Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Office Depot is a global leader in food & beverage ingredients, and they are seeking a Key Account Manager to contribute to their growth strategy. The role involves establishing and executing business and sales strategies for specific accounts to drive growth across the product portfolio.
Responsibilities
- Evaluate industry, market, category, channel, and customer trends to understand and articulate market and customer opportunities
- Develop and execute account strategies, plans, and forecasts for assigned accounts; incorporate business strategies that reflect the entire product portfolio
- Explore customers’ needs and opportunities, encouraging experimentation with the entire portfolio and seizing opportunities that result in unique and differentiated solutions
- Develop long-term partnerships with targeted accounts that result in increased sales and margins, and value for the broader business portfolio
- Manage diverse set of customers which includes managing large, well-established customers, while also having a hunter’s mentality for uncovering growth at existing and new accounts
- Initiate and lead contract negotiations with assigned key accounts to grow sales volume and margins while expanding ingredient solutions and distribution
- Work with cross-functional and product-platform teams to ensure alignment of sales strategy and product offerings with technical and operational capabilities
- Guide the sales process, articulating a path forward for customers with support from internal stakeholders, considering internal capabilities, constraints, competitive circumstances, and strategic priorities
- Work closely with logistics and support teams to ensure excellence in contract execution and working capital management
- Engage internal cross-functional and product-platform teams to execute business plans, resolve issues, and deliver solutions that meet or exceed customer needs and drive profitable growth
- Collaborate with Innovation and R&D on SIM projects and customer-driven solutions and engage internal stakeholders to understand current capabilities required to deliver
- Establish regular cadence of communications with internal stakeholder groups, reviewing progress and adjusting plans as needed
- Balance key account responsibilities for ambition accounts with assigned product-platform accounts
- Perform other duties as assigned
Skills
- Bachelor's degree is required
- Five (5) years of major account spice selling experience required
- Candidates substituting experience in lieu of degree, require ten (10) years prior experience in major account spice selling experience
- Previous account management experience with headquarters of large CPG, foodservice or related industry
- National account experience, private label sales or food CPG experience
- Strategic thinking and business acumen: ability to develop and deliver a strategic account plan designed to achieve profitable growth in both business and sales objectives
- Excellent analytical skills
- Extensive spice ingredient product knowledge: ability to understand and translate ingredient portfolio features to targeted customer value propositions
- Lead cross-functional teams to deliver customer solutions addressing the needs of each customer
- Effective negotiation and problem-solving skills: ability to use appropriate strategies to address areas of concern, explore alternatives and reach mutually beneficial sales agreements that gain customer's commitment to action
- Impactful communicator: ability to convey information and ideas clearly and succinctly to individuals and groups at various levels, in a variety of situations
- Deliver high-impact presentations suited to the needs of the audience
- Building influential relationships: ability to build and foster influential customer and internal stakeholder relationships across boundaries (cultural, organizational, geographical, etc.) that help deliver value and customer commitments
- Adaptable: maintain effectiveness when experiencing major changes or shifts in direction; adjusts effectively by exploring the benefits, trying new approaches and collaborating with others to make the change successful
- Ability and willingness to travel up to 40% of the time is required
- Master's degree preferred
- The Chicago area is highly preferred
Benefits
- Bonus: Eligible for a discretionary performance-based bonus as provided by the plan terms and governing documents
- Benefits: Employees (and their eligible dependents) covered through affordable access to healthcare, protection, and saving for the future
- Well-being: We offer events, resources and learning opportunities that inspire a physical, social, emotional, and financial well-being lifestyle for our employees and their families
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