Area Sales Manager - Purina

This remote position will lead, coach and manage Purina Area sales team to meet sales objectives and goals within the Northeast U.S. This includes ME/PA/NY/MD

The objective of this position is to develop and manage the overall talent strategies, retail relationships, and sales team to grow profitability of the territory.

Responsibilities:

Sales Leadership

• 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.

Collaboration and Partnership

• 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.

Business and Strategic Goals

• 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.

Required Experience/Knowledge/Skills:

• 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.  Ability to work independently and within cross-functional teams.

• 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%

The salary range for this role is $120,880 - $181,320.

About Land O'Lakes, Inc.

Join us and be part of a Fortune 250, farmer- and member-owned cooperative that is reimagining the business of food. We have been named a Top Workplace by Indeed and LinkedIn, and to the TIME 100 Most Influential Companies list.

Benefits for most full-time roles include medical, dental, vision, PTO, life & disability insurance, education assistance, a 401k and a variety of well-being resources. Most part-time employees are eligible for prorated PTO, holiday pay, employee development programs, prorated education assistance, and a 401(k).

Land O'Lakes, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) M/F/Vets/Disabled. The company maintains a drug-free workforce, including post-employment substance abuse testing pursuant to a Drug and Alcohol Policy.

Neither Land O’Lakes, nor its search firms, will ever contact you and ask for confidential information over the phone or in email. If you receive a call or email like this, please do not provide the information being requested.