Sales Manager, Commercial

Our goal at Elkay is to inspire everyday – customers, employees…and the employees of tomorrow. We focus on doing the right thing so we can be in business forever. Our values-driven culture emphasizes investing in people and treating them like part of the family. We’re financially-stable and privately-owned with a solid reputation for ethics, integrity, giving back, and providing an engaging, inclusive environment where careers flourish and grow. Our people are proud to work for Elkay.

And the feeling is mutual – because it’s Elkay’s people who really give us our edge. We empower our employees to take the lead in delivering Elkay’s exceptional customer experience. Our commitment to our people and their professional development is a recipe for success that has fueled our growth from a three-person shop in 1920 to one of today’s leading international suppliers of plumbing, water delivery and branded commercial interiors. If you’re ready for a new career challenge where everything you do will make a difference, talk to us about joining the Elkay family.

SALES MANAGER, ELKAY COMMERCIAL SYSTEMS, NORTH AMERICA OPPORTUNITY!

Elkay Commercial Systems, part of Elkay’s highly successful global business footprint, is searching for an energetic, talented, and experienced Sales Manager for our North American foodservice business segment. Elkay, founded in Chicago in 1920, just proudly surpassed the 100-year mark in business and we are headquartered in the NW suburbs of Chicago. Our commercial “back of the house” stainless steel foodservice products can be found in globally known F&B chains that rely upon us to deliver exceptional products, quality, and service to support their brand.    

The position will report to the Director of Sales and can be remote but must make scheduled trips to the Elkay HQ in Downers Grove, Illinois depending on current business opportunities. The successful candidate will have at least 7 years recent and relatable experience capturing new business within commercial foodservice environments. We are experienced and comfortable offering a mix of both manufactured products and sourced products and look to be a single source solution to our growing customer base within the commercial foodservice space.  You will help execute an aggressive sales strategy to gain significant market share within the growing North American market for a variety of beverage, restaurant, and C-store chains using both our domestic and China manufacturing plants as well as:

• Increase sales and market share in new and existing business channels by achieving or exceeding unit volume, sales revenue, and gross margin by offering a mix of manufactured and sourced products
• Develop market sales forecasts by channel and product
• Collaborate with Product Management and Marketing to devise pricing strategies, promotional activities, customer sales programs, and identify accounts within targeted channels
• Develop relationships with industry leaders, customers, and market influencers, build new networks of contacts on behalf of Elkay to stimulate interest in products, provide sales management analysis data, projections, trends, customer needs, and other relevant information as appropriate
• Foster support and collaboration with our China manufacturing team to expand import program
• Able to gain strong working knowledge of our industry-related business practices including collecting and organizing industry information on competitor’s products and services, industry trends and specifications for new product development
• Develop sales growth and market share targets, negotiate and recommend product and channel specific pricing, and develop sales expense budgets to achieve targeted gross margins and product profitability; complete forecasting and budgetingEffectively manage new product launches working closely with internal teams from idea through successful in-market performance
• Develop key market segmentation information, gather and analyze competitor product offering, pricing, and go-to-market strategies. Assist in the development and implementation of company sales and marketing strategies and plans
• Effectively promote Elkay’s overall value contribution to the customer beyond product and price

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required
• Minimum of 7 years within relatable foodservice industry required.
• Understanding of stainless-steel fabrication highly beneficial but not required
• Experience penetrating new markets and direct customer relationships to scale
• Understanding of pricing structure to effectively communicate value to the customer while delivering targeted margin back to the business
• Experience growing and managing a $10mm to $15mm portfolio of customers
• Analytical mindset with the ability to understand margins and its effect on P&L statement.
• Excellent sales and relationship skills essential. Effective communication skills with people at all organizational levels, and the ability to confidently conduct sales presentations a must.
• Must be able to utilize analytical skills and “dig into the data” to help make informed business decisions.
• Proven negotiation skills essential in order to close a deal while balancing the relationship
• Must be self-reliant and able to work independently; must possess high sense of urgency, take initiative, and get the job done.
• Willingness to listen and learn from others within the team (Engineering, Sourcing, Operations, Manufacturing, Customer Service)
• Able to travel 60-75% of time within North America depending on current business needs
• Entrepreneurial spirit to boost sales opportunities
• Excellent communication skills – verbal, e-mail, presentations, group setting
• Excellent grammatical skills
• Must be able to understand and anticipate customer needs while still maximizing value back to the company
• Comfortable with taking business appropriate risks
• Strong influence and leadership skills essential.
• Microsoft Office skills required (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
• Experience with ERP systems highly valuable such as Oracle
• Experience with CRM tools like Salesforce highly beneficial

EOE/M/F/D/V/SO