ABITA BREWING COMPANY IS OFFERING A $500 SIGN ON BONUS

Abita Brewing Company is looking for a full time Regional Sales Manager in the Atlanta, GA market. The Regional Sales Manager is responsible for a significant piece of business that involves three main components: distributor management, people development, and market development/account nurturing.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Distributor Management

• Builds true partnerships at all distributors by adding more value than competitors through the contributions of people, sales systems, brands, brand support tools, and a generally good-natured way of doing business that is uniquely Abita Brewing Company (ABC).
• Conducts monthly business review meetings with senior sales management at all distributors to review progress toward Annual Market Plan and general execution against ABC brand and quality standards. These meetings should include the General Sales Manager, Off-Premise Manager, On-Premise Manager and Draft Manager.
• Prepares and conducts sales presentations several times per year for entire distributor sales force(s) presenting new products, ABC programs, incentives, new sale tools, brand and quality standards, etc.
• Works with key sales people and key distributor managers.
• Coordinates distributor beer and point of sale inventories, billing and credits, all ABC communication needs, and updates ABC distributor profiles.
• Manages distributors spending plans to ensure cost effective spending and that budget parameters are not exceeded.

People Development

• Responsible for overseeing development plans for all people under his/her supervision including personal work objectives, annual reviews and skill development.
• Management focus is to develop direct reports into great sales people and brewery representatives and to provide them with a solid foundation in the working of the beer business and wholesale distribution. Skill days are centered around selling skills, communication style recognition, sales call process, objection handling and closing, beer and brewing descriptions, the history and core values & culture of Abita, understanding what motivates each level of a distributorship, how to run a piece of a distributor meeting, business math, analyzing market trends with IRI, creating incentives that produce results and how to create and deliver effective presentations to distributor sales forces.
• Manages the budgets of all team members.
• Average month should include one full day a week working in the field with each direct report calling on retailers and distributors.

Market Development & Account Nurturing

• Manages the growth and development of ABC brands in a defined geography or universe of key accounts while ensuring the brand integrity is never compromised.
• Builds strong partnerships with all top key accounts on and off-premise (aka “spreads the love” and establishes a win/win approach to growing the retailers business) and performs regular business reviews with the top accounts.
• Ensures that ABC is growing share over top craft competitors in top accounts by ensuring that ABC’s market brand standards are in place in at least 90% of those accounts. This means making ABC the #1 craft beer (at least during ABC focus periods) in terms of distribution, displays & features, and POS impact and amount of retail ad support.
• Responsible for operating within budget parameters
• Works to identify and execute local sponsorships, promotions, events and donation opportunities.
• Responsible for Market Plan Tracker updates, distributor review meetings and follow up letters.
• Know pricing, programming, and trends of ABC products plus general knowledge of what the top five craft and import beer competitors in market are doing.
• Enters accurate, relevant account data into KARMA.

Working Conditions

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job with or without reasonable accommodations.

• Hours may vary if emergencies arise (typical workweek = 45 hours).
• Professional presence is required.
• Occasionally as a requirement of this position, the employee will be required to stand, balance, stoop, crouch, sit, and walk, including substantial movements (motions) of the wrists, hands, and legs; use hands, handle or feel, and reach, push, pull with hands and arms for extended periods of time.
• This position frequently pushes/picks up/carries equipment.

Supervision of Others

This position is responsible for leading, developing and coaching all direct reports.

Education/Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The qualifications listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required to perform this job effectively. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• High school diploma or general education degree (GED).
• Must be at least 21 years of age and eligible to work in the United States.
• Travel required 20-30%.
• Three or more years in beverage sales, preferably in the craft beer industry.
• Must have a solid background in selling skills and account management, beer and brewing knowledge, presentation skills and quality assurance.
• Must have a good working knowledge of distributor operations, how to work with distributors to get results, grassroots brand building and how to identify and analyze market trends.
• Knowledge of computers (Word, Excel, Outlook).
• Exceptional written and verbal communication and organizational skills.
• Must be eager to learn, grow and develop personal knowledge of the industry.
• Love, appreciation and knowledge of beer, including a familiarity with the craft brewing industry and with beer styles.

ABITA BREWING COMPANY IS AN EOE.