DIRECTOR OF SALES/SALES MANAGER
New Business Development/Sales Force Management/Strategic Account Development
Relationship & Solution Selling/New Product Rollouts/Client Relationship Management (CRM)

Director of Sales -– with more than 20 years of quota-busting experience for organizations ranging from a sole proprietorship to a $1.8 billion corporation.

Sales, sales management and CRM acumen gained over the past 20+ years encompasses:

* Developed and implemented over 40 innovative marketing, merchandising, and sales promotion programs for the successful national launch of 5 new products and 11 line extensions in 5 years.

* Selected by company president to be the sales and marketing leader of the most important new initiative in recent company history. Led the project from concept to launch in just over 6 months. As a result of this effort, the company realized more than $100 million in annual revenue and increased marketing margin by 26% in a 24-month period.

* Recruited, hired, trained, and supervised a staff of 8 highly successful professional outbound telemarketers in a cohesive team built from scratch within a 90-day time span.

Possess a remarkable sales record that includes receiving 12 promotions in 16 years; increasing corporate share of category by 24.6% in one year while growing unit volume 9.8% in a mature market; doubling annual unit sales to 3.2 billion units in a single year; and obtaining 177% of sales quota and 174% of marketing margin quota.

Core competencies: High Standards of Ethics & Integrity; Creating a Shared Sales/Marketing Business Vision; Leadership by Example; Formal Presentation Skills; Identifying Niche Opportunities; Analyzing Market Trends; Building Customer Loyalty; Directing Special Sales Projects & Promotions; Go-To-Market Strategies; Conflict Resolution; and Forming & Leveraging Strategic Alliances.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE & ACCOMPLISHMENTS

DIRECT BUY OF GREENVILLE, Greenville, South Carolina  2005 to Present
(North America’s premier wholesale buying service with 130 locations and $150 million in annual revenue)

Marketing Director – Scope of duties focuses on delivering high impact sales presentations to prospective members in groups ranging from 2-24. Responsible for conducting ongoing follow-up CRM with new members and hiring, training, and supervising an 8-member outbound telemarketing staff.

* Earned a total of 9 Achievement Circle, Success Circle, and Excellence Achievement awards presented monthly by the Vice President of Sales.

* Accomplished and maintained an outstanding 50% sales close rate for all sales presentations made to prospective clients.

* Reduced rescission rate from over 10% to less than 2% of new members (60 days or less) by instituting a written correspondence schedule and satisfaction survey, as well as ongoing email and telephone communications and personal assistance while visiting the showroom.

* Engineered a new scripting and personal quota system that increased the telemarketing team “live sales lead” count by 188% within a 90-day time frame.

RLS CONSULTANTS, LTD., Anderson, South Carolina  2004 to 2005
(Sole proprietorship. Branding & personnel consulting to food/beverage, consumer products, and logistics companies. Also consult to the financial community with expertise in the tobacco products and packaging categories)

Managing General Partner – Primary responsibilities included providing business planning and marketing consulting services to national consumer products companies and offering confidential executive recruitment services, specializing in marketing management, sales management, and logistics management needs.

* Successfully completed 4 consulting projects for the financial community in the areas of packaging, fracture code technology, and contraband tobacco, as well as the tobacco industry Master Settlement Agreement with the National Association of Attorneys General.

* Consulted confidentially with 5 consumer products companies concerning new product introduction focus group analysis, space planning, sales organization incentive programs, and sales promotion consumer incentives. This resulted in 2 new test markets, one new national line extension, and 2 SKUs being withdrawn from consideration with no further client in-market expenditures.

ANDERSON TOBACCO COMPANY, LLC, Pendleton, South Carolina  2003 to 2004
(Startup cigarette manufacturer with $25 million annual sales)

VP, Marketing & Sales – Recruited to assume responsibilities for all marketing and sales functions, including designing and implementing all sales call reporting procedures and associated systems as well as developing sales/budget forecasts, POS, and marketing materials. Directly supervised 4 management personnel charged with conducting key account sales to the wholesale community.

* Effectively handled sell-in, marketing and sales issues for Anderson’s 2 largest customers, accounting for 70% of the company business.

* Developed and implemented a policies and procedures cost saving system for all marketing and sales functions, resulting in an 11% savings in cost per sales call.

* Conceived, directed, and administered a program to recruit, hire, and train a part-time sales organization, thereby saving travel, commissions, and benefit costs associated with a full-time sales force. This allowed for a decrease in the cost of each retail sales call from $79 to $22.

* Collaborated with wholesale direct customers to create and launch localized co-op marketing plans on a market-by-market basis, allowing for rifle-shot approach to local merchandising issues.

LIGGETT GROUP, INC., Fort Worth, Texas  1997 to 2002
($500 million manufacturer of cigarette and tobacco consumer products)

VP, Sales & Marketing – Tasked with managing a 125-member organization, with direct oversight of 4 region directors in multiple locations and 2 training managers, as well as a logistics manager, customer relationship manager, promotions manager, and executive assistant. Directed sales operations, key account management, marketing, merchandising, logistics, and customer service for western U.S. Established headcount and geographical realignments, as well as sales/marketing quota development and attainment.

* Promoted from Region Business Manager to Key Account Manager, then to Director of Sales, and lastly to Vice President of Sales and Marketing over a 3-year period.

* Envisioned, built, and supervised the establishment of a second-to-none sales training function. Identified top-notch sales training personnel, directed creation of the agenda, and nurtured the team to great success (116 sales representatives and their supervisors were rotated through 3 phases of training in a 36-month period).

* Administered redeployment of the field sales organization, resulting in a headcount increase of 100 quality people hired and trained over an 18-month period.

THE AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY, Stamford, Connecticut  1978 to 1996
($1.82 billion international manufacturer of cigarettes and other tobacco consumer products)

Executive Director, Price Value Operations (1991-1996) – Key duties centered on managing marketing, sales promotion, budgets, and forecasting of the $900 million Price/Value brand portfolio for this $1.8 billion company. Directed unit forecasting/budgeting and media planning/execution of comprehensive advertising and promotional campaigns. Oversaw 3 advertising/promotion agencies, 2 business unit directors, 4 product managers, 8 assistant product managers, 4 promotion managers, and 8 merchandising specialists.

* Developed and administered the largest liquid (zero-based) company budgets for sales promotion, merchandising, trade marketing, media, and coupon redemption.

* Selected by president of the company to spearhead the TQM initiative in pursuit of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award.

* Created, controlled, and managed program execution and funding for the company’s premiere incentive program called The President’s Club, which annually honored the “best of the best” field sales representatives.

Prior positions: Senior Director, Sales Promotion, Merchandising & Trade Marketing (1989-1991); Director, Sales Promotion & Merchandising (1988-1989); Manager, Sales Promotion & Merchandising (1987-1988); Sales Promotion Manager (1986-1987); Associate Sales Promotion Manager (1984-1986); Section Sales Manager (1979-1984); District Sales Manager / Sales Representative (1978).

EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Completed 4 years of Bachelor-level coursework in Accounting
University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado

Professional training:
Louis A. Bantle Leadership Institute, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York
Courses:
Crisis Management & Stress Speaking
Co-Branding
Executive Training
Team Leading and Team Building

American Marketing Association, Washington, D.C.
Courses include:
Meaningful Incentive Programs for a Salaried Sales Organization
Total Quality Management
Automated Sales Reporting Systems - Development and Vendor Selection