Essential Functions:

• Effectively express and service the GFS story.

• Travel through  large geographic, multi-state territory to call on existing and prospective customers to maintain, seek growth opportunities, and increase profitable sales volume.

• Manage customer business relationship including credits, lost business, growth, deployment of GFS resources, and average order size/profitability.

• Utilize and apply customer profitability and pricing models to negotiate customer agreements.

• Oversee or coordinate the demonstration or presentation of products and discuss applications, using samples or marketing materials emphasizing salable features based on price or value to benefit customer’s business operations.

• Create and deliver business plan based on customer needs, goals, and objectives.

• Direct and deliver consultative services such as menu engineering, wait staff and HAACP training. Consult with customers and network resources to fulfill operations and profitability needs.

• Conduct Education Specialist personal results analysis and planning at customer level.

• Receive, discuss, and/or verify order information with customers using appropriate method on a monthly basis to include customer credits to identify and establish sales performance goals.

• Establish credit terms via established parameters and manage the collection of receivables using multiple methods to include electronic, mail and personal pickup of payments.

• Identify competition, customer purchasing patterns, perform customer sales history analysis, and observe and gather data to determine the needs of customer operations.

• Endorse and promote GFS+, GFS Experience, and other technical solutions.

• Develop and oversee customer segment shows and participate in customer events.

• Collaborates with brokers to establish GFS products.

Knowledge / Skills / Abilities:

• Remain current on federal regulations relating to child nutrition.

• Exhibits critical thinking to builds strategic alliances.

• Understands customer predictive profitability models.  

• Plan and execute education events.

• Supports division USDA commodity processes and manage entitlement.

• Share ideas openly and contributes towards a healthy team environment.

• Collaborates with sales and marketing to manage education items.

• Strong time and territory management related organizational skills.

• Understands procurement methods related to the education segment.

• Collaborates and offers direction to the broker-vendor network.

• Detailed working knowledge of Gordon Food Service business applications.

• Plans effectively to achieve key education segment business metrics.

• Team selling with Inside Sales

• Collaboration with Marketing for Product rationalization

• Government Commodities

• Demonstrate a high level working knowledge of GFS tools and technology.