Sr Customer Business Manager - Meijer & HEB ID-11159
About the position
At Horizon Organic, we're growing a culture of passionate people driven to do good for the horizon we all share. We're building the tomorrow we want to see. Every single day. Joining our team means being part of a dynamic environment where your skills are valued, and your contributions make a real difference. We offer diverse opportunities for career growth and development. Embark on a rewarding journey with us in shaping the future of organic dairy! Two generations of families—and counting—have grown up on Horizon Organic® milk. From the start, as the leading organic milk producer in the U.S., Horizon has been committed to delivering innovative, nourishing dairy that growing families can rely on. In 2023, Horizon Organic became a brand of Platinum Equity. Today, Horizon works with more than 500 farmers across the U.S. to bring high-quality, certified organic milk to consumers. We are currently looking to hire a Senior Customer Business Manager, Meijer & HEB! This role will drive sales strategies to grow premium dairy business at Mejier & HEB and be the key touchpoint with customers - sharing and selling the premium dairy products to retailers. The manager will understand customer business needs and build short and long-term strategies that support those customer goals while achieving company sales targets and financial expectations. In addition, the manager will execute company plan at the customer level - building customer/category plans and lead and coordinate cross-functional company efforts with customers (e.g., bring in category, shopper marketing, customer service, etc.) in order to accomplish customer plan. The role can be hybrid or remote with a preference to be based in: Broomfield, CO, San Antonio, TX, or Grand Rapids, MI.
Responsibilities
- Build and execute the customer plan to grow the business.
- Coordinate selling process for the given customer for customer/channel/category to deliver net sales targets.
- Gain a deep understanding of customer needs and priorities (e.g., their KPIs, business/category goals, etc.).
- Develop sales/account plans to meet customer objectives while operating within Premium Dairy initiatives and guidelines (e.g., customized SKUs, operational targets, etc.).
- Look for opportunities to gain distribution on new products and improve product exposure (shelf positioning, advertising, and promotions) - including monitoring what competitors are doing.
- Negotiate with customer headquarters/category buyers on pricing, new items, and promotions.
- Collaborate with customer and internal teams on joint business plans.
- Leverage internal resources (category management, customer planning, shopper marketing, etc.) to drive success at customer.
- Build and maintain relationships with key customer personnel.
- Develop calendar for customer-touchpoints - define who needs to be involved at each meeting, purpose for each interaction, etc. (top-to-tops, market visits, etc.).
- Coordinate top-to-tops and bring in sales leadership when necessary.
- Engage cross-functional experts with customers as needed (e.g., category deep-dives, latest shopper marketing, etc.).
- Prepare for and conduct scheduled customer business reviews.
- Execute annual calendar visits at customer with internal and external leadership.
- Manage the development and delivery for all customer presentations.
- Represent the Premium Dairy business during annual tradeshows and conferences attended by customer.
- Manage the customer P&L - have very clear sense of the financial targets to hit with the customer - growth rates, trade rates, etc.
- Manage trade spending, promotional programs, spending across the brands to reach targets.
- Manage total customer spending, deduction management and pre-pays.
- Provide key inputs for demand planning - own the bottom-up forecast, provide key input into the bottom-up forecast for the S&OP process.
- Track account-level performance and adjust behaviors to hit targets.
- Perform account administration, including finalizing customer contracts and requests for trade funding (beyond plan).
- Ensure accurate and timely submission of customer promotional contracts.
- Input expected trade/shopper spend (total customer plan) for each promo.
- Help define what success looks like in the store in coordination with the sales leader.
- Be accountable for delivering on in-store success (retail KPIs).
- Regularly walk stores to flag and fix issues when needed.
- Communicate customer needs to internal stakeholders.
- Lead cross functional team communication (supply chain, customer service, shopper marketing, etc.) related to promotion, merchandising, and distribution.
- Manage internal updates related to planning system, merchandising calendar, and distribution.
- Provide category thought leadership and insights from customers to drive both category growth and business.
- Communicate emerging market needs and requirements for product development.
