Job Summary:
The Account Manager is responsible for protecting and growing assigned customer accounts while actively prospecting for new business within the meat and poultry industry. This role focuses on driving large‑volume sales of Kalsec’s product portfolio through consultative, strategic selling and strong relationship management.
Success in this role requires the ability to navigate complex sales environments, engage key decision-makers, and clearly demonstrate value through end‑application presentations, product demonstrations, and solution‑based selling. The account portfolio includes national and global food companies, making this role highly collaborative, analytical, and impact‑driven.
Essential Job Responsibilities:
- Serve as the primary point of contact for assigned accounts and meat and poultry prospects, acting as the trusted advisor and “face” of Kalsec while consistently representing Kalsec’s values.
- Drive sales volume and gross margin growth by developing and executing strategic business plans tailored to each customer. Consistently meet or exceed individual and company sales budgets.
- Collaborate closely with Sales Management and cross‑functional colleagues in both U.S. and international markets to align efforts, share insights, and achieve shared business goals.
- Align assigned geography and account base with national initiatives and campaigns, partnering with internal and external cross‑functional teams to deliver results.
- Maintain and expand customer relationships, while proactively developing new customers and opportunities. Regularly review and analyze contracts, pricing, agreements, revenue, and budget‑to‑actual performance.
- Deliver customized, high‑impact presentations to key accounts, including defining presentation objectives and coordinating internal resources to support successful outcomes.
- Maximize account coverage by leveraging direct customer relationships and expanding networks through introductions and referrals.
- Continuously gather and evaluate market intelligence, including pricing trends, product performance, applications, competitive activity, and economic indicators, and recommend strategies or policy changes as appropriate.
- Develop annual forecasts for assigned accounts and partner with leadership to establish and achieve sales objectives.
- Maintain accurate and timely records of customer activity, projects, contacts, and opportunities within com, ensuring visibility and alignment across stakeholders.
- Build and manage a robust sales pipeline equal to or exceeding assigned revenue targets. Advance opportunities through all stages - from identification and qualification through close - while clearly communicating progress and demand changes internally.
- Coordinate and support customer needs by partnering with internal teams, including technical services, applications, customer experience, regulatory, quality, accounting, operations, and logistics.
- Represent Kalsec at tradeshows, customer meetings, and industry conferences, strengthening brand awareness and industry presence.
- Collaborate with technical, marketing, and product management teams to identify opportunities for new or modified products and support innovation efforts.
- Adhere to and support the company’s Quality Assurance (Q.A.) policies, ensuring all procedures outlined in the quality manual are followed.
Qualifications:
Required
- Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 5 years of experience selling ingredients to the meat industry.
- Proven ability to negotiate effectively and communicate clearly with diverse stakeholders.
- Demonstrated success building relationships across all organizational levels, both internally and externally.
- Home office environment suitable for professional virtual meetings.
- High proficiency with business software, including Teams, Salesforce, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
Desired
- Technical or scientific background.
- Experience selling food ingredients or related products within the meat and poultry processing industries.
- Bilingual capabilities preferred, with an emphasis on Spanish.
Working Conditions:
- Extensive use of Microsoft Office Suite, Salesforce (SFDC), and LinkedIn.
- Greater than 50% travel, including airline and car travel, with periodic weekend travel.
- International travel as needed.
- Territory coverage: Southeastern United States.
- Ability to operate in a home office setting and travel to customer and industry events.
- Ability to lift up to 15 pounds and access various departments or customer facilities as required.