Manager of Business Specialists - Sysco

POSITION SUMMARY

This is a professional sales and leadership position responsible for coaching specialists with the expectation of achieving assigned business goals.  Managers will prioritize time, targets, and team selling efforts based on market insights and data analytics. Supporting the Director of Business Specialists, this position will drive the performance management, development, and deployment of assigned specialist roles with the goal of enhancing the customer experience and achieving the region’s financial plan. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead a high-performing regional team of specialists to secure new business and increase penetration in alignment with region’s financial plan
• Enable and ensure specialists develop and execute targeted strategies across assigned categories, aligned specialty segments, and Sysco brand by utilizing data analytics and team selling approach
• Drive team selling efforts around new business, lost business, and penetration of existing accounts, aligning expert resources toward unified goals
• Communicate clear, specific, and timebound goals and uphold a metrics driven performance management strategy
• Coach specialists on developmental opportunities and ensure there is a robust and measurable plan in place to deliver against individual and region results
• Interpret and harness data insights to provide feedback to the team, align priorities, and discover profitable business opportunities and focus areas
• Utilize KPIs/metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of specialist growth strategies including specialist deployment and performance management the team to deliver
• Conduct weekly specialist coaching 1:1 conversations:  track activities and results, collaborate on upcoming opportunities, and champion the team selling process through use of Salesforce (Sysco’s CRM tool)
• Actively seek, qualify, and deploy specialists for top prospect conversion to Sysco
• Be informed of market conditions, product innovations, and competitors' products, prices, and sales; share information with specialists and customers as part of value-added services provided
• Establish collaborative relationship with specialty companies and merchandising to drive sales efforts around product quality, product integrity, product mix, customer satisfaction, perceived value, and competition
• Develop and maintain relationships with internal and external customers and stakeholders
• Support execution of prioritized sales strategies of the specialist team with engagement of customers and prospects at Sysco events (e.g. food shows, industry events)
• Participates in planning of sales meetings, huddles, team trainings, and customer events and other related functions, with capability to serve as a facilitator for related topics. 
• Meets weekly with supervisor to review past and future priorities along with upcoming tasks. Topics to include, but not limited to, work plan for coming week and follow up for previous tasks.

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QUALIFICATIONS

Education/Experience:

• Minimum: High School Diploma or GED and 3+ years of sales experience within a retail, broker, wholesale or distribution environment (deep technical expertise of assigned categories)
• Preferred: Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent educational level

Knowledge & Skills:

• Strong financial acumen and ability to properly plan and execute business plans
• Embraces change and champions corporate initiatives
• Demonstrated ability to coach and mentor associates
• Track record of success in the area of consultative selling, networking and negotiations
• Proficient communication and interpersonal skills and ability to work with and influence a variety of key stakeholders
• Experience building trust with prospective customers and securing new business
• Strong business and restaurant operations acumen
• Analytical problem-solving skills, including familiarity with analyzing reports and deriving insights from data
• Ability to learn the use of proprietary CRM tools for planning and forecasting sales growth
• Proficient in Microsoft Applications Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• Demonstrated ability to deliver against deadlines and produce high-quality results (accuracy, thoroughness in the deliverables they are producing)
• Excellent organizational and project management skills, including the ability to execute multiple initiatives at the same time
• Understanding of marketing principles, product lines, ordering procedures and Sysco’s credit terms