Director of North American Sales

Our client is a global luxury skincare company that is looking for a new Director of North American sales to oversee their wholesale business. This role will lead both sell-in and sell-through on a national level.

Duties and Responsibilities Include:

1. Drive sales growth, increase market share and meet North American sales targets

• Optimize the execution of North American sales strategy to achieve Sell-In and Sell-Out targets

• Propose sales expansion plans at retailers’ doors across the North American region

• Define and manage the end-to-end customer journey delivered in all retail locations

• Negotiate yearly co-advertising plan per retailer

• Manage and mentor the National and Regional Sales Managers in North America

• Oversee and guide the National and Regional Sales Managers in the strategy and execution of their sell-out acceleration activities

• Hire, train and manage best-in-class Beauty Advisors for retail channels and manage coop agreements when relevant

• Ensure brand merchandising and grooming guidelines are implemented

• Monitor Beauty Advisor KPIs and metrics to ensure high standards of performance and ensure all targets are met

• Oversee retailer inventory levels and purchase orders on a weekly basis

• Track monthly non-sales value items per store

• Partner with operation teams to execute in-store counter development and builds

• Oversee organization of in-store shifts and coordinate salary and commission payments with HR

• Supervise discount and volume negotiations with retailers.

2. Business support functions

• Work closely with the North American Business Development Director to identify opportunities for new store locations

• Represent and advocate retailer needs with internal cross-functional partners in marketing, merchandising, and education

• Oversee execution of retailer assets, merchandising, promotional and launch calendars

• Perform administrative tasks as needed (tracking POs, budget update, etc.)

• Regularly meet with regional managers and local store managers and teams to present seasonal company updates and marketing activities.

• Set up new launches per retailer (New Line Forms and images for .com) to ensure launches are happening on time

3. Reporting & forecasting

• Consolidate regional forecast

• Collect weekly and monthly sell-out sales data per retailer by SKU

• Weekly reporting, including promotional activities and activations

• Track & analyze competitive promotions to establish learnings and better future planning.

• Share a quarterly recap highlighting achievements and areas for improvement

• Analyze and track sell-out trends across retailers, recap quarterly

• Weekly and monthly reporting on sales KPIs, Sell-in and Sell-Out reporting for beauty advisors

• Provide analytics and feedback on existing products and new products from retailers

• Maintain and improve data collection in-store and conduct monthly analysis on customer behaviour, demographics and purchase patterns.

4. Events

• Oversee retailer events together with Trade Marketing, National and Regional Mangers.

• Manage the allocation and prioritization of trade marketing budget across different countries and different retailers

• Manage the coordination/alignment between trade marketing manager and national sales managers

• Lead in-store and head office communications and execution for events

• Locally source key event components as needed and take care of team travel arrangements

• Act as Host for store-level or retailer-level events when needed

• Recommend event strategy based on retailer trends and guidelines

5. Training

• Collaborate with the Regional Sales Managers and the Global Training Executive.

• Host seasonal in-store training for intercell teams (create & translate materials in different languages)

• Report on competitive training programs in the field

• Execute new hire onboardings for store staff

• Recommend digital and print training materials needed, aid in distribution

• Plan and execute semestral team summits Perform other duties as assigned from time to time.

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree

• At least 7 years of experience in retail or sales roles involving working with high-end retailers • Proven track record of success in meeting sell-out targets in the skin care industry

Skills & Requirements:

• Fluent in English. Any additional languages would be a plus

• Must have experience in both sell-in and sell-through

• Must have background working with luxury retailers and department stores such as Neiman Marcus, Saks, Bloomingdales, etc

• Experience managing 30mil + in business

• Entrepreneurial, results-oriented mindset with the ability to spot original opportunities and create strong partnerships

• Creative problem-solving skills, proven ability to analyze and consolidate large volumes of data, develop a fact-based point of view, and communicate it effectively

• Strong organizational skills keen attention to detail, and follow-up skills

• Strong presentation skills with both internal teams as well as external organizations

• Ability to work independently within a rigorous deadline schedule, multitask, and prioritize

• Ability to function, adapt, and be flexible in a fast-paced, rapidly changing environment

• Training experience would be a plus