Manager for Sales and Business Development

TITLE: Manager for Sales and Business Development

ABOUT:

acknowledge. is a farm and an ethos. Our hemp farm is rooted in regenerative practices for the land, people and industry. As a woman-led, East Coast company, our goal is to support the body as an ecosystem in the same way as our land. Our regenerative organic farm is situated in Maryland’s Pleasant Valley, approx. 1 hour from Washington, DC & Baltimore, MD. To learn more about our farm and brand, please visit our website: Acknowledge Farms.

PURPOSE:

The Manager for Sales and Business Development will have primary responsibility for identifying and building retail sales accounts for the acknowledge. brand, focusing initially on the DMV and mid-Atlantic region. Responsibilities include identifying and securing retail accounts and evaluating the performance of these accounts over time; preparing concise sales reports, and building great relationships with key accounts, sales representatives, independent accounts, and distributors. You will also be responsible for creating in-store demos, merchandising, local field marketing events, and display building. The ideal candidate will have a competitive drive and will be focused on winning at the point of purchase. This role will be accountable for building business across multiple categories, growing existing sales and gaining new distribution through strategic partnership through e-commerce and retailer partners. In this role, you will have the opportunity to inform and help develop top line strategy, generate profitable growth and foster strategic long-term relationships with key decision makers.

Responsibilities & Tasks

Lead sales strategy and execution

• Own 60-80 retail accounts and visit at least 20 biweekly
• Identify and grow additional retail outlets and opportunities to expand accounts
• Develop and execute strategies for increasing sales at individual retail outlets in support of broader sales goals and targets
• Review and adjust the influential accounts monthly, due to promotional schedules, new product launch, new retailer launch and seasonal selling patterns
• Manage and execute the sales tactics and initiatives in accordance with our sales goals and budget
• Responsible for winning at the account level and driving velocities to the best of your ability
• Maintain clear communication with part-time salespersons and/or brand managers to cover goals and responsibilities
• Acts as key point of contact for all retail buyer relationships
• Educate retail buyers on acknowledge products, including coordinating and providing farm tours and marketing collateral
• Provide customer-oriented responsiveness pre- and post-sales to increase customer satisfaction, leverage relationships, and increase in store sales volume.
• Leverage our CRM to keep track of activity, deals, and reporting
• Recommend & attend key conferences and events for networking and brand development
• Support the successful delivery of initiatives and releases in the eCommerce space based on learned retail data
• Coordinates with operations and fulfillment teams on production capacity and inventory management• Responsive to emails, phone calls, and meetings to grow sales and support buyers
• Participate on weekly team calls, and additional sales calls

Supports business development strategy and product mix across the broader leadership and marketing team

• Provide insights and field data to inform marketing strategies and budgets.
• Respond to and coordinate with marketing consultants, agencies, and contractors to execute the marketing strategy as needed
• Ability to prioritize and manage several tasks at one time
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal

Strengths & Experience

The right fit for the role is...

• A relationship builder: can create great rapport with buyers and understand their pain points; comes prepared and knowledgeable; can anticipate questions; can facilitate the sale
• Analytical: can create a hypothesis, test and measure the results, and understand how to iterate; quantitatively driven; focused on customer metrics and our business metrics; able to build mini-business cases around their proposals and recommendations
• Results-oriented: can set a goal and achieve it; can self-start and figure out “the how;” takes action without permission; can make decisions autonomously; able to change the course to get to the outcome
• Ready to do the work: ready to roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty, and run our ground game• Sustainability-driven: believes in and cares about sustainable, regenerative agriculture

Ideal Experience

• Previous experience representing a consumer brand selling to retail buyers
• Ideally in health, wellness or beauty space—hemp/CBD/cannabis experience a plus
• Ideally has an existing retail buyer network in the Washington DC, Virginia, and Maryland region

Salary & Benefits

WHAT acknowledge. OFFERS YOU:

• Competitive Salary
• Semi-monthly Incentive Payouts
• Recognition Incentives• Medical
• Generous / Flexible PTO leave structure• Remote work
• Mileage Reimbursement
• Positive and supportive team environment
• Employee Discount
• Paid holidays
• Training and education
• Front seat in one of the fastest growing industries and opportunity to be part of the founding team

BASE SALARY: $50-$70k, depending on experience.
COMMISSION ESTIMATE: potential for $40-$60k in bonus based on success

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