Sales Operations Manager

About Zespri

Zespri is the world’s largest marketer of kiwifruit with over 800  people in New Zealand and throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas.
 

We  help people, communities and the environment thrive through the goodness of kiwifruit. We sit at the heart of an interconnected industry working with 2,800 growers in New Zealand and 1,500 growers in Italy, France, Greece, South Korea and Japan. We supply the world’s healthiest little superfruits to people in more than 50 countries. We are fruit on a mission.
 

Our values are at the heart of everything we do. We commit to guardianship; putting people, the community, and the environment first. We are results-driven, challenging ourselves to grow and deliver better value. We cultivate personal connections, listening and acting with empathy and humility – and treating each other better for it.
 

We are growing quickly, driven by our success in engaging more and more consumers and by offering the world’s best kiwifruit 12 months of the year. We have bold ambitions and aim to grow sales from approximately $3 billion in 2018 to $4.5 billion by 2025.
 

To achieve our goals, we’re empowering our people to achieve their goals, designing our work for wellbeing, through flexible work practices and self-leadership.
 

We have bold ambitions for the future and we want all of our people to live and perform at their best.
 

About The Role

In order to achieve China business ambition, how to leverage T1 resource to cover more than 88 cities and 23K+ stores via RTM evolution (Push model) is our sales priority. In the past 2 years we setup the new RTM model which was proven to be effective and we need strength RTM team to drive the plan and execution. Head of RTM directly report to head of sales will help a lot on ‘Go wider & deeper’, also he will drive Perfect distributor project. He will also support Head of Sales to make fruit allocation, sales T&E planning and tracking, etc.

Accountabilities

Sales Excellence Pillar – SALES STRATEGY (30%)

• Undertake Market Sizing and Geographic prioritization and define region, city priorities and Roles.
• Identify the current Fruit Category & Zespri size in each region/province/geography and work with Head of Sales/ National Sales Manager to establish growth projections for go wider and go deeper cities with key levers (Penetration, Frequency, Spend, Zespri Share), prioritize region/province/geographies and develop high level Roadmap with KPI’s.
• Develop the optimal RTM structure and the balance of DKA & NKA to deliver growth.
• Recommend the optimum Service/Partnership Models, for KA’s and Distributors, to ensure fair value distribution across the value chain and to deliver Zespri’s growth lever targets (Penetration, Frequency, Spend).
• Build capability development programs and rebate structures that will continue to deliver fair outcomes for all parties.
• Support the work on Portfolio & Marketing strategy and work with colleagues to confirm the Financial implications of the Strategy (projection and growth driver analysis).
• Develop a strategic Customer Funds approach that recognizes Customer Funds as a strategic & deliberate investment in meeting consumer/shopper and customer needs & driving growth of Zespri/Partners.
• Drive efficiency/effectiveness in structural and tactical Customer Funds spend over time, focusing on defining the strategy for Structural Customer Funds and deciding on Tactical Customer Funds investment on a season by season basis.

Accountabilities -1

• Manage the deployment of Customer Funds so that they incentivize the right behaviours in our Partners and deliver the quality of distribution and execution that Zespri wants; identify our level of investment in each Channel/Customer.
• Develop a strategic Customer Funds approach that recognizes Customer Funds as a strategic & deliberate investment in meeting consumer/shopper and customer needs & driving growth of Zespri/Partners.
• Drive efficiency/effectiveness in structural and tactical Customer Funds spend over time, focusing on defining the strategy for Structural Customer Funds and deciding on Tactical Customer Funds investment on a season by season basis.
• Manage the deployment of Customer Funds so that they incentivize the right behaviours in our Partners and deliver the quality of distribution and execution that Zespri wants; identify our level of investment in each Channel/Customer.
• Design & manage the Sales Operation Organization to deliver the strategy & seasonal plan/numbers, aligned to the Global Organization Model. Work with Head of Sales to develop the optimum Sales Organization.
• Work with head of sales to develop annual sales capability building plan and training courses, help to track 70/20/10 rule within sales organization
• Identify & coordinate the implementation and maintenance/ improvement of Data and set up Systems/Tools - that are needed to enable the Sales function to analyze, plan and deliver in the most efficient and effective way, including implications of Project Horizon.
• Coordinate Sales Reporting including collation of business intelligence.

