Sales Manager: Principals

Job Advert Summary

Drive the growth and profitability of assigned Principal accounts by developing strong strategic partnerships, delivering sales and distribution objectives, and identifying opportunities to expand existing and introduce new Principal business. The role is accountable for revenue growth, commercial performance, Principal relationship management and the execution of strategic sales initiatives.

Minimum Requirements

• Business English: Fluent.
• Computer literacy (Advanced).
• Travel off-site/ overnight stay.
• Experience in working with senior management.
• Code 08 Driver's license.
• Relevant experience in applying job related concepts, techniques and processes at the required level.
• People management experience.
• Working knowledge of Social Media Platforms e.g. LinkedIn.

Duties and Responsibilities

Management of principal accounts and performance:

• Manage and grow assigned principal accounts to ensure sustainable revenue growth, strong stakeholder relationships, and achievement of strategic sales and marketing objectives.
• Identify and implement opportunities to expand existing revenue streams and secure new business opportunities within principal accounts to drive growth and improve account performance.
• Develop, implement, and maintain a Principal Account Development and Retention Plan to support long-term customer satisfaction, account sustainability, and business growth.
• Facilitate weekly and monthly Principal KPI review meetings, ensuring performance measurement trackers are maintained and corrective actions are implemented where required.
• Schedule, coordinate, and conduct quarterly business and performance review meetings with principals to evaluate service delivery, commercial performance, strategic opportunities, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Principal and Operational Relationship Management:

• Build, maintain, and strengthen strategic relationships with principal representatives, retail customers, and internal Clover stakeholders to support business objectives and long-term partnerships.
• Ensure alignment of business goals, priorities, and execution plans between Clover operational teams, principal teams, and channel customers to drive sustainable growth and operational excellence.
• Coordinate and facilitate stakeholder engagement across the value chain to ensure the successful execution of key sales, marketing, supply chain, and operational initiatives.
• Drive collaboration between all stakeholders to deliver agreed sales, distribution, promotional, and marketing plans in line with principal objectives and contractual commitments.
• Proactively identify, manage, and resolve operational challenges, risks, and service delivery gaps through effective stakeholder engagement and continuous improvement initiatives.

Financial performance monitoring and account profitability by principal customer channel (Gap analysis - Actual vs Budget vs Revised Budget):

• Monitor, analyse, and review daily sales, financial, and operational performance against budget, revised budget, and forecast targets, ensuring corrective actions are identified and implemented to achieve planned results.
• Conduct ongoing profitability and gap analysis across principal, customer, and channel performance, identifying variances between actual results, budget, and revised budget, and recommending improvement actions.
• Ensure principal account profitability targets are achieved through effective management of revenue, costs, margins, pricing, and operational efficiencies.
• Identify and implement new commercial and operational opportunities to improve profitability through optimisation of sales mix, volume growth, pricing strategies, service fees, return reduction, stock loss mitigation, strike rates, and Order Fill Rate (OFR) performance.
• Lead and manage account Profit & Loss performance, focusing on Top Line revenue growth and effective control of selling and operating expenditure to achieve Return on Profit (ROP) targets.

Principal spend management (Pricing, Promotions, Ranging, Sales, distribution, marketing):

• Ensure all customer, marketing, promotional, and sales activities are executed in accordance with approved principal budgets, plans, and agreed spend parameters.
• Manage principal ad hoc investment budgets, channel spend allocations, business cases, performance reviews, and return-on-investment assessments to optimize commercial outcomes.
• Ensure the accuracy and timely maintenance of principal pricing structures, Recommended Selling Prices (RSPs), Prices to Trade, and Clover service fee schedules within all relevant internal systems.
• Implement new product listings and Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) requirements in accordance with Service Level Agreements (SLAs), while ensuring compliance with Clover warehouse, logistics, and cold chain policies.
• Conduct ongoing product range reviews and rationalisation initiatives to optimize portfolio performance and align with Clover's distribution network capacity and operational requirements.
• Collaborate with principal sales and marketing teams to develop and implement new and existing product strategies, ensuring effective ranging, distribution, and market execution.

Principal Annual Budget plan and process:

• Develop and execute the annual principal budget in collaboration with principal stakeholders and Clover leadership teams, ensuring alignment to strategic objectives and key performance indicators, including sales volume, sales revenue, product mix, service fee realisation, strike rate, Order Fill Rate (OFR), and profitability targets.
• Prepare and present monthly budget performance reports, highlighting variances between actual performance, budget, revised budget, and prior year results, with actionable recommendations to address performance gaps.
• Influence, coordinate, and align principal annual investment plans across channels and customers, including trade terms, sales and marketing investments, promotional activities, and channel incentive programmes to optimise return on investment and business growth.
• Lead regular forecasting reviews and budget update cycles with principals and Clover stakeholders to ensure financial commitments remain aligned to market dynamics and business performance.
• Ensure principal commercial plans, customer investment strategies, and operational initiatives support overall budget objectives and long-term account growth targets.