Customer Specialist - Advantage Solutions

Customer Specialist

As a Customer Specialist, you play a pivotal role in driving our client’s success at our customer’s retail locations. Your primary responsibilities include owning the HQ relationship with key customers. You will work closely with Key Account Managers (“KAMs”) to manage implementation of clients’ strategic annual plans with our customer’s.

In this role, you are the customer expert. You will develop accurate promotional plans and drive successful annual reviews using data and insights. You will drive operational excellence with the customer by ensuring accurate purchase orders, implementation of cost changes and client/customer contract uploads in customer systems. You will work with the customer, face-to-face, in their retail stores, ensuring our clients’ promo activities and strategic sales initiatives are executed.

Job Will Remain Open Until Filled

The Company is one of North America’s leading sales and marketing agencies specializing in outsourced sales, merchandising, category management, and marketing services to manufacturers, suppliers, and producers of food products and consumer packaged goods. The Company services a variety of trade channels including grocery, mass merchandise, specialty, convenience, drug, dollar, club, hardware, consumer electronics, and home centers. We bridge the gap between manufacturers and retailers, providing consumers access to the best products available in the marketplace today.

Supervisory Responsibilities
Direct Reports
- This position does not have supervisory responsibilities for direct reports
Indirect Reports
- Does not have direct reports, but may delegate work of others and provide guidance, direction and mentoring to indirect reports

Essential Responsibility
Revenue Budget Achievement

• Implement budgets (company and client income/expense) by operationalizing all plans in-store thru timely on-ground execution of activities
• Responsible for achieving P&L targets, company/client income and expense budget goals for multiple clients at a customer

Client Key Performance Indicators Achievement (focused on executional excellence)

• Align clients’ strategic sales plans to customer priorities, consumer preferences and client plans
• Conduct data analysis to lead customer presentations using expertise on customer needs and strategy to win for multiple categories
• Implement client strategic annual plans at the customer by driving distribution, pricing, shelving, and promotional volume at assigned set of customers
• Track retail pricing and indirect order guides to critically analyze category performance
• Lead issue resolution in-store to accurately reflect clients plans (planned vs. implemented) and effectively address them by swiftly resolving the identified discrepancies
• Monitor distribution of new products or SKUs for clients at assigned customers and proactively maintain distribution of existing SKUs and products at stores

Customer Relationship Management

• Drive engagement with multiple stakeholders at a customer’s HQ via buyer meetings to understand customer needs; then aligning customer goals with client initiatives to get winning results
• Represent our KAMs and aligned client strategies to various customers, with regular store visits to assess key trends, opportunities, and competitive threats to the client portfolio

Data Systems and Pricing Activities

• Analyzes and consistently monitors customer data reports; actively communicates customer performance metrics vs. forecast targets with respective KAMs
• Drives cross-collaboration among all internal teams (e.g., administrative support functions) to ensure seamless execution on client system changes (e.g., deductions, POs, contracts, etc.)

Minimum Qualifications
Education Level: (Required): Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience
Field of Study/Area of Experience: Product Innovation, Marketing, or related field
3-5+ Years of experience in on-ground/field sales

Required Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Excellent sales data platform and customer systems knowledge
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills
• Strong organizational and interpersonal skills
• PC skills- including a working understanding of spreadsheets (Excel), word processing (MS Word)
• Work experience in applicable field, (i.e., sales and marketing agency, Customer, Client)
• Proven track record in sales helpful

Environmental & Physical Requirements
Office / Sedentary Requirements
Incumbent must be able to perform the essential functions of the job. Work is performed primarily in an office environment. Typically, requires the abilty to sit for extended periods of time (66%+ each day), ability to hear telephone, ability to enter data on a computer and may require the ability to lift up to 10lbs.

Additional Information Regarding Job Duties and Job Descriptions
Job duties include additional responsibilities as assigned by one’s supervisor or other manager related to the position/department. This job description is meant to describe the general nature and level of work being performed; it is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required for the position. The Company reserves the right at any time with or without notice to alter or change job responsibilities, reassign or transfer job positions, or assign additional job responsibilities, subject to applicable law. The Company shall provide reasonable accommodations of known disabilities to enable a qualified applicant or employee to apply for employment, perform the essential functions of the job, or enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment as required by the law.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of associates so classified.

The Company is committed to providing equal opportunity in all employment practices without regard to age, race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, religion, physical or mental disability, or any other category protected by law. As part of this commitment, the Company shall provide reasonable accommodations of known disabilities to enable an applicant or employee to apply for employment, perform the essential functions of the job, or enjoy the benefits and privileges of employment as required by the law.