Sales Manager – Food Manufacturing (Midwest Territory, USA)
The Irca Group is an International Leader in high quality finished and semi-finished ingredients for the bakery, pastry, and ice cream markets. With a solid history of over 100 years in the industry, the Group has its headquarters in Italy (Gallarate) and a strong global footprint with 23 production sites and over 2000 employees in Europe, the United States and Vietnam.
Our core product categories include chocolate, compounds, chocolate decorations, sprinkles, creams, pastry mixes, gelato ingredients, nuts and candied fruit. The most recent acquisition of Kerry Sweet complements our existing categories with the addition of sweet particulates, chocolate confections, inclusions, variegates and frozen fruit purees.
Through its 8 key brands (IRCA, Dobla®, in2food, Via Degli Orsini, JoyGelato, RaviFruit, Cesarin and Anastasi®) the IRCA Group offers an unparalleled "one-stop shop" approach for delivering quality solutions to all ingredients needs, through a broad range of innovative products. We offer every day and seasonal solutions to 3 macro channels: Gourmet, Food Manufacturing and Consumer Product (Retail). “Extraordinary made simple”.
We are seeking an experienced Sales Manager FM to grow and develop the Midwest territory of the United States. The main responsibility for this position would be to oversee the growth of sales of all IRCA products in the Midwest territory. This would involve developing and implementing sales strategies, identifying new business opportunities, and building strong relationships with customers. It is also important for you to ensure that all sales activities are conducted in accordance with company policies, safety regulations, and BRC standards. This would involve staying up to date with relevant regulations and industry standards and ensuring that all sales activities are compliant.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Develop and implement strategic sales plans and forecasts to achieve corporate objectives: This would involve analyzing market trends, identifying new business opportunities, and developing sales strategies to drive growth and managing sales operating budgets to ensure that the sales team operates within budgetary constraints.
- Establish and manage strategic relationships with key industrial customers and partners to drive sales growth.
- Create selling opportunities by understanding pain points of customers, and how our products can help.
- Work with our Marketing and Innovation teams to develop opportunities for engagement with clients, ensuring budgets and targets are met
- Oversee, develop, and execute sales of our full product line in territory
- Dedicated time in the field working with & training distributor reps, end users & manufacturing customers as needed
- Negotiate and implement sales and marketing programs with customers
- Prepare regular sales reports showing volume, potential sales and areas of proposed growth: This would involve analyzing sales data and preparing reports to provide insights into sales performance and identify areas for growth.
- Utilize CRM system to keep accurate records of potential customers & track follow up on all potential new leads and manage pipeline
- Continuous planning and forecasting of inventory movement
- Account analysis and management of territory expenses
- Regular reporting on sales activities and opportunities to VP of Sales
- Support and encourage a positive team approach with fellow sales reps and internal support staff
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Minimum of 5-7+ years sales experience calling on food Manufacturing customers. Must have ability to make sales calls.
- Experience with chocolate or bakery ingredient sales.
- Possess the ability to lead customer sales meetings, creatively solve problems, and forecast inventory needs
- Keep up to date with current industry trends and maintain awareness of new products and ideas
- Ability to work flexible schedule with large amount of travel, if necessary
- Demonstrate an assertive attitude with a positive approach and outlook
- Strong communication skills are essential, including both verbal and written capabilities, with an emphasis in strong presentation ability
- Strategic thinking skills with ability to organize, prioritize and handle multiple tasks are needed
- Exhibit sound interpersonal skills in all interactions with customers, staff and company management
- Should be independent with a balanced team spirit
- Home office based
- Must be willing travel approximately 50%
Irca Group offers career growth opportunities as well as competitive compensation and benefits:
Medical, Dental, & Vision, 401(k) matching, Paid Vacation, and Holidays, Employee Education Tuition Reimbursement Program
