Job Summary:The Account Manager is responsible for protecting and growing assigned customer accounts while actively prospecting for new business within the meat and poultry industry. This role focuses on driving large-volume sales of Kalsec's product portfolio through consultative, strategic selling and strong relationship management.
Success in this role requires the ability to navigate complex sales environments, engage key decision-makers, and clearly demonstrate value through end-application presentations, product demonstrations, and solution-based selling. The account portfolio includes national and global food companies, making this role highly collaborative, analytical, and impact-driven.
Essential Job Responsibilities:- Serve as the primary point of contact for assigned accounts and meat and poultry prospects, acting as the trusted advisor and "face" of Kalsec while consistently representing Kalsec's values.
- Drive sales volume and gross margin growth by developing and executing strategic business plans tailored to each customer. Consistently meet or exceed individual and company sales budgets.
- Collaborate closely with Sales Management and cross-functional colleagues in both U.S. and international markets to align efforts, share insights, and achieve shared business goals.
- Align assigned geography and account base with national initiatives and campaigns, partnering with internal and external cross-functional teams to deliver results.
- Maintain and expand customer relationships, while proactively developing new customers and opportunities. Regularly review and analyze contracts, pricing, agreements, revenue, and budget-to-actual performance.
- Deliver customized, high-impact presentations to key accounts, including defining presentation objectives and coordinating internal resources to support successful outcomes.
- Maximize account coverage by leveraging direct customer relationships and expanding networks through introductions and referrals.
- Continuously gather and evaluate market intelligence, including pricing trends, product performance, applications, competitive activity, and economic indicators, and recommend strategies or policy changes as appropriate.
- Develop annual forecasts for assigned accounts and partner with leadership to establish and achieve sales objectives.
- Maintain accurate and timely records of customer activity, projects, contacts, and opportunities within com, ensuring visibility and alignment across stakeholders.
- Build and manage a robust sales pipeline equal to or exceeding assigned revenue targets. Advance opportunities through all stages - from identification and qualification through close - while clearly communicating progress and demand changes internally.
- Coordinate and support customer needs by partnering with internal teams, including technical services, applications, customer experience, regulatory, quality, accounting, operations, and logistics.
- Represent Kalsec at tradeshows, customer meetings, and industry conferences, strengthening brand awareness and industry presence.
- Collaborate with technical, marketing, and product management teams to identify opportunities for new or modified products and support innovation efforts.
- Adhere to and support the company's Quality Assurance (Q.A.) policies, ensuring all procedures outlined in the quality manual are followed.
Qualifications:Required
- Bachelor's degree and a minimum of 5 years of experience selling ingredients to the meat industry.
- Proven ability to negotiate effectively and communicate clearly with diverse stakeholders.
- Demonstrated success building relationships across all organizational levels, both internally and externally.
- Home office environment suitable for professional virtual meetings.
- High proficiency with business software, including Teams, Salesforce, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
Desired
- Technical or scientific background.
- Experience selling food ingredients or related products within the meat and poultry processing industries.
- Bilingual capabilities preferred, with an emphasis on Spanish.
Working Conditions: - Extensive use of Microsoft Office Suite, Salesforce (SFDC), and LinkedIn.
- Greater than 50% travel, including airline and car travel, with periodic weekend travel.
- International travel as needed.
- Territory coverage: Southeastern United States.
- Ability to operate in a home office setting and travel to customer and industry events.
- Ability to lift up to 15 pounds and access various departments or customer facilities as required.
