The Western Key Account Manager (KAM) will play an integral and pro-active role in achieving the Western Canadian Sales Strategy and will work in partnership with the sales leadership to ensure the business stays efficiently on schedule regarding sales targets and budgets. With a sole focus on executing the vision for the large chain accounts within Western Canada, the KAM will be a natural problem-solver who is keen to find a win-win solution for both the company and the accounts. This role will focus on using both analytics and the consulting sales approach to . This role will also focus on regular Key Account head office and store visits to drive the business. Through pro-active leadership and cross-departmental communication, the KAM will keep the company's key account sales activities running smoothly, maintaining or exceeding targeted sales growth goals, and remain within budget for each fiscal year.

Responsibilities

Account Management

In partnership with the National Sales Manager (NSM), the KAM will pro-actively manage the ongoing operations of key account partnerships within Western Canada:

• Lead and maintain regular HQ meeting schedules with key account stakeholders to ensure Petcurean objectives are achieved; pro-actively updating sales leadership and the sales team regarding progress towards key account goals.
• Lead and maintain regular store visit calls to build relationships with all store employees, execute new product training, store resets, displays.

• Understanding both the customer and business needs, plans and executes annual business plan presentations and conducts quarterly business reviews, developing category and brand solutions for each customer that will drive the Petcurean business.

• In collaboration with sales leadership, review and forecast Business Development Fund (BDF) spend opportunities and risk based on planned promo activities and provide analysis on how to maintain budget.
• Create, customize, drive and manage plans, programs, and events within key customers; Implement and communicate all planned monthly promotional activity to key stakeholders at Petcurean including sales leadership, Territory Sales Manager's and Trade Marketing.

• Working closely with Marketing, the KAM will actively contribute to the consumer / trade shows, and key retailer events.
• Maintain technical knowledge by learning about products and trends, reading industry publications and understanding the competitive landscape, establishing personal networks, and maintaining up to date knowledge on all Petcurean products.
• Partner with Trade Marketing to create an annual promo calendar and then roll this out and communicate the promo activities with sales team.
• Manage demand planning and forecasting with internal and external teams to ensure "On-time, in Full" requirements are met and any gaps are communicated.
• Present new products, features and benefits as well as selling concept to key accounts.
• Working diligently to ensure price lists and new item codes are maintained, updated and communicated to the field as needed.
• Resolves customer complaints by investigating problems, developing solutions, and making recommendations to management
• Work closely with Western Distribution Partner

Reporting, Administration & Financial Management

• Maintains tracking against forecast and goals, reviewing performance through post-analysis consumption reports.
• Build and maintains Business Planner to reflect baseline sales and promotion plans.
• Manage incoming debit notes and approval process with Finance department.
• Update shared folders to ensure the necessary data, item numbers and promo activities are available for Sales and Marketing stakeholders
• Communicates market trends, market updates, and competition updates with the National Manager, Strategic Accounts.

Other Duties

Willingness to roll up your sleeves do what is necessary to get the job done and completes other duties as required within the same scope and level.

Skills & Abilities

• Strong analytical skills to develop actionable insights and recommendations that result in profitable volume growth.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite and PowerBI; with proven pivot table experience and analysis capabilities in Excel.
• Strong influence and negotiations skills to drive win-win solutions with persistence and respect. Adept at finding common ground, identifying vital interests, and understanding the customer's underlying priorities.
• Excellent business presentation skills. Experience creating and presenting engaging, professional proposals to both internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to tailor communication to different audiences and to provide clear and concise messaging.
• Strong commercial experience developing and executing strategic customer joint business plans at a Head Office level
• A self-starter who works effectively across functions, channels, and categories to align priorities, solve problems, optimize resources, and drive effective execution.

Qualifications

• More than 5 years combined experience; key account management experience in a manufacturing environment or relevant customer related experience (i.e. pet food industry) is preferred
• Equivalent to a Bachelor's Degree Program in a relevant discipline
• Pet industry experience is desirable

Additional Qualifications

• Must hold an unrestricted driver's license in the Province/State that they will be working.
• Must have a driving record that has no more than three (3) violations in the last five (5) years; no suspensions or prohibitions of any kind in the past five (5) years; and no more than one (1) "at-fault" accident in the past three (3) years.
• Applicants must not have criminal charges or convictions related to their employment position.
• Must have a valid passport-travel to USA trade shows