Director of National Sales (Wine Jobs: Sales & Marketing)

  Messina Hof Wine Cellars, Inc.

  Houston, Texas

*Location is negotiable.

POSITION SUMMARY

Messina Hof Director of National Sales is charged with managing the brand and facilitating sales development of Messina Hof products in all possible wholesale channels of distribution, including retail and on-premise. The Director of National Sales will supervise all wholesale personnel and oversee all Messina Hof distribution.  This person must meet the needs and expectations of our customers and the technical information about our products, pricing, and promotions. He/she is responsible for representing all aspects of Messina Hof and its respective products.  This person must have excellent working relationships with Republic National Distributing Company management, key account managers, and key buyers in Texas and Nationally. 

 

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Reasonable Accommodations Statement

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable Accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Essential Functions Statement(s)

Develop sales volume distribution and profit including direct selling as well as multiplying the sales efforts to ensure wholesale personnel and distributor sales force execution and focus on the core products and programs by performing the following duties:

• Oversee all Texas and national distribution and supervise wholesale personnel to ensure sales objectives are met.
• Facilitation of new placements of Messina Hof products in new accounts and increased market share of products in existing accounts.  Increase market share within Texas and expand Messina Hof sales to national distribution.
• Motivate and create positive working relationships with distributor(s) to ensure incremental sales and distribution with geographic region as well as meet targeting distribution and sales goals.
• Develop, foster, and maintain a close working relationship with retailers, restaurateurs and other industry contacts.
• Ensure the continued sales growth of brands in the geographic area and develop areas of opportunity for new business.
• Develop new points of distribution and wholesale opportunities on a national level into new states.  Develop marketing strategies and oversee all sales objectives in these areas.
• Professionally represent the Company in the market to improve distribution levels, shelf space/schematics, feature/display activity, ad plans, and on-premise programs.
• Coordinate and oversee execution of all TPR’s, programming, promotion, and pricing execution of distributor in a timely manner.
• Ensure that distributors carry sufficient stock to properly service by avoiding out-of-stocks, and ensure orders have sufficient lead times.
• Provide weekly updates to Messina Hof ownership on current market data including sales data, distributor warehouse stock information and make recommendations to RNDC on purchase order requests.
• Represent Messina Hof at national headquarter meetings as well as formulate and execute marketing and sales strategies that would expand distribution through national accounts.
• Undertake various promotional activities, such as tastings, presentation to members of the trade and consumers. Attendance at special promotions such as wine tasting dinners, festivals, etc.
• Participate in “crew drives” in markets as needed and provide written feedback to distributors within three days, including selling in the market with distributor’s sales force as well as selling into accounts on your own
• Develop promotional concepts and ensure that promotional materials and POS are used effectively
• Responsible for managing activities in compliance with state and federal regulations
• Responsible for providing accurate and timely filing of reports including sales reports, retail pricing surveys, meeting minutes, market management, expense reports, etc.
• Provide management with market intelligence including sales trends, product development and competitor activity.  Develop company strategies to maximize marketing and sales opportunities.
• Be the key link between Sales, Marketing, and Operations to understand and develop integrated demand plans for all products.  Meet all national headquarters, distributor and winery deadlines.
• Collect Marketing and Sales data and incorporate it into statistical forecasting models to generate demand forecasts and budgets.  Responsible for all wholesale budgets.
• Coordinate with the Marketing department on ads and promotions.  Create and execute sales and marketing plans, incentive programs and business proposals.
• Lead end of year business reviews and other meetings as required.
• Weekly meetings with distributor account representatives to target promotion opportunities and troubleshoot problems.
• Encourage increased specialty placements including department stores, catering special events, specialty catalogs, area gift baskets, etc.
• Initiate and respond to all types of communications with all business contacts promptly.
• Liaison with and facilitate distributor sales of Messina Hof products.  Administer distributor pricing and monitor promotions & charge backs & reconcile discrepancies.
• Adhere to and effectively communicate company policy.
• Perform administrative tasks as necessary in a timely manner.
• Other duties as required

 

 

 

 

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS

Competency Statement(s)

 

• Minimum of 4-6 years related experience and training in the adult beverage industry, preferably the wine industry; or equivalent combination of education and experience
• Must be able to travel as necessary to be physically present at events when needed.   Must have valid driver’s license with clean driving record.
• Computer proficient in Microsoft Office and wholesale software programs.
• Proven sales skills, and impeccable professional conduct and reliability.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to speak to large audiences both internally and externally. Excellent organizational skills. Strong analytical skills with ability to formulate strategies based on correlated data to meet overall Company objectives. Must possess strong negotiation and mediation skills with the ability to assist others to meet objectives under sometimes restrictive time lines.
• Ability to maintain positive work atmosphere by communicating effectively with clients, management, peers, and subordinates. Possess strong project management skills. Must be a person of high integrity, commitment and motivation, and possess a strong work ethic.
• Ability to manage tasks and to exercise independent judgment without supervision. Ability to act as a very “hands-on”, “roll up their sleeves” executor.  Ability to supervise, lead and motivate subordinates.
• Strong network and relationships with industry professionals, with understanding of the three-tier distribution system.

How To Apply

Thank you for your interest in Messina Hof. To be considered for this position please submit an application directly on our website at this link http://ejob.bz/ATS/CompanyPortal.do?refresh=true&companyGK=18969&portalGK=1881. Once you have done so we will be able to move forward. Again, thank you for your interest in Messina Hof.

Sincerely,

Human Resources
Messina Hof Wine Cellars, Inc.

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