National Retail Manager - Consumer
Area: Midrand
Package: negotiable up to R1,0 m p/a
Job Purpose
To identify new business opportunities and manage customer relationships and objectives in order to assist in the achievement and delivery of strategic organisational objectives.
Duties:
• Engage KAMS with regards to customer plans and interrogate previous plans and performance against agreed plans, ensuring comprehensive understanding and alignment to customer strategic objectives
• Ensure comprehensive understanding of customer strategic objectives through interaction with relevant stakeholders
• Manage stakeholder expectations in terms of operational complexities and ensure synergy of operations and strategy
• Provide various operational and strategic proposals in line with the greater business strategy
• Balance customer demands and operational capacity
• Design organisational structures to ensure optimal delivery of customer objectives and understanding of business processes
• Responsible for driving the operational aspects of the business to include sales, logistics/supply chain and warehousing
• Overseeing the day to day management of the Retail Key Accounts Team
• Devising strategies for driving sales growth across the Retail business
• Analyzing existing approaches to the development of business and making changes where appropriate.
• Implementing new business initiatives across the Retail business
• Working closely with members of the team to generate new business
• Identifying sales opportunities as a result of market changes
• Acting as a key contact for large customer accounts
• Form strategic partnerships to leverage existing networks
• Setting tough but achievable revenue targets for the key account managers
• Negotiating sales contracts with customers and ensuring their profitability
• Negotiating price increases, trading terms and product deals
• Maximizing product sales on a national basis.
• Implementing sales strategies
• Ensuring the effective implementation of promotional grids and trading terms
• Nurturing relationships with customers at all levels to encourage sales and customer loyalty
• Performing trade visits to various regions around South Africa on an on-going basis.
• Planning, implementing and monitoring national budgets.
• Working with the marketing team to devise marketing materials and tools to support new business teams
• Monitoring customer satisfaction with existing customers to ensure service delivery
• Be aware and have a sound understanding of competitor analysis and distribution
• Manage the Sales and Merchandising agents
New Business Development
• Source new business opportunities in line with operational capabilities
Grow current business and manage cross selling opportunities
• Negotiate fees to mitigate risks, operational complexities and managing expectations
• Manage the development of contracts in line with business expectations
Effective customer engagement and management
• Actively build, maintain and grow strong relationships with Customers and relevant departments, Customer and internal stakeholders
• Work to align Group and customer objectives with business plans
• Attend regular meetings to update management, review plans and optimise processes including third parties
• Manage expectations of the reality of a synergised business
• Manage effective flow of information
• Maintain contact with customers, indicating minutes and deliverables discussed
• Negotiate and manage the transition of any operational changes
• Develop solutions that have minimal impact or compromise of customers
Achievement of profitability, sustainability and financial targets
• Compile forecasts and budgets and present to the Sales Head for sign-off
• Implement, monitor and manage budgets, providing regular reports the Sales
Head
• Timeously identify variances in budgets and formulate action plans to address based on history of accounts
• Ensure sustainability and growth of profitability
Analyse business and budgets, ensuring sustainability of profits
Implementation and optimisation of business strategies and plans
• Regularly analyse relevant data and conduct gap analyses to determine delivery of strategies and plans
• Interface between customer needs, NKAM needs and Operations, ensuring effective communication at all times
• Develop and implement measures to address problems/gaps
• Manage customer expectations verses delivery by operational teams
• Ensure continual focus on improved delivery/customer relationships
• Ensure compliance of the NKAM team to instituted processes and procedures
• Keep abreast of industry trends and best practice solutions to ensure that plans ensure delivery of expectations
Effective leadership and team management
• Through effective inspirational and practical leadership, facilitate the creation of accountable, full service teams who understand and strive to meet the needs of all customer, customer and group objectives
• Create and encourage a culture focusing on delivery of objectives
Continually inspire, motivate and develop people to understand what is expected of them co-create a team / organisational culture of high accountability)
• Take full responsibility for performance of all direct reports, motivating and managing them in relation to quality standards and agreed benchmarks and objectives, focusing on all aspects of sound people management, such as:
- Performance Management
- Career path planning
- On-the-job training, coaching & mentoring
Effective self-management
• Follow through to ensure that personal quality and productivity standards are consistently and accurately maintained
• Demonstrate consistent application of internal procedures
Plan and prioritise, demonstrating abilities to manage competing demands
• Demonstrate abilities to anticipate and manage change
• Demonstrate flexibility in balancing achievement of own objectives with abilities
to understand and respond to organizational needs

Requirements
• Grade 12
• Minimum ten years’ experience in an FMCG / Retail / Trade Marketing/ Operations environment with a proven track record of managing resources, people and customers
• Strong negotiation skills
• Solid computer skills with particular knowledge in Microsoft (Office Excel, Word, Outlook) products, retail merchandising systems & POS.
• Excellent presentation and communication skills are essential

Core Competencies
• Decisiveness and Action Orientation
• Drive to succeed
• Teamwork
• Planning & organising
• Supportive orientation
• Developing people
• Project Management Skills
• Presentation skills
• Strategic Thinking and Planning
• Cross Functional Capability