Sales Coordinator

About Us: At the Fresh Factory, we’ve built a platform to accelerate the growth of emerging food and beverage brands. We are vertically integrated from the farm to the shelf and offer services above and beyond traditional manufacturing, becoming a trusted growth partner for leading brands. Our industry-leading benefits package shows our commitment to the safety and well-being of our employees. The Fresh Factory contributes generously to the cost of medical, dental, and vision insurance for our employees and their family members

Position Summary:

The Sales Coordinator is responsible for assisting in the management of and execution of Contract Manufacturing and Private Label customers, processes, and projects.  This position will support the sales team in the development and execution of The Fresh Factory’s strategic sales plan.  This is a corporate position based in Downers Grove, Illinois. 

Essential Duties and Requirements include the following.  Other duties may be assigned.

• Manage the day-to-day activities of assigned customers, working with internal and external teams to support customer and company goals.  This includes utilization of CRM, ERP and Commercialization systems as applicable.
• Prepare weekly production schedule reporting for key accounts and work with customer and internal teams as needed to accommodate changes.
• Process customer complaints through the internal system and monitor QA department for response and return CAPAs to customers in a timely.
• Work with customers, external vendors, and internal partners to coordinate customer label development and approvals.
• Maintain reporting and review of all vendor-managed inventory programs.  Monitor customer forecasts, lead times, product expirations and work with customer and internal teams to resolve issues and remove risks for obsolete products.
• Work with customer service, scheduling, production, and customers on blanket orders and timing of delivery of products as needed.
• Attend and host customer trials and first productions as required at production facilities.
• Maintain customer price lists and work with finance to maintain the accuracy of pricing within ERP and all external documents.
• Work with all new customers to complete onboarding documentation and complete all new customer setup items within the ERP
• Process all customer workflows as needed within ERP

 Manage and review customer contracts to maintain accurate information on dates and requirements

• Support the Sales team in the acquisition of new accounts
• Lead customer change request process, documenting all change requests; leading meetings to advise and assign responsibility for relevant changes to individual departments, following up to ensure completion, and documenting completion to the customer.
• Participate and/or lead weekly customer meetings as assigned, maintain project trackers as needed, and follow up with cross-functional department action items to assign tasks, monitor through completion, and advise the customer of the same. 
• Request customer forecasts and enter forecasts into S&OP and ERP systems.  Prepare trend reports and forecasts vs actual reports for analysis by the sales team for action and forecast adjustments.
• Monitor orders vs forecast and touch base with the sales team and/or customers as needed to determine reasons for gaps and alleviate any potential issues.
• Process and follow up on any monthly customer service billing from external vendors.
• Attend customer meetings on occasion to provide support and detailed information to internal teams
• Handle AR follow-ups with customers regarding past-due invoices and deductions/short payments.
• Generate and submit customer-required reports, usually weekly or monthly.
• Participate in trade show planning and attend shows as required.
• Provide guidance to Scheduling on production quantities, swaps, priorities, review of aging inventories, and provide action items for the same.
• Develop/maintain close working relationships with Finance, Customer Service, R&D / Commercialization, Quality, Supply Chain, and Operations.
• Conduct all business transactions in a manner that upholds the high ethical standards of the Company.
• Assumes additional related responsibilities as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This position has dotted-line responsibilities, but no direct reports.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.  Must be a team player.

Education and/or Experience

Required:  Bachelor’s degree plus a minimum of two years of related sales experience in the consumer-packaged goods industry.  An excellent administrative ability to develop reports, presentations, and spreadsheets

Other Skills and Knowledge:

• Ability to maintain confidentiality
• Proficiency with word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet programs, internal/external portals
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Sales aptitude skill-set
• Able to work with minimal supervision
• Capable of prioritizing workload
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to delegate and multitask
• Strong, general reasoning and analytical skills
• Basic math and accounting
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy

Work Environment

Works individually and must be a self-starter able to work with minimal supervision.  Good business judgment and flexibility will be required to keep up with the constantly changing needs of customers (internal and external).  This requires minimal travel (< 10%).  Will need excellent administrative and communicative skills to keep projects on track at the office or when traveling.  This position requires occasional weekend work and regular workdays in excess of eight hours per day.  Occasional lifting, bending, and carrying will be required due to shows and sample transport.  The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions