District Sales Manager

Job Location: ​Chicago​

Chicagoland area

Want to make an impact?

The District Sales Manager is responsible for leading and coaching a team of Retail Sales Representatives across two metropolitan cities. This person is responsible for managing and developing talent within the districts while driving retail excellence to impact the bottom line.  The ideal candidate is self-motivated, ambitious, and analytical. This person should also have strong communication skills to effectively manage multiple priorities and lead a team of Retail Sales Representatives. They must possess excellent organizational skills, have the ability to work independently, and travel significantly.

Ways you will make a difference

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.

Team Management and People Development

• Leads team in achieving their monthly KPIs, focusing on display, distribution and selling in tandem with priorities provided by account managers
• Recruit, onboard, develop and coach Retail Sales Representatives
• Work in store 3-4 days a week with Retail Sales Representatives to provide sales and development feedback
• Responsible for quarterly district meetings
• Meet with team regularly to encourage connectivity amongst team members and share best practices
• Owns performance management process for each member on the team, including mid-year and year-end reviews as well as aid in career development discussions

Communication

• Must have the ability to communicate effectively both internally with Ferrara team and externally with all customers
• Facilitate weekly calls with team to review monthly account priorities, share best practices and discuss opportunities
• Communicate competitive market activity and insights back to HQ team. 
• Effectively collaborate with market managers to help meet key accounts’ growth initiatives in tandem with Ferrara’s
• Meet with account managers monthly to review upcoming account priorities 

Sales & Retail Execution Management

• Align on quarterly initiatives and growth targets with HQ and effectively communicate and motivate team in achieving them
• Lead team in chasing bigger and better execution to maximize Ferrara’s return on investment
• Ensure retail POS is utilized alongside promotional activity to increase POS sales by forward-selling displays and national marketing events
• Identify up-selling opportunities to gain incremental displays/features
• Empower Retail Sales Representatives to leverage available data in stores to influence KDMs as well as train team on data-selling best practices
• Monitor KPI achievement of Retail Sales Representatives month to month, ensuring that any gaps are addressed through coaching
• Oversee business relations with district/region level and other operations personnel. Be prepared to share business highlights and selling opportunities (i.e. WM Market Manager calls)
• Owns and manages special projects as assigned (i.e. leadership market visits)

Administration/Reporting

• When necessary, will complete accurate timely reports, recaps, and expense reports

Skills that will make you successful

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.  

• Ability to effectively penetrate appropriate levels of management at the customer level
• Maintain open lines of communication to develop strong cross-channel collaboration
• Strong initiative, forward thinking, and creative problem solving skills with the ability to create or stimulate customer-focused strategies
• Ability to apply a high level of analytical rigor and provide data driven recommendations based on analysis
• Sound judgment, drive and influence to aggressively pursue initiatives with appropriate team building techniques
• Self-starter who is proactive and identifies critical business threats and opportunities
• Ability to develop and deliver first class fact-based presentations internally and externally
• Strong planning and organizational skills and ability to manage processes/projects cross-functionally
• Customer focused with the ability to strategically build alliances and maintain customer relationships that will serve as the foundation for long-term success
• Ability to effectively engage internally and externally with key stakeholders

Experiences that will support your success

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or ability required.  

• Bachelor's degree required
• 5+ years of experience 
• 3+ years of experience i