Specialty Sales Rep - West Coast

Westrock Coffee•Little Rock, AR

About The Position

The Specialty Sales Rep manages and grows Falcon’s existing West Coast client relationships while identifying, connecting with, and onboarding new clients across Vancouver, Edmonton, Seattle, Portland, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, and also Arizona, Nevada, and Idaho. The role serves a high-touch regional market spanning small high-end spot buyers and larger-volume customers. It includes networking, market research, client visits, coffee events, cuppings, sales, sample follow-up, and ownership of the client lifecycle, from samples and selling through releases and payments. During the first eight months, the role focuses on new client leads while assisting with existing West Coast clients. During the first 12 months, the employee visits the Austin office for one week each quarter for onboarding and training, travels twice with the existing team to visit West Coast clients, attends the April SCA event, and participates in recurring sales and team meetings. After the initial eight months, the role also covers the sales desk and sales email traffic as needed for teammates. Starting in year two, the employee travels to origin once per year for continued supply-chain education and to observe Falcon’s client origin trips. The position involves regular regional travel, concentrated physical presence in the Bay Area, and ongoing collaboration with the Specialty Sales & Operations Manager and the North America Specialty team. The role is expected to evolve over time with the manager to address regional client needs and Falcon’s needs.

Requirements

Coffee cupping and quality-control experience.
At least 5 years of experience in specialty coffee.
Ability to work proactively and independently.
Outgoing, independent, and confident approach.
Ability to identify operational issues and improvements and experiment with and implement solutions.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Flexibility and ability to multitask.
Strong organization and attention to detail.
Willingness to travel domestically or internationally.

Responsibilities

Manage and grow existing West Coast client relationships, and become the point of contact for new leads in the region.
Identify and attend coffee events with roasters; host and/or attend local cuppings and other coffee events.
Target and onboard potential new clients through networking, research, visits, email, and social media.
Maintain a physical presence concentrated in the Bay Area and travel regularly to other areas of the region, approximately 1–3 times per quarter.
Attend the SCA / World of Coffee event in the US each year with the sales team.
Plan logistics for client visits, request marketing materials for events, and send internal trip reports after sales trips.
Bring proposed updates to future sales strategy and contribute to identifying market opportunities and setting Falcon’s strategies.
Manage directed selling of Falcon’s spot and afloat positions.
Maintain leads and client interactions in Falcon’s CRM, including notes, last-contact records, and reminders for follow-ups.
Create origin-specific messaging for leads and clients based on harvest timing.
Cup roasted samples from Falcon’s position for calibration, including PSS, Arrival, and occasional offer samples, alone or with clients.
Follow up on sample requests, obtain client feedback, and relay relevant information to the rest of the team.
Own the client lifecycle, including samples, selling, ensuring releases and payments happen as agreed, and assisting the accounts team and logistics with follow-up as needed to manage risk.
During the first eight months, focus on new leads while assisting with existing West Coast clients; afterward, cover sales desk and email traffic as needed for teammates.
Attend weekly one-on-ones with the Specialty Sales & Operations Manager, weekly North America sales strategy meetings, and weekly North America Specialty team operations meetings; bring questions and discussion topics.
Visit the Austin office for one week per quarter during the first 12 months for onboarding, training, coffee-quality calibration, and learning internal processes, software, and team roles.
Travel with the existing team to visit West Coast clients twice during the first 12 months, then visit clients independently.
Attend the SCA event in April.
Learn and, once trained to proficiency, help teammates with client onboarding, sample queuing, sales contracts, marketing information, and CRM work.
Travel to origin once per year starting in year two to continue learning about Falcon’s supply chains and observe client origin trips.
Identify bottlenecks and potential efficiency improvements within the team and client experience, and experiment with and implement solutions.
Communicate Falcon’s values and commitments internally and externally.
Contribute to the biweekly newsletter at least once per quarter or whenever there is a topic to pitch.
Continue shaping the role alongside the manager to meet regional client and company needs.