Accountabilities -2

Sales Excellence Pillar – INTERNAL BUSINESS PLANNING (20%)

• Develop principles used for the Seasonal allocation of Fruit for the market to optimize value chain sales and margin – by Geography/Channel/Customer. Manage the Fruit Allocation, using these principles at weekly basis.
• Define the PPA and pricing strategy for the season and guide the TMM’s/TMEs on the development of the seasonal plan for Packs and Pricing (Pack/Price Architecture) - to ensure the total Fruit allocation across Geographies/ Channels/Customer is optimized.
• Review on an ongoing basis and work with the team to adjust the PPA as the in-season availability evolves.
• Guide the work of the TMM’s/TMEs in building and maintaining an annual Sales & Marketing Calendar for the market with Marketing, aligning all ATL & BTL activity.
• Coordinate all additional trade activities – conferences, Trade tours, etc.
• Identify the process and tools for analyzing Zespri investments in Customer and Shopper activities (Customer Funds, Marketing Support (Sales) & Sales Promotions) and direct the TMEs in the analysis needed to understand & optimize efficiency for Zespri and our Customers.
• Review recommendations for proposed changes to activities, made by the TMM’s/TMEs and sign off any changes needed to improve the plan for the year.
• Provide input and direction to the TMEs so that they can develop compelling selling materials for Sales teams and Distributor Partners to enable them to sell & negotiate Zespri plans effectively.
• Develop the Zespri Point of Sale materials to drive world class Brand/Pack/ Promotion visibility in stores.

Accountabilities -3

Sales Excellence Pillar – KEY ACCOUNT/ DISTRIBUTOR MANAGEMENT (10%)

• Work with Zespri Account Managers to develop (Internal) KA Business plans – the Zespri plan per customer – to ensure they reflect Category Vision and Shopper Insights.
• For top collaborative Customers only, present the Zespri Category Insights, Vision and Drivers directly to the customer as input to the JBPs.
• Act as an internal consultant to Sales colleagues to ensure customer specific Range, Merchandising & Shopper Marketing programs reflect Category & Shopper thinking and Zespri in-store guidelines.
• Review up to date Market and Category performance data and insights prepared by the TMEs for Key Account teams to support business reviews and identify key messages and implications for onward communication.
• Support the TMEs to address significant customer issues (escalated by the TMEs) by coordinating cross functional decision making needed to deliver the right solutions.

Sales Excellence Pillar – OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE (30%)

• Lead the Demand Forecasting Cycle, to ensure the development of the Sales Forecast in a timely manner for Geography, Channel, Customer - By SKU, as part of the S&OP Process.
• Work with Operations to align the supply plan to meet demand.
• Responsible for the Customer Funds Budget.
• Design and implement the process and tools to evaluate Customer Funds in our Customers to ensure that the right decisions are made to optimize profit.

Accountabilities -4

Sales Excellence Pillar – EXECUTIONAL EXCELLENCE  (10%)

• Set Perfect Store targets for execution of Look of Success & distribution/activation and monitor compliance – by Channel/Customer.
• Lead the selection process for all 3rd Party vendors/agencies (POS, Promoters etc.) and manage the strategic relationships with the agencies, to ensure they are delivering to Zespri standards and expectations
• Supported by the TMEs, monitor the quality of Zespri distribution and activation (assortment, % distribution, merchandising, % space) and provide directional feedback on corrective actions to Sales Teams.

Leadership & Other Activities

• Recruit and manage the right team to deliver company business objectives. Lead, motivate & develop people to produce quality results while fostering a positive work environment.
• Set business and performance objectives for the team; establish a culture that promotes performance excellence.
• Collaborate with in market, regional cross functional teams.
• In charge of business intelligence building and business reporting
• Communicate and maintain the Zespri culture and values internally and externally

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor, MBA is a plus
• 10+ Years’ experience in FMCG Trade Marketing/ Sales Operations. Experience of KA Sales roles and Category Management is a plus.
• Experience in formulating strategy
• Demonstrated ability to manage budgets and problem solve in a cross-functional environment
• Strong leadership skills
• Read, write, speak and listen English well

What's In It For You

• Competitive overall remuneration package, including a Short-Term Incentive scheme opportunity.
• FlexWELL flexible work ethos
• Additional paid annual leave day per year (Zespri Day).
• Additional paid volunteer day to volunteer within your community (Volunteer Time).
• Global Life and Permanent Disability Insurance.
• Group Medical Insurance benefits.

Agency

Zespri will not accept applications or contact from any temporary staffing agency, placement service or professional recruiter for this vacancy (“Agency”).

Where Zespri requires the support of an agency to fulfil a vacancy, we will proactively seek this support from our network of Agencies.  We respectfully ask that you do not contact Zespri or any of its affiliates/employees regarding vacancies, and reserve the right not to reply.

Zespri will not be responsible for, and will not pay, any fees, commissions or other payments related to such unsolicited resumes.