses data insights to provide feedback to team, and align priorities on focus areas
Ensures that the best tools, training, and resources are available to the sales organization (across disciplines – local sales, contract sales, business development, and specialists)
Drives and manages special events to include but not limited to food shows, customer events, product showcases, general sales meetings, etc.
Stays current with Sysco’s value-added offerings and technology solutions, including but not limited to customer-facing reporting tools
Gathers information on regional marketplace and foodservice industry trends to understand the competitive landscape and to position Sysco as the partner-of-choice
Attends industry functions, such as association events and conferences, and provides feedback and information on market and creative trends
Stays current with development in the field through participation in seminars, workshops and reading publications
Develops strong working relationships with regional sales organization, finance, merchandising, brokers, distributors and foodservice industry peers
Offers consistent communication and feedback that gain the trust of team, peers and leadership
Learns quickly when facing new challenges; thrives in fast-paced environment
Adapts well to change and views new experiences as growth opportunities
Recognizes the impact of change on team and supports them through it