Regional Director – Southeast

BACKGROUND:

Redwood Brands (RWB) was formed with the mission of offering the best founder-led brands a long-term sales solution and customers the most compelling, global portfolio of independent spirits brands. Redwood Brands creates an environment that will allow the founders of these companies to focus on brand building with the trade and consumers.  Redwood Brands provides professional and effective sales execution services in key markets throughout the US (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Boston, DC, Denver, Seattle, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and others).

This is an incredible opportunity for an entrepreneurially minded professional to be at the forefront of brand-building at the highest level for an exciting portfolio of spirits.

DESCRIPTION:

This open Regional Director role will lead the team in maximizing sales and marketing opportunities in their market, oversee sales activities, planning, budget analysis and management, distributor scorecard and capability and drive collaborative in market excellence to deliver sales & profit goals.  The Redwood Brands sales team, individually and collectively, represents the RWB portfolio in the market, and the Regional Sales Director takes a senior role in this capacity.

The Regional Sales Director leads by example, ensuring that the founder's vision and brand messaging are clear, consistent, and effective in all sales-related activity. This position is responsible for sales execution of portfolio company brand objectives and strategies within a designated territory and for leading a team via comprehensive monthly and annual goal planning. This includes active participation in the development of company forecasts and sales plans, unrivaled sales execution focusing on brand sales activation, growth from the bottom-up, building and supporting key relationships in the trade from distributor to bartender to retailer and managing the tactical short- and long- term objectives to maintain and expand volume sales. Finally, the Regional Sales Director should be adept at team building, able to implement distributor pricing & promotions, manage a T&E budget, and activate effective market visits for brand founders.

This candidate will reside in either Texas or Florida.

Role & Responsibilities

• Ongoing market analysis and assessment of competitors and market intelligence with a focus on the future and value creation

• Partner with the Brand teams to provide in-depth analysis and understanding of all channels of distribution within the Market

• Analyze impact of Key programs and evaluate them for their effectiveness and build on successful programs

• Recruits, develops, coaches and manages performance of direct reports

• Develop beverage alcohol insights to advise and inform team on strategies that drive volume and profit growth

• Broad understanding of marketplace dynamics, including chain, independents On &Off, Regional Chain Accounts and control states

• Manage T&E and tactical budgets. Communicate any changes in plans/dollars for redistribution based on market needs and competitive activity.

• Manage the Distributor from top to bottom and demonstrates key relationships within the network

• Conduct timely business reviews with distributors identifying key issues with recommended courses of action

• Maintain proper inventory levels on all brands to insure success of local programming and long term growth

• Demonstrate a keen understanding of pricing as it relates to company, distributor and retail margins

• Maintain updated price structures for all brands/sizes and markets

• Maintain a regular call schedule with distributor/ broker on key retailers/ bar owners in area of responsibility

• Demonstrate the ability to network within the existing distributors in each market(s) and interact with the different functions i.e., purchasing, operations, marketing and finance

• Ability to observe competitive activity and react to pending threats to objectives and provide feedback to senior management and the appropriate Brand ownership teams.

Key Competencies

• Analytical--Synthesizes complex or diverse information; Collects and researches data; Uses intuition and experience to complement data; Designs work flows and procedures.

• Problem Solving--Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner; Gathers and analyzes information skilfully; Develops alternative solutions; Works well in group problem solving situations;

• Initiative--Volunteers readily; Undertakes self-development activities; Seeks increased responsibilities; Takes independent actions and calculated risks; Looks for and takes advantage of opportunities; Asks for and offers help when needed

• Oral Communication--Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations; Listens and gets clarification; Responds well to questions; Demonstrates group presentation skills; Participates in meetings.

• Managing People--Includes team in planning, decision-making, facilitating and process improvement; Takes responsibility for subordinates' activities; Makes self available to team; Provides regular performance feedback; Develops subordinates' skills and encourages growth; Solicits and applies customer feedback (internal and external); Fosters quality focus in others; Improves processes, products and services; Continually works to improve supervisory skills.

• Business Acumen--Understands business implications of decisions; Displays orientation to profitability; Demonstrates knowledge of market and competition; Aligns work with strategic goals.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• Bachelor's degree strongly preferred.

• 5-8 years of demonstrated sales experience or commensurate spirits industry education/experience; no exceptions.  This experience should be in the Texas or Florida Market

• Demonstrated sales management abilities with proven success in delivering sales goals and objectives.

• Ability to build and maintain strategic working relationships with distributors and accounts

• Proven team leadership and people development skills.

• Proficient in Word, Excel and PowerPoint

• Ability to navigate Diver and other sales reporting systems

• Strong interpersonal, influencing, negotiation, time management and presentation skills required

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

(These are required to perform the key responsibilities of the job with or without accommodations)

Must be able to lift up to 50 pounds repeatedly

Must be able to walk, stand, climb, balance, reach with hands and arms, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl on a daily basis