On Trade Sales Executive Job in Nairobi, Kenya – Fine Wine and Spirits Distributor

On Trade Sales Executive Job in Nairobi, Kenya – Fine Wine and Spirits Distributor

We are a leading distributor of fine wine and spirits in the country.
We are the critical link between the companies that produce alcoholic beverages and the retail outlets where they are sold, or the restaurants and pubs where they are consumed.
We are looking for an enthusiastic, driven candidate to fill the following position:Position: On Trade Sales Executive

Job Ref.: SWL241246

Industry: Wines & Spirits Distribution

Location: Nairobi

Position Summary: The ideal candidate will be someone to hit the ground running and candidates with existing accounts and contacts are preferred.
As an On Trade Sales Executive or ‘rep’, it would be your job to sell the company’s products.

• You will be responsible for finding and winning new customers, as well as looking after existing customer accounts.
• The incumbent will also be responsible for maximizing the sales of supplier brands to the trade through effective territory planning, selling merchandising, and communicating that permits achievement of company and supplier objectives.Essential Position Results
• Performs functions to obtain sales, secure new business accounts and service the needs of the existing sales accounts with an assigned territory
• Calls on accounts and covers daily routes by creating an established and efficient routing pattern.
• Analyzes entire account base by visiting each account and determining the specific needs of the individual accounts.
• Establishes sales and merchandising objectives relative to brand priority for each account by understanding company priorities.
• Prepares and presents professional sales presentations to customers by combining both the company’s priorities and customers’ needs.
• Obtains appropriate distribution and volume goals of supplier brands throughout account base by presenting and selling based on the brands features and benefits.
• Organizes special events to maximize brand visibility within accounts by promoting specific brands to accounts customer base.
• Communicates with management as to needs of specific accounts by maintaining organized territory and account records.
• Maintains professional relationships with all suppliers by participating in effective supplier work with sales calls.
• Attends and actively participate in sales meetings by asking questions relative to current supplier activities.
• Contributes to team effort by assisting in special projects as needed.
• Maintains customer confidence and protects operations by keeping information confidential.
• Job duties may on occasion include working nights and weekends on promotional activities and other account activities.

Qualification, Knowledge & Skills:

• A minimum of diploma in business management or related courses
• Minimum one (1) year of experience in the food/beverage industry advantageous; adult beverage experience preferred.
• Experience demonstrating strong leadership selling, time management, public speaking skills.
• Experience addressing customer needs a primary focus of one’s actions; experience building positive relationships with customers (translates as both internal and external).
• Experience establishing action plans for oneself and others to ensure tasks and projects are completed on time.
• Strong written, verbal, persuasion and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to organize and prioritize and to meet deadlines.
• Ideal to have a valid driver’s license
• Proficiency in computer use

What Makes a Good Rep?There is no quick and simple answer to this question, but there are certainly a number of important characteristics good sales reps have that separate them from the rest.

Organisational skills

• As well as planning his day, week and month, a good rep keeps accurate records of customer details and keeps his diary filled with appointments and job deadlines.
• Writing down tasks as soon as they come up and coming through with promises to customers are vital to sales success.

Personality

• At the end of the day a rep is continuously interacting with managers, owners and decision makers and therefore must be able to converse with them in a professional yet personable manner.
• Injecting some passion and fun into conversations with customers is a great way to break down barriers and get past their defensive walls.
• Customers who like a rep will buy more from them, simple.

Confidence

• A confident rep breeds success by seeming in control and being able to convince the customer that if the rep’s so confident in the product, the retailer can be too.
• Stuttering and nervous reps make buyers uncomfortable and are easily forgotten.

Relationships

• Long term business is developed through building strong relationships with customers based on trust and mutual reward.
• Good reps have developed powerful working relationships with most of their customers and are careful to keep these relationships strong and fruitful for both parties.

Reliability

• Good reps endear trust from their customers by being reliable, never promising what they can’t deliver and always delivering what they promise.
• Reliable reps get called first when sales opportunities arise; reliable reps also build the strongest relationships.

Horses for courses

• This great phrase describes being flexible, basing all selling activities on the unique characteristics and needs of each customer.
• You don’t have to personally like the customer to sell to him, but if he’s a fanatical football fan, talk about football. If he’s a smarmy wine snob, act like a wine snob too.

Liquors knowledge

• Some wine & spirits knowledge is obviously vital as a rep needs to know his product better than the customer (or at least look like he knows it better)

Salesmanship

• Clearly to be a salesman, the rep needs to have some skills in this area – The process made very simple: identify a customer’s needs, identify the products in your portfolio that satisfy those needs, match the two together in a clear and positive fashion, ask for the sale, follow up to determine success.

Wines & Spirits trade and retail/hospitality experience

• The wines & spirits trade is where distributors and wineries sell their wares and is a complex mix of suppliers and buyers, groups, alliances, contracts and deals.
• Retail/hospitality is where consumers purchase wine, and it has its own unique characteristics.
• Good reps understand the competition, needs, wants, internal and external forces of both the trade and retail/hospitality; this understanding only comes from working within these fields.

How to Apply

Interested and qualified candidates should send their application letter including an up to date CV with 3 referees to brecruited2015@gmail.com (Subject of the email should be POSITION APPLIED + JOB REF.)If you are not interested in this opportunity today, please refer any friend or colleague you know that might suit the required profile.

Please DO NOT apply if you do not meet the requirements of the position.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.Please note that there are no fees charged for receiving or processing job applications.

Canvassing will lead to automatic disqualification.