Sales Account Manager

Location: candidate can be based in one of the following cities: Kansas City, St. Louis Park, MN, Chicago, IL, Springfield, MO, Dallas, TX. Candidate must have easy access to an airport. This role would have a hybrid work arrangement; candidate has ability to work remotely and on-site in local DFA office when not traveling.

General Purpose:

Responsible for managing and growing assigned accounts, building customer relationships, and achieving targets within DFA's Taste & Flavor division. This role requires an entrepreneurial approach that leverages the full breadth of DFA's products and services. This includes actively working to identify opportunities, resolving challenges, and providing equitable solutions for the customer, DFA and ultimately the consumer. Additionally, this individual needs to embrace cross-selling opportunities to facilitate demand generation of "all things dairy" across DFA. As the business owner of their territory, the role is expected to operate independently, and drive territory plans with guidance from sales leadership.

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

• Own territory like it's their business, utilizing an entrepreneurial "solutions selling" approach drawing from organizational strengths and capabilities.
  
  
  
  • Drive customer connectivity to develop in depth knowledge of customer needs, insights, and strategies.
  • Utilize account intel, insights, and DFA segmentation tools to budget time and resources.
  • Operate as a facilitator across DFA's network with the constant goal of providing maximum value to the customer, DFA, and consumer.
  • Work with cross-functional teams to position and recommend solutions aligned to customer & consumer needs.
  • Identify priority opportunities and drive to commercialization offering maximum ROI to DFA.
  • Provide regular reports on business results, plans, and priorities.
  • Develop sales volume and forecast to support supply chain planning.
  
  
  
  
• Identify business development opportunities with existing/new accounts and initiate action plans to increase market share with new/existing products:
  
  
  
  • Proactively deliver innovative ideas to customers by understanding their brands, platforms, and strategies, ensuring ideas are aligned to growing dairy based solutions.
  • Partner with Marketing in preparing and delivering sales presentations and product demos.
  • Ideate on new ways to position dairy offerings in a way that adds value to customers & consumers.
  • Stay up to date on industry trends and leverage insights to drive meaningful customer conversations.
  
  
  
  
• Provide customers with exceptional customer care; work with urgency to resolve problems in a transparent manner in partnership with functional areas of DFA.
• Foster customer relationships at various levels across multiple functions (R&D, marketing, QA, etc) and facilitate the growth of peer-to-peer relationships with DFA counterparts.
• Develop, deploy, and manage customer account plans on priority accounts.
• Maximize the use of CRM (such as Salesforce.com) and PowerBI to manage customer pipelines and track sales related activities.
• Align on terms with accounts via NDA's, pricing, payment terms, and other areas as needed.

Minimum Requirements:

Education and Experience

• Undergraduate degree in business, sales, marketing, food science, or related curriculum (or equivalent combination of experience and education)
• >3 years of experience dealing directly with customers, working in a sales or sales support role, or related experience; or demonstrated aptitude for a sales account management role.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Self-starter who enjoys problem solving and collaborating across a variety of teams.
• Sound knowledge of sales techniques.
• Knowledge of and skill with Microsoft Office Suite and company computer systems.
• Able to establish and maintain positive relationships with internal and external customers.
• Able to communicate clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing.
• Able to organize time, energy, and resources effectively to achieve goals (i.e., organizational skills)
• Able to work well under pressure and adapt to changing organizational and operational needs.
• Able to resolve problems.
• Able to deliver on commitments and deadlines.
• Able to work independently and as part of a team.
• Must be able to read, write and speak English.

Travel:

50%-75% (up to 2 weeks per month)

An Equal Opportunity Employer including Disabled/Veterans