Area Sales Manager – Purina

Area Sales Manager – Purina

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in ag or related business field (Animal Science/Nutrition, Ag Business, Ag Education). Not required, but ideal to have Graduate, MBA, or PhD degrees or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years successful sales experience, 5+ years of experience in the agriculture industry, experience successfully leading a sales team.
• Nutrition knowledge/experience (applicable species)
• Strong general management skills including ability to resolve issues quickly and effectively, analytical and strategic thinking
• Positive track record of volume growth in value-added products, to add profits to the company’s bottom line.
• Experience in sourcing, developing, leading, motivating, and building talent.
• Successful budget management, including Expenses and Sales Productivity.
• Communication skills: written and oral, including strategy presentations to staff at all levels.
• Creative thinker: possess the ability to develop and create new ideas, systems, and relationships for the success of the company.
• Planning skills: must have the ability to develop specific plans and goals to help in accomplishing tasks effectively and efficiently.
• Relationship skills: ability to create and maintain positive relationships with current and prospective owners and partners. Proven ability to interact well with customers, suppliers, employees, and management at all levels.
• Creates a team environment where all team members are treated with respect and are valued.
• Ability to effectively lead and manage through change.
• Knowledge and experience utilizing a CRM system.
• Proficient in Microsoft office applications, including virtual tools.
• Overnight Travel: 50-60%

Responsibilities

• Responsible to recruit, lead, coach, and develop the Purina Area Sales Team to ensure sales goals are met in Livestock, Lifestyle, additives, and milk replacer categories.
• Meet or exceed sales and budget expectations for area.
• Support Sales Team Members in the market to sell key accounts and drive volume/income to achieve area sales contribution targets.
• Retail seller growth continuation, including the Farm Production Consultant program to increase farm gate calls to gain new clients while meeting current customer’s needs on their farm/ranches.
• Ensure ongoing development of team skillsets to meeting changing demands of the marketplace.
• Coaches and provides feedback to effectively and constructively enable individuals to achieve high performance, as well as proactively manages low performance on the team.
• Develops people by identifying developmental opportunities, creating development plans, providing regular informal and formal feedback, and engaging in employee performance calibration and succession planning.
• Ensures Master Alignment Plans (MAPs) are built, centrally shared, and being executed at all accounts within assigned region.
• Collaborate and develop strategies with marketing, Income Optimization, Supply Chain, and sales to ensure local needs are meeting the changing demands of the marketplace.
• Develops strategic relationships with key customer and account leadership – CEO’s, GM’s, Feed Managers, and strategic location managers.
• Lead the development and implementation of annual and long-term business plans for the Area.
• Execution of whole marketing plan, to include new distribution, mergers, and acquisitions of dealers/cooperatives resulting in the achievement of the income target for the sales area.
• Champion scorecards tied to key customers and sales teams such as SalesForce to ensure goals are being met and documented.
• Manages sustainable partner relationships at an area level.

Preferred Qualifications

• Not required, but ideal to have Graduate, MBA, or PhD degrees or equivalent experience.