Sales Representative

The Odom Corporation•Vancouver, WA

7h•Onsite

About The Position

The Sales Representative is responsible for managing an assigned territory, which includes staying informed about business conditions, identifying new opportunities within accounts, and maintaining necessary records. The role involves building trust with retailers as a merchandising consultant, generating sales leads from various sources, and traveling throughout the territory to engage with current and prospective customers in person and by phone. Key preparation for sales calls includes understanding customer history, credit information, suggestive selling, troubleshooting, and company capabilities. The representative must also provide timely and accurate sales reports to management. The position focuses on maximizing sales through effective daily, weekly, and monthly planning, developing comprehensive product knowledge, and understanding competitive products. This includes making persuasive presentations, addressing questions and objections, demonstrating products, quoting prices, soliciting orders, writing orders, designing displays, and organizing on-site promotions. Merchandising duties involve applying in-store principles, influencing accounts to optimize shelf management, cold box, and floor display guidelines, and utilizing point-of-sale materials. Additionally, the Sales Representative is tasked with knowing each account's products, ensuring proper rotation, dusting, rebating, cleaning, and stocking, and consistently adhering to professional dress and appearance policies to project a positive company image. Safety in performing job duties, with consideration for oneself and others, is also required.

Requirements

High school diploma or General Education Degree (GED) preferred; one to two years related experience or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Must be 21 years of age.
Must have valid driver’s license, good driving record, proof of auto insurance (SR-22 is not acceptable), and own means of reliable transportation.
Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
Must be self-motivated, a self-starter, and able to work with very little direct supervision.
Highly organized, with a strong ability to work quickly and accurately while handling competing priorities.
Minimum of 1 year of current industry sales experience.

Nice To Haves

Beverage sales and/or merchandising experience
Knowledge of the local market
Customer service skills
Experience in the distribution industry

Responsibilities

Manage an assigned territory by keeping abreast of business conditions, recognizing new opportunities within each account and keeping the necessary account records.
Develop the trust and confidence of the retailer as a merchandising consultant.
Compile lists of prospective customers for use as sales leads, based on information from newspapers, business directories, and other sources.
Travel throughout assigned territory to call on regular and prospective customers to solicit orders or talk with customers on the sales floor and by phone.
Prepare for each sales call by establishing a customer history, credit information, suggestively selling, troubleshooting, knowledge of the company’s abilities, etc.
Prepare timely and accurate reporting to sales management on a variety of sales distribution and promotion issues.
Maximize sales results through effectively pre-planning and executing daily, weekly, and monthly objectives and developing a sound knowledge of the products and a working knowledge of competitive products.
Make persuasive presentations, answer questions, overcome objections, and present proof of proposals.
Display or demonstrate product, using samples or catalog, and emphasize salable features.
Quote prices and solicit orders with the assistance of a current price book.
Make sales and follow up calls to customers and prospects presenting our brands of products.
Write orders, design displays, and organize on-site promotions.
Understand in-store merchandising principles and effectively apply these principles in assigned retail accounts.
Influence each retail account to use shelf management, cold box, and floor display guidelines to maximize sales opportunities.
Use point-of-sale materials to increase merchandising success.
Know which products each account sells and for keeping all products properly rotated, dusted, rebated, cleaned, and stocked at appropriate levels.
Adhere to the company’s professional dress and appearance policy at all times, projecting a positive image of the company and our product line.
Safely perform job duties; considerate to themselves and others.