Job Description

Background of the Company Lindt & Sprxc3xbcngli (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd (Lindt SA) started operations in May 2011 and forms part of the Lindt & Sprxc3xbcngli group of companies. With more than 150 employees, Lindt SA is based in Cape Town with strong regional presence in Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth and a network of 15 Lindt retail stores. As global leader in the premium chocolate sector, Lindt & Sprxc3xbcngli looks back on a long-standing tradition of almost 175 years which takes its origins in Zurich, Switzerland. Today, quality chocolate products by Lindt & Sprxc3xbcngli are made at 12 owned production sites in Europe and the USA. The products are distributed by 28 subsidiary companies and branch offices, in around 500 Lindt shops and cafxc3xa9s, and also via a comprehensive network of more than 100 independent distributors around the globe.
Position Purpose Responsible for building, elevating and maintaining strong relationships with key accounts, positioning Lindt as thought leader for Premium chocolate category. Own customer P& L and leverage cross functional team to deliver sustainable profitable customer growth.
Key Responsibilities

• Delivering Lindt growth through customer by delivering Lindt product at the right place, right price
• Understanding, translating and integrating customer strategy into joint business growth drivers
• Good negotiation skills and the ability to foster relationships with customers
• Facilitate communication with customers and build long-term relationships to achieve business goals
• Network with key customers to identify and address specific needs
• Organized and able to analyze performance metrics
• Set, deliver and monitor account growth metrics, including ownership of account forecast & promotional effectiveness
• Playing an integral role in new business pitches and hold responsibility for effective on-boarding of new clients
• Act as the liaison between customers and internal teams ensuring customer requirements are met
• Design and sell plans to customer, integrate customer plan to enable regional sales managers and their teams to increase sales and profitability.
• Identify and attract prospective strategic customers
• Negotiate trade terms contracts
• Maintain high customer ratings as monitored by Advantage monitor group and inline with Lindt standards
• Work with cross functional teams including Field Sales, Accounting & Finance, Marketing/Trade marketing, Supply Chain and Customer Service departments do deliver customer growth objectives
• Deliver new products to market successfully
• Manage and participate in Cross-Functional team targets
• Lead and participate in design and adjustments of business processes

Key Performance Measures

• Sales Growth
• Customer profitability
• Share growth
• Customer Ranking

Key Stakeholders Internal

• Marketing
• Trade Marketing
• Supply Chain
• Business Operations
• Customer Service

External:

• Customer Buying & Commercial team
• Customer Buying leadership team
• Customer cross functional team xe2x80x93 demand planning, accounts & marketing

• Proven work experience as a National account manager of 5+ years
• Experience in key account management, X-functional team management and customer value creation
• Ability to identify new business opportunities & build bottom up
• Understanding industry trends and integrating them into business solutions & strategy
• Demonstrable experience in negotiating and meeting clientxe2x80x99s requirements
• In-depth understanding of sales performance metrics, category metrics and the 4Ps of marketing
• Hands on experience with Full MS Suite
• Excellent story telling through numbers & data
• Excellent analytical and data understanding skills
• Excellence prioritization & planning skills
• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent presentation skills
• Great forecasting skills
• Promotional planning & analysis skills
• Digital & Omnichannel savvy
• Ability to lead and motivate team members
• Availability to travel as needed
• Bachelorxe2x80x99s degree in commercial related field or Business Administration or relevant field experience