National Customer Business Manager- Northeast Region

Sargento Foods•Newton, NJ

About The Position

Under general supervision of the Director - Sales, the National Customer Business Manager (NCBM) manages sales of company products, market development, customer relationships, and broker management for assigned key Northeast regional customers, including Wakefern, Weis, NE Grocers, and Wegman’s. As a member of the CP sales team, the NCBM manages sales objectives and profitability. The position is based in the Northeast, with the employee residing in the NE, NY, or NJ within 90 minutes of a major airport; the stated position area is the East Coast between Boston and Charlotte. The role is responsible for meeting financial, account growth, and penetration objectives; developing customer relationships and business plans; planning and executing merchandising and trade programs; and managing brokers and cross-functional relationships. Overnight travel is approximately 25–30%.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from a four-year college or university.
At least 5 years of consumer products experience.
Customer headquarters sales experience.
Strong written and verbal communication skills with people or groups at varying positions or levels of knowledge.
Strong time-management skills and ability to manage overlapping and conflicting priorities.
Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Ability to reside in the Northeast (NE, NY, or NJ) within 90 minutes of a major airport.

Nice To Haves

Broker management experience.
Experience calling on Northeast retailers.
Advanced experience using syndicated data and/or proprietary customer data to develop strategic recommendations and annual business plans.
Advanced experience partnering with Demand & Supply Planning to ensure forecast accuracy and avoid supply disruption.
Potential to progress to a Team Leader or similar-level position.

Responsibilities

Achieve dollar volume, profitability, P&L contribution, and related financial performance objectives for the assigned market or account base.
Achieve account share growth and account penetration goals for the assigned market or account base.
Make appropriate customer headquarters calls to identify new business opportunities, establish new relationships, and deepen existing relationships in support of corporate strategies and objectives.
Plan, forecast, analyze, and modify plans to achieve annual business objectives and ensure sell-in and accurate execution of innovation and growth objectives.
Support corporate planning, analysis, and budgeting processes to achieve short- and long-term business objectives.
Develop a 1–3 year sales plan for the assigned market or account base to support corporate planning and budgeting.
Develop and implement strategic merchandising plans and activities that support annual objectives and Sargento’s merchandising Standards of Excellence.
Manage broker relationships with business or account managers, team leaders, general managers, and broker support teams to achieve corporate objectives.
Develop and maintain effective advanced internal and external cross-functional relationships to achieve business objectives in a manner consistent with Sargento’s culture.
Plan and execute appropriate programs, including trade management and financial accountability, within budget objectives and system standards.
Use negotiation skills and resiliency to resolve conflict and strategically engage decision-makers across assigned retailers.
Continuously review the market and account base to identify customer opportunities, competitive threats, and alternative ways of doing business to meet customer needs and corporate objectives.
Share market trends and opportunities so appropriate corporate resources can be allocated to business needs or opportunities.
Perform other duties as assigned.