Fonterra

About the role

Reporting to the National Sales Manager, the Sales Manager (Foodservice) will lead monthly business planning meetings with distributors, focusing on key areas such as sales performance, market coverage, call planning, distribution, and service levels. The objective is to continuously enhance the effectiveness and capability of distributor sales teams.

This role requires close collaboration with distributors to drive execution excellence in distribution and effectively navigate an increasingly competitive and challenging market environment. The focus will be on delivering innovative solutions for both front-of-house and back-of-house operations to achieve strategic, profitable, and sustainable business growth.

Key Accountabilities

• Oversee sales performance and delivery through appointed distributors.
• Manage trade spend allocations provided by the National Sales Manager or Trade Marketing, ensuring strict adherence to approved budgets.
• Identify and pursue opportunities to increase dairy category share of wallet by driving higher consumption, greater frequency, premium product uptake, and attracting new users.
• Ensure all company promotional activities are effectively communicated and implemented by secondary sales teams.
• Ensure trade receivables are managed in alignment with finance policies and maintain full compliance with financial standards.
• Oversee key account management for strategic accounts to strengthen partnerships and drive growth.
• Develop and review short- and long-term sales strategies, implement trade promotions, and monitor execution effectiveness to maximise impact.
• Set sales and distribution targets in consultation with the National Sales Manager to achieve business objectives.
• Ensure strict adherence to agreed journey plans for distributor field sales teams to optimise market coverage.
• Drive effective implementation of solution-selling guidelines and standards across all channels.
• Conduct distribution audits during market visits, discuss findings with distributors, and initiate corrective actions where necessary.
• Continuously evaluate distributor performance using agreed scorecards and formulate alternative strategies or solutions for underperforming partners.
• Monitor competitive activities, provide detailed reports, and recommend countermeasures to maintain market position.
• Ensure submission of bottom-up sales forecasts by SKU, by distributor, and by key account at least four months in advance, meeting IBP targets.

Critical Skills & Experience:

• Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant discipline such as Business, Sales or Marketing
• Master’s Degree or higher in Business Administration or related field will be advantageous.
• Minimum of 5 to 8 years of experience in sales, distribution management, or related commercial roles within FMCG, ideally with exposure to foodservice operations and strategic account management.
• Solid understanding of market dynamics and distribution channels.
• Strong capability in planning and forecasting to support sales and distribution objectives.
• Proven experience in managing sales force effectiveness and distributor relationships.
• Expertise in key customer management alongside distributor management.
• Ability to design and implement trade promotions and evaluate execution effectiveness.
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills to identify growth opportunities and optimise resources.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills to influence and collaborate across multiple levels.
• Ability to thrive in a competitive and challenging market environment, delivering sustainable and profitable growth.