Winfield Land O' Lakes Work Values

Daily Duties at Winfield Land O' Lakes:

Sales Manager: Propsect, interview and hire sales people to start this business in the Great lakes region. Work closely with/mentor the sales reps hired. responsible for P&L, vendor relations/promotions. setting up entire infrastructure for this business in the GLR. Hired to start a brand new business division for Winfield in the Great lakes Region, MI, OH, IN, KY and WI. I was supposed to do the following when I was hired: Hire professional sales reps from leads from outside recruiters or our internal recruiting department, help set up warehousing, help develop product stocking levels (inventory control), help develop sales programs for reps to use, train reps on Winfield insights and solutions, mentor sales reps on sales techniques, Help with the transition to Winfield culture of new sales reps, responsible for Great Lakes P&L, research and develop sales territories for expansion in regions. Work with HR to grade sales people’s performance and development their skill sets. Work closely with sales reps including riding with them and meeting their customers. Help to assure that Winfield meets or exceeds the customers needs and expectations that Winfield believed are out there. Work with others internal folks to get warehouse set up for business and products stocked in inventory so we begin delivering to customers. I was supposed to work with marketing on promotions and product selling costs and product mix. I was supposed to be able to bring an assistant that could help coordinate the 3 warehosues we had to train about the professional products business so they can meet customers expectations on product delivery. I was suppsoed to have a small sales territory until our I could hire enough new sales professionals to fill all the open territories. Real Duties Had a sales territory so did all the things above in the sales rep description, plus managers job, which actully had the following steps to it. I had to ride with sales reps to help mentor them, which means go on sales calls to customers. I would let the rep present whatever they had planned to talk about. I would critique them by taking notes or mental notes to write down later. We would then discuss the call on the drive to the next stop. I ahd to get to know the main big customers of each of my reps so if they ever left or went on vacation i would be able to step in until a replacement was hired. I had to set a sales budget goals for each rep as well as region sales budget for the GLR. The budget is for all sales and expenses plus capital outlay for the follwoing year as well as 3 years out. I am responsible for P&L of the region, including meeting goals set by corporate. I had to keep the region within the budget on expenses as well as sales goals. For all accounts we had to get them set up in the comouter begfore we could ship any product to them. No one in the company knew how tro set up an account in Unity. I Had to find out myself how to set up a new account, as well as get all of the sales reps acocunts into the computer. I had to figure out how to get selling prices on a price list which i was able to do. I had to figure out how to order product for the warehouse inventory as no one knew how to do this. We were the FIRST group of sales reps ever hired and acquired through acquisition. We had no way to process orders to turn them into orders in the computer so they could be shipped. Helped to work that process out. The main thing holding all that up was getting the inventory into the correct warehouse. I picked the products and quantities that we would stock in the 3 warehouses. At the same time I set up a inventory minimum reorder goal to make it easier for the warehouse people to handle the inventory control for an industry they ahve no knowledge of. I had to hold internal customer meetings to train our people in each warehosue about the professioanl products business and products we sell. I ahd to help them understand the customer expectations for customers service such as delivery expectations and delivery equipment needs. I had each rep fill out a customer profile so the warehosue delivery manager has this info at his finger tips. I had to develop the company customer service protocolfor the Great Lakes Region such as processing orders from taking the order from the customer to making sure the warehouse delivers the product in a timely manner to the customer. We had no delviery equipment and there was no one in the company that knew what we needed. I had to research delivery trucks and equipment and submit the specs we wanted and needed to meet customer needs. I had to set selling prices and product chemical and fertilizer assortment for the region as no one had a price list with this info on it for the GLR. The price list the company wanted us to use has 7 selling categories. Now that the products are in stock and the price list is done all we needed was the delivery equipment to come. That took 1 year to finally show up as the company didn;t follow the specs I submittted but ordered a delivery truck that turned out to be illegal to drive in any of the Great lakes states. Therefore we got some hand me down old used delivery equipment that wouldn't work very well at our customers. We had to make it work. All the sales reps have had to deliver and lot of their own orders which is not a productive use of sales reps time. I worked with the reps to develop a program that helped the reps turn a delivery into a sales call so it was a productive call. we used it to see their inventory and talk to assitant managers or mechanics. These are people who know everything going on at a customer are these two positions. We would then try to see the manager to see if there was any other products they needed or we would ask about a problem that we had just learned about from the assistant or mechanic.

What they like about Winfield Land O' Lakes:

You highly value a work environment built on a formal structure, rules, and regulations. You do not enjoy the unpredictability of shifting priorities and deadlines that upset your routine. You require and enjoy direction, input and accountability as part of your work environment. You have a strong need to participate in making key decisions and feel left out if your superiors or co-workers do not seek your input when making decisions. You thrive on providing good customer service to both internal or external customers, and doing so makes you feel good.

Tags

Business Director, Sales Director, Professional, Manager, Account Manager, Business Development, Buying, Distribution, Infrastructure, Inventory

Skills

Public speaking, Microsoft office efficient, Sales training, Other computer program skills like a mapping program or other specific programs, Skilled at Budget setting and implementing, Goal oriented, Extensive training in P&L and financial statements, Customer Focused, Conflict resolution training, Account Manager, Business Development, Buying, Distribution, Infrastructure, Inventory

These are some of the questions we asked our climbers about their experiences with Winfield Land O' Lakes: