Job Description

This is a professional sales position responsible for growing new business within the fresh produce category, with the expectation of achieving assigned business goals while enhancing the customer experience. This will be accomplished through maintaining industry and category specific certification status and direct selling of the category to customers. Specialists will prioritize time, targets, and team selling efforts based on market insights and data analytics.

** Specialist position will support both the Lincoln and Kansas City sites and will require travel throughout the region. The role includes approximately six overnight stays per month, based on territory and business needs.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute targeted produce sales strategies to achieve region and individual annual business goals, delivering profitable sales growth and penetration across the fresh produce category, specialty segments, and Sysco brand.
• Identify the needs of customers and prospects to assemble a product mix that delivers solutions and helps achieve business objectives.
• Utilize data analytics to prioritize produce opportunities.
• Actively seek, qualify, and support top prospect conversion to Sysco.
• Be informed of market conditions, product innovations, and competitors' products, prices, and sales; share information with customers as part of value-added services provided.
• Track activities and results, collaborate on opportunities, and champion the team selling process through use of Salesforce (Sysco’s CRM tool).
• Leverage sampling in a solutions-oriented manner to close sales.
• Provide feedback to specialty companies and merchandising on product quality, product integrity, product mix, customer satisfaction, perceived value and competition.
• Develop and maintain relationships with customers, chefs and sales team members.
• Support execution of prioritized sales strategies through direct selling and engagement of customers and prospects at Sysco events (e.g. food shows, industry events).

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education/Experience:

• Minimum: High School Diploma or GED and 3+ years of sales experience within a retail, broker, wholesale or distribution environment (deep technical expertise of produce categories).
• Preferred: Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent educational level.

Knowledge & Skills:

• Proficiency in produce knowledge and trends required.
• (Internal Certification & External Certification may be required).
• Analytical problem-solving skills, including familiarity with analyzing reports and deriving insights from data.
• Ability to express information in terms of profit and loss, food cost and expense ratio.
• Strong financial acumen and ability to properly plan and execute business plans.
• Flexible; readily accepts change; open to new ideas.
• Track record of success in the area of consultative selling, networking and negotiations.
• Proficient communication and interpersonal skills and ability to work with and influence a variety of key stakeholders.
• Experience building trust with prospective customers and securing new business.
• Strong business and restaurant operations acumen to manage sophisticated customers.
• Ability to learn the use of proprietary CRM tools for planning and forecasting sales growth.
• Proficient in Microsoft Applications Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook).
• Proactive and self-directed, with the ability to structure a weekly schedule to be successful.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver against deadlines and produce high-quality results (accuracy, thoroughness in the deliverables they are producing).
• Excellent organizational and project management skills, including the ability to execute multiple initiatives at the same time.
• Understanding of marketing principles, product lines, ordering procedures and Sysco’s credit terms.

Sysco is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home. Its family of products also includes equipment and supplies for the foodservice and hospitality industries. With more than 58,000 associates, the company operates 343 distribution facilities worldwide and serves more than 650,000 customer locations. For fiscal 2021 that ended July 3, 2021, the company generated sales of more than $51 billion. Information about our CSR program, including Sysco’s 2020 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, can be found at sysco.com/csr2020reportSysco is proud to be recognized by Newsweek as America's Most Responsible Companies for 2021!

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