Job: VP of Sales (Arts & Crafts)

Our Client

Our client for this VP Sales North North America is an established international company selling arts & crafts consumer products to a network of omnichannel accounts (on and off-line).

They are looking for an experienced Vice President of Sales to help us as we journey on their Omnichannel growth, and transformation. This role will be a key member of their management team and will be instrumental in both assisting in the strategy development as well as execution. The Vice President of Sales role is instrumental in terms of meeting customer acquisition and revenue growth targets. The role will be responsible for maximizing their sales team potential, crafting sales plans, and selling those plans to senior management.

Objective

New commercial strategy to help implement:

• Their existing traditional account base, both large and small, including distributors,
• Non-traditional, new account development – brick and mortar channel development
• Geographic development – specifically Canada
• Partnering with their Marketing department and executing new product launches in market.
• Partnering with their digital teams and some of their key brick and mortar customers as they develop ecommerce programs related to their products.

This role will ultimately be responsible for developing their sales team and executing all revenue and customer acquisition deliverables within the company’s strategy, so as such will require strong people skills as well. Deeply understand their brand, their buyers, and their end users, and create and test new paths and solutions to reach and engage their customers.

Ultimately, you should be able to plan and deliver an effective sales strategy to achieve their business goals. This is an action oriented/results-oriented role that needs to be focused on deliverables. Tactically execute on the plan: manage, create, and promote sales development activity.

Ideal profile

Our ideal candidate should be able to collaborate with different teams both internally and externally and be able to work within brand message guidelines. As a VP of Sales, you should demonstrate excellent sales management and leadership skills, and have demonstrated experience in developing new business and teams. Experience is preferably in the arts and crafts space, but not required if the candidate possesses significant skills.

Job Description

• Bring together multiple existing pieces into a coherent sales development program
• Work with colleagues internally in the US as well as with international colleagues
• Work well at multiple levels with key accounts and prospective accounts
• Design and implement company sales strategies within budget requirements that expands the company’s customer base and ensure its strong presence
• Build and promote strong, long lasting customer relationships by partnering with them and understanding their needs.
• Present sales, revenue and expenses reports and realistic forecasts to the management teams
• Identify emerging markets and market shifts while being fully aware of new products and competition status.
• Collaborate with internal teams to ensure brand consistency
• Own recruiting, objectives setting, coaching and performance monitoring of sales representatives.

Requirements

• BS Degree in business administration or relevant field
• MS Degree in business administration or relevant field preferred
• Successful previous experience as a sales manager, consistently meeting or exceeding targets
• Demonstrated ability to communicate, present, and influence credibly and effectively at all levels of the organization
• Strong business sense
• Arts and crafts experience preferred, or durable consumer goods experience
• Appreciated previous titles: VP of Sales, Vice President of Sales, General Manager, Country Manager, VP of Business Development