National Account Manager - Hammarsdale, South Africa - Trending Talent Solutions

Description

The purpose of the role is to develop and maintain the Rainbow business with a particular retail customer or group of customers according to the company and channel strategy and to develop and manage relationships with large national accounts and to set the accounts' overall strategic direction.

• Degree in management, business administration and/or marketing
• Valid Code EB drivers' license
• 5 to 8 Years' experience in a marketing and sales function that includes managing complex and/or significant customer relationships and key accounts

• Develop account strategies in accordance with the overall Customer Strategy.
• Conduct regular reviews of business performance and promotion strategies.
• Manage and develop strong day to day relationships with the national account representatives.
• Collaborate internally with crossfunctional groups to develop and execute sales initiatives.
• Develop and maintain product knowledge of the retail sector and Rainbow products in particular.
• Develop and present factbased sales proposals to customers.
• Seek out and pursue line extensions, new channels and new business.
• Forecast demand and feed that into the S&OP process.
• Liaise with Marketing and monitor market trends, competitive activities and new products.
• Report meeting results and follow up with all crossfunctional groups to capitalise on sales opportunities.
• Facilitate NPD processes to meet customer requirements.
• Monitor quality of products and review complaints, returns and resolve all issues.
• Be an internal account champion, assuring clear and regular communication to key company managers.
• Pursue opportunities unique to each assigned account in terms of marketing, merchandising and operations.

• Develop proposals, negotiate terms and conditions and implement contractual agreements with assigned national accounts (with accountability for delivering strong financial results).
• Continuously review and monitor pricing to ensure Rainbow remains competitive with the highest profitability possible.
• Ensure the relevant Rainbow customer offerings/basket is ranged for the respective national accounts.
• Ensure the pricing across the basket is in line with relevant mandates as published.
• Offer alternative solutions to customers in the event of the products performing poorly (i.e. crossmerchandising strategically and facilitating further promotions to market stock).
• Negotiate trade margins advising customers regarding the best price in comparison with competitors, ultimately ensuring the product is successful.

• Develop, present and execute 12month promotion calendars.
• Develop optimal promotional plans and manage promotional investments.
• Ensure that the promotional grid is updated and accurate at all times.
• Determine the feasibility of promotions and quantify success.
• Advise Marketing on instore demonstration work and indicate the success rate of promotions.
• Critically evaluate the feasibility of point of sale proposals.

• Develop a deep understanding of customer needs and their operations and strategic objectives.
• Develop the customer business plan for his/her respective categories.
• Deliver the agreed plan and followup/coordinate the achievement of targets set in the Plan.
• Monitor customer performance by tracking customer contribution and market share for major categories.
• Act as an active ambassador of Rainbow at the customer and of the customer at Rainbow.

• Develop and maintain strong executive relationships with assigned distributors.
• Manage stock availability issues with factory/Vector depots.
• Oversee the order taking process and follow up with supply chain management when required.
• Coordinate account and market reviews of key metrics and best practices/key learning for assigned distribution.
• Communicate with Vector instore staff and branches throughout the country.
• Ensure that VSS is made aware of promotions and the details to facilitate seamless communication channels.

• Drive the achievement of the national account sales budgets in terms of volume.
• Forecast, budget and track account revenues and cost.
• Achieve monthly, quarterly and yearly sales margins and goals.
• Monitor and optimise trade spend investment and complete ROI analysis.

• Provide monthly feedback to the Customer Manager indicating the tracking on volume versus budget.
• Identify improvements and innovations a