District Sales Manager - San Francisco, Central Coast, Santa Barbara

Salary: $70,000 to $80,000 annually (plus mileage)

Area: San Francisco, Central Coast, Santa Barbara

Summary: The District Sales Manager oversees the sales and merchandising efforts at customer stores over an assigned district through placement of products, promotional selling, and effectively displaying merchandise.  The District Manager is responsible for monitoring and enforcing adherence by DPI employees to DPI’s policies and procedures. The District Manager must also model and project a positive image of DPI to its customers.   The District Manager must be available for intra- and interstate travel depending on geographic location with overnight travel as needed.  The District Manager works both independently and collaboratively with team members, coworkers, customers’ employees and vendors, and must be able to adapt to widely varying daily activities to meet the needs of DPI, coworkers, customers and their employees and vendors.  The District Manager must also apply effective time management skills and exercise the ability to manage individuals over a large geographic area.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Manage employees involved in product placement, promotional selling, and merchandising displays, including Merchandisers, Reset Specialists, Field Sales Associates and Vacation Relief Associates.
• Respond promptly to calls from sales and merchandising personnel.
• Monitor e-mail and voice mail for instructions, updates on schedules, change requests from customers or other information from customers or DPI, and establish and carry out appropriate responses.
• Review and audit employees’ inventories, orders, customer credits and other paperwork for accuracy and complete documentation, conduct store walk-throughs and complete associated documentation.  Address deficiencies with employees and implement corrective measures.
• Provide relief coverage for merchandising product for display and placement in a way that attracts sales at customer stores and secondary and perimeter locations.
• Provide relief reset coverage to maintain quality and quantity of products on shelves by rotating products, checking code dates to ensure freshness and replenish product with back stock when needed. 
• Provide relief coverage to maintain fixture cleanliness to enhance sales as needed.
• Provide relief coverage in creating and transmitting customer credits for spoiled and/or returned goods as needed.
• Analyze sales spoils returns by reviewing documentation from Field Sales Associates and calculating percentages of spoils against sales, identify opportunities/strategies for improvement and create action plans to implement those strategies.
• Provide relief coverage to create and transmit orders for product replenishment and other corresponding paperwork accurately and timely manner to meet DPI’s order deadlines.
• Confirm accuracy of order transmissions.
• Research and investigate product discrepancies and/or deliveries.
• Transfer product from back stock  as needed to meet customer requirements.
• Communicate with customers, sales and merchandising employees, warehouse personnel and customer service regarding product discrepancies and/or customer issues.
• Plan and carry out daily schedules according to assigned customer locations.  Travel throughout assigned territory, manage timelines to ensure completion of assigned customer and DPI requirements, and respond to fluctuations in workload to deliver quality customer service according to DPI standards.
• Conduct employment interviews, engage in employee performance evaluations, review and sign off on time card submissions and employee expense reports, assign and implement disciplinary actions for assigned personnel.
• Operate office- and field-related electronic equipment for communications and transmission of orders and credits, verify orders from sales force in DPI system, review commission reports
• Organize, conduct and attend DPI and customer meetings, participate in conference calls, and interact with customers and vendors.
• Complete route analyses, modify routes and work with DPI transportation department to implement changes and communicate assigned changes to impacted personnel.
• Operate motor vehicle to travel to customer locations.
• Schedule, conduct and attend trainings and meetings as required to meet customer and DPI standards.
• Ensure attendance of employees at required trainings and meetings.
• Attend store inventories to verify accuracy of product counts performed by inventory crews, requesting corrections as needed.   Report and present results of findings to DPI Director of Sales Services.

Other Duties and Responsibilities:

• Maintain clean work environment, which may include picking up trash or cleaning spills.
• Deliver training or conduct meetings in accordance with DPI guidelines.
• Other duties may be assigned to fulfill DPI’s objectives.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities: The employee must be proficient in written and spoken English and possess basic math skills.  The employee must have a high school diploma or equivalent, and a college degree is preferred.  Basic skill in Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Outlook and Power Point) is required.   A minimum of five years’ experience in DPI operations or a related sales field (grocery preferred) is required.   The employee must have a valid driver’s license, maintain a driving record that meets DPI’s standards and insurance eligibility requirements for excess liability.  The employee must have reliable transportation, and if using a personal vehicle must maintain automobile liability coverage adequate to meet the financial responsibility laws of the state(s) in which the employee operates.

Work Environment: The work environment is indoors. The employee may be exposed to variable temperatures from the three different product climates (dry, cold, freezer).  The employee is also exposed to temperature variation during travel throughout assigned geographical territory. The floors are concrete in the staging area; vinyl floor covering is typical when working the aisles at a customer site. There may be exposure to exhaust fumes from idling trucks when working in the staging area in colder weather conditions.

Work Hours: The work schedule is 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, or 4 days a week, 10 hours a day.  Start times vary.  Work hours and shifts are subject to change depending on operating business conditions and needs.  The employee may be required to work overtime, holidays or weekends, and is on-call to fill in when other employees are unable to work.

Physical and Mental Demands: Medium, exerting 20 to 50 pounds of force is exerted occasionally, and/or 10 to 20 pounds of force frequently, to move objects, product, and displays.  This job also requires frequent standing and walking.  The employee must know and follow proper safety protocols, DPI grooming, hygiene and dress code requirements.  The employee must have good time management skills in order to assist with multiple customer accounts in a timely fashion, know the assigned customer requirements, DPI and customer policies and procedures. The employee must also must understand, retain, and apply product knowledge to drive DPI sales. Application of basic mathematic functions and writing skills are needed to create orders, reconcile deliveries, and maintain inventory. Understand and apply supervisory and managerial principles to achieve DPI’s objectives.

Supervisory Responsibilities: The District Manager oversees the job duties and activities of the following positions: Sales Associate -Field, Vacation Relief Associate, Reset Specialist, and the Merchandiser.