Stamford, Connecticut
Director, Sales & Marketing Job Opening in Stamford, Connecticut - Director of Sales & Marketing
Position is based in Stamford, CT and reports to the Chief Marketing Officer of Rollease Acmeda, based in Melbourne, Australia.
Generally, the Director of Sales will lead the Company?s North and Latin American sales efforts and will participate actively in worldwide sales, marketing and product development strategies.
The US-based field sales team (Regional or Associate Sales Managers), with responsibility for North and Latin American sales, will report directly to this position. As such, this function requires:
Establishment of sales targets and monitoring of sales activities by each sales professional;
Training and mentoring, as needed, of the sales team and upgrading personnel as and where needed;
Effective use of the Company?s CRM program (Infor CRM) and assuring use thereof by all sales personnel;
Leading weekly sales update calls with the field sales team and other consituents, such as the product managers and marketing personnel;
Preparing sales budgets and analyses for annual Company budgets and any required reforecasts;
Preparing analyses as appropriate of customer, product and industry sales trends and narrating this information for senior management and deploying it for sales strategies;
Working closely with the Global Supply Chain in the Sales and Operations Planning efforts;
Travel with sales personnel and visits with key customers, as needed, with the minimum expectation being at least five days of travel with each sales manager during a six month period;
Direct and regular contact for key OEM and other high-potential or challenging customers;
Implementation of sales strategy to capture greater ?wallet share? from customers, especially automation, newly launched product, external product, aluminum extrusions and fabrics;
Participation at a high level in the setting of overall company strategy;
Ideally an understanding of the different channels key to the company?s future, including commercial (and the sub-channels of architect and design specification placement to general contractor and contract deal sales), hospitality, retail (as retailers are driving more and more change at the component level), and the traditional fabricator and work room channels;
Ideally an understanding of the key hardware systems driving the interior and exterior window coverings industry, manual and motorized, including roller shades, roman shades, cellular shades, venetian blinds, panel track, awnings and zip-style shading systems, and specialty systems such as zebra shades and other shading products, as well as an understanding of technical fabrics used in the manufacture of the foregoing products;
Working closely and regularly with the product management team, marketing team, innovation and design center (based in Melbourne) and such other functions within the company as are needed to provide top-level customer service and support;
Recommendation and implementation of pricing strategy for new and existing products as well as price increases and adjustments, as needed or appropriate, which requires the ability to extract and use data from the ERP and related database systems;
Heavy participation in web site content and recommendation and implementation of regular communications with customers and potential customers, including sell sheets, instructional and promotional videos, and other direct customer communications;
Participation in trade shows, including planning and development of exhibits as appropriate; and
Working directly with fabric and strategic vendors and the product management team to recommend and implement any changes to the Company?s current fabric, hardware and motorization programs.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, initially and possibly permanently, you will not direct the sales efforts of the Commercial Program although you and your team will be expected to work collaboratively with this group intended to develop this sales channel, and a separate role of Director of Business Development and Vice President of R&D will have certain specific duties, including responsibility for certain customer account management, that will not be reporting to you.
Personal Behavior and Work Characteristics. This role is not a ?traditional? window covering sales management role as the company is experiencing high growth, with a high volume of new products and technologies, a shifting customer and opportunity landscape, and an aggressive effort to be global in outlook and implementation. Not only must we position the sales team and our efforts to suit the various channels, but our product and channel strategy must change as well. This role will have a business development function in that it requires working with vendors and our customers? customers from inside and outside the US to not only develop certain products but to establish a partnership that works for all parties on a sustainable basis. Special skills and traits that are needed are:
High degree of analytical skills, including using various technologies (from ERP system to databases), to assess sales trends by products, customers and so on;
Ability to work with operations (purchasing and distribution) to support their forecasting needs for purchasing, establish freight programs for customers, accelerate resolving customer needs;
Ability to convey information concisely and a focus on what matters, as this role will be managed only at a high level and mostly at a distance;
The following ?softer? traits are critical for the leadership and team collaboration and support required for this role:
Macro-managers only. We are professionals until we prove we are not. Take an interest, don't take over.
People people. Bosses have to be better with people than anyone else. Able to connect and inspire subordinates, peers and customers. Treats everyone well as everyone is valuable. Business is better conducted when there is mutual respect on a personal level.
Vision: helping everyone see the big picture without forcing it down their throats.
Make each employee better: if you want their respect teach them something so they improve.
Understanding. Customers and coworkers have real lives and situations that have to be respected until a line is crossed.
Presence. You bring it into a room with you or you don't. For a sales leader that's a must for sales people to follow.
Time management. We are all stretched thin and need support to perform. Bosses have to be better than most.
Intelligent to include common sense.
Not a glory hog. A must that a boss shares success and shoulders failure, to an extent. If you have a failed employee you have failed. Own it and move on. Uses the word "we" much more often than "I".
Technical. Many salespeople focus on relationships over helpful knowledge of your business and that has a low ceiling. Be the expert you want your employees to be.
Positive outlook. No one in sales should be negative and negativity breeds negativity.
Be constant. Not erratic.
Challenging. Performers need to be challenged.
Clear objectives: sales teams (maybe all teams) all have to have a clear objective understanding of where we are supposed to be, always. * Equal Opportunity Employer
Job Type: Full-time
Job Location:
Stamford, CT
Required education:
Bachelor's
Required experience:
Marketing: 10 years
Sales: 10 years
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