USD - Dannon, a subsidiary of Danone, is looking for Director, Sales in Charlotte.

Danone is a global food company holding top positions in healthy food through its four businesses: Fresh Dairy Products, Early Life Nutrition, Waters, and Medical Nutrition. Its mission, bringing health through food to as many people as possible, embodies commitment to human progress and business success. It gives meaning to the work of our 100,000 Danoners worldwide on an everyday basis.

For passionate people looking for autonomy and exciting career opportunities, Danone truly has something special inside.

Vision of the role

Manage and orchestrate sales resources to grow the DanoneWave business across the Mid-Atlantic region, consisting of regional grocery customers (Lowes, Ingles, KVAT, Alabama regionals) and Military/DECA. Build and execute customer/category plans that support customer goals and achieve targets (volume, gross-to-net, or distribution). Ensure leadership and cross-functional company efforts are involved with developing the customer relationship (e.g., bring in category, shopper marketing, supply chain, etc.) Manage sales team across the fragmented scope (across customers, across categories, etc.) by deploying the right talent, influencing the customer appropriately, and contributing to the company internally.

Key responsibilities

• Own the region category P&L by overseeing the creation and execution of customer plans with high integrity

• Oversee selling process for the Mid-Atlantic region to deliver $100 Million in net sales
• Assist team (customer planning and customer team) in developing the annual sales plan/budget by customer, category, and SKU and be accountable for the integrity of the plans that are put forward for your portion of the business
• Lead team members to execute against annual plan
• Roll-up the P&L across customers/categories and have a very clear sense of the financial targets and plan to achieve targets
• Evaluate and deploy team and sales support resources to maximize effective business plan delivery
• Ensure that there are impactful category insights and shopper activities at given customer(s)
• Support high-value sales process activities and problem solve best approach with CBMs/KAMs - opportunity identification/creation, negotiations, deal closure
• Participate with customer and internal team on joint business planning process to inform customer plan
• Ensure internal resources/experts (category management, customer planning, shopper marketing, etc.) are being used to drive success at the customer
• Participate in demand planning S&OP process to monitor forecast versus plans
• Identify when plan adjustments are needed based on monthly and quarterly sales volumes and trade spend versus budget for org unit and advise CBMs/KAMs on necessary changes
• Provide ad-hoc reports and presentations for sales leadership (e.g., visits from corporate Danone, in-market reviews, etc.)
• Oversee trade spending, promotional programs, spending across the brands, etc. to ensure targets are met
• Review monthly and quarterly sales volumes and profitability versus plan for each market
• Review trade and shopper marketing spend versus plan and coordinate with Customer Planning Manager to adjust plans based on performance
• Deliver in-store execution performance

• Define what success looks like in the store
• Hold team accountable for delivering on those things
• Coordinate with the broker organization and leadership (Acosta) in order to execute the in-store plans and deliver on KPIs
• Regularly walk stores to stay as close to the business and flag issues/celebrations with team
• Build deep and strategic relationships with customers

• Cultivate and manage profitable relationships with customers
• Attend top-to-tops and engage sales leadership as necessary (i.e., bring in VPs, CCO or President of Sales based on customer participants)
• Develop a clear understanding of customer's organizational/ decision-making structure to maneuver effectively within organization
• Deliver customer business reviews and category performance presentations
• Participate in long-term planning and execution with customer leadership
• Build transversal support across the business by coordinating with the front-line and senior levels in the organization

• Communicate with HR, sales finance, customer solutions, and other business functions to lead aligned execution of how DanoneWave goes to market
• Represent the customer sales team to leadership and visa-versa by being close enough to the sales team to know the details of what is happening on a day-to-day basis and have the ability to influence strategic decisions that affect the company
• Manage sales organization strategically to deliver the best results

• Deploy team resources/talent to maximize effective business plan delivery (i.e., how to separate category, customer, regional resources, etc.)
• Actively look for business development opportunities and coordinate approach accordingly (e.g., private label, cross-business/channel) - should have a hunting mindset
• Provide insights from the sales field back to the Centers of Excellence (e.g., trade teams)
• Build and maintain strong culture within team to boost morale across organization
• Set and communicate clear objectives for the team and individual team members
• Manage business complexities (e.g., fragmented coverage across categories, difference in customer re-set periods, etc.)
• Cascade outcomes and key metrics to org based on overall unit KPIs, metrics (e.g., customer/category specific metrics)
• Manage department budgets for salaries, travel, and entertainment
• Grow your people

• Identify, recruit, and retain a balanced and diverse team based on member/candidate strengths and role fit supported by relevant knowledge, skills, and experience
• Provide the foundation for team effectiveness by creating and maintaining team processes
• Apply training and coaching effectively for individual and team development
• Complete performance evaluations for direct reports

Key performance metrics

• Delivery of the business plans across customers/channels/categories (gross to net management)
• Management capability (organizational health, attrition %) - people development

Scope of managerial and leadership responsibilities

3 direct sales reports (CBMs, Analyst)

4 indirect sales-support reports with additional dotted line into Center of Excellence: Category Management, Customer Planning, Shopper Marketing, and Retail

Qualifications

Ideal candidate will have:

• 4 year business degree
• 6-10 years of progressive experience in sales position within CPG industry
• Prior experience with owning a major customer account preferred
• Exposure to other sales sub-functions (category management, shopper marketing, retail, etc.) preferred
• Demonstrated ability to achieve breakthrough results through the course of work
• Strong team leadership and management skills
• Ability to attract, develop, and maintain high performers
• Ability to comprehend and manage a complex, fragmented business
• 40-60% travel time
• Open to relocation depending on customer(s) covering - expect proximity with customer and team

For more information about Danone, its people and its business, please visit danone.com. We have something special inside, do you?

99909.Experience: Experienced professionals

The Dannon Company is a US-subsidiary of Danone, a Fortune 500 company and one of the most successful health-focused food companies in the world with leading positions in fresh dairy products, water, baby nutrition and medical nutrition. Danone's mission is to bring health through food to as many people as possible.

Our core values foster individual professional growth. We reward entrepreneurialism and innovation. There truly is something very special inside our company. You can see it reflected in our people, our products and our culture. If you like what you have learned, we encourage you to apply and learn more.

Dannon is an equal employment and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, genetic characteristic or any other unlawful criterion.