Retail Customer Account Lead - Birmingham, AL

OVERVIEW
The NAR (North American Retail) Regional Grocery Team is seeking a Customer Account Lead II (CAL II) who will be responsible for the General Mills (GMI) portfolio for Mitchell Grocery, Piggly Wiggly Alabama, and Associated Grocers Birmingham. As a CAL II, your primary focus is to understand your customer needs and link them to GMI's product and service strategies. You will be responsible for driving incremental growth by establishing business relationships across these three customers based out of Birmingham, Alabama.

In this role, you will be the key point of contact for your customers and will own everything from strategy to execution. You will directly manage 1 employee and will receive system and administrative support to focus your time with your customers.

Based on the need to build strong customer relationships, we are seeking candidates who are willing to commit 3+ years to this role. Strong candidates will demonstrate adaptability and flexibility to work with customers evolving their go-to-market strategy in a changing retail environment. You'll have the autonomy and independence to manage the operation and to develop and execute key strategies designed to achieve annual RNS, SPC and competitiveness metrics.

The preferred location for this role is Birmingham, AL.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

SELLING EXPERTISE & LEADERSHIP
* Cultivate customer relationships with high-level decision makers and influencers
* Leverage established GMI Sales processes to establish objectives, engage the customer, explore customer interests, explain solutions, and execute commitments
* Drive incremental results by leveraging the varied strategies and capabilities
* Gain new product acceptance and merchandising levels in alignment with selling goals

INFLUENTIAL LEADERSHIP
* Achieve sales volume and spend per case targets by creating, influencing, negotiating, and executing customer plans
* Leverage superior executive-level relationships to drive differential performance for GMI.
* Collaborate with internal teams to develop promotional offers that reflect national trade strategies and optimize GMI resources.

EXECUTIONAL EXCELLENCE
* Develop and execute a winning strategy that drives sales and delivers profitable growth
* Takes personal accountability and ownership for results, deeply understands consumers, delivers market leading innovation and prioritizes what's important
* Meet annual sales targets by leveraging GMI trade strategy and maintaining accurate planning and spending information in the trade planning system

PROBLEM SOLVING & ANALYTICS
* Utilizes trade analytics to adapt merchandising plans to drive increased volume and efficiency
* Leverages national category management selling stories to drive GMI growth and distribution
* Understand and leverage category management principles to influence share of shelving and display

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

* Bachelor's Degree required
* 2+ years account management experience in sales, trade funding, category management, or other relevant experience
* Successful demonstration of analytical skills and experience aggregating internal and external data sources (e.g., Nielsen, CPM, sales data) of information to build an influential selling story
* Experience communicating complex and/or detailed information to multiple individuals/audiences with differing knowledge levels, both in writing and verbally
* Must be proficient in software packages (Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint) & internal systems (Trade Planning)

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

International relocation or international remote working arrangements (outside of the US) will not be considered.