Business to Business Sales Associate - Ace Hardware
Traverse City, MI 49684
About the Job
Position Summary
The Business to Business (B2B) Sales Associate is responsible for building, growing, and maintaining positive relationships with existing and new business customers to increase sales. The person in this role is the trusted hardware consultant and advisor for local business customers to ensure they have the supplies they need to keep their business running. This is a fast-paced active environment which will require focus, flexibility, and time management skills. In addition to being the main point of contact for business customers, this person is tasked with building B2B into the culture of the store. This entails building excitement and awareness with the staff, ensuring everyone is trained and understands their role in B2B and keep B2B top of mind day to day by sharing success stories and celebrating wins.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
• Create and manage a process of capturing leads inside the store and converting them to business accounts.
• Generate new leads and build relationships, connecting over the phone or through personal visits and in-store workshops and events.
• Reach out to customers over the phone and follow up as needed.
• Research current and potential customers to understand their business and educate them on the value of working with Ace.
• Conduct sales calls (over the phone and/or in person) with current customers, prospect with new customers and follow up on opportunities in a timely manner.
• Use monthly reports to identify and target specific customers who represent opportunity for sales growth based on purchasing patterns and account variances.
• Maintains sales & gross margin and is responsible to maintain discounts and review in accordance with the store business discount policy.
• Validate inventory levels to meet expectations set with business customers.
• Manage the sourcing of product for special orders via vendors, internet research, etc. Determine if the demand warrants adding to store inventory mix.
• Ensure orders are received, maintained in the designated area and customers are notified for pickup/delivery.
• Educate store staff and help them understand their role in B2B. Work with the store manager to train, motivate, and coach store staff.
• Use huddles, communication boards, and store meetings as the means to communicate the store’s performance, and educate, engage, and motivate the team.
• Provide direct support to B2B Sales Representative (outside sales). Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
• High School Diploma or General Education Degree (GED); or, an equivalent combination of education and experience. Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• Sales experience with retail and/or business customers, ability to establish relationships with customers and fellow associates.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills as well as being comfortable talking existing and new customers.
• Develop and maintain client relationships and strategic partnerships.
• Strong organizational and time management skills. Must have excellent attention to detail and follow up.
• Ability to work independently and during flexible hours.
• Comfortable with computers, various applications, technology, the internet. PC skills including knowledge of Excel, Word, PowerPoint & Outlook.
• Standing, walking, and lifting (up to 50 lbs.).
We are your local hardware store and we are a part of your community. Ace Hardware has over 5,000 stores around the world with the majority of those stores independently owned and operated by local entrepreneurs. These hard working men and women are part of the fabric of your community. They are small business owners who are local and loyal...just like it ought to be. While others have become large and impersonal, at Ace, we've remained small and very personal. That's why we say a visit to Ace, is like a visit to your neighbor.
