Meridian Wine Merchants is seeking a National Key Account Manager to serve nationally in the premium wine industry. The ideal candidate is a strategic, results-driven professional with strong communication and negotiation skills, capable of building lasting client relationships and driving business growth in a dynamic environment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Maintain and develop good business relationships with respective KA decision making customers by regular contact, engagement and quick response/revert times on all matters relative to the respective account.
• Developing KA customer base (new customer development) and maintaining the existing KA customers. Report on change in customer base improvement by key account responsibility area.
• Negotiating marketing budgets with KA customers and ensure that there is an effective management of TSA spend to achieve objectives laid out. A quarterly review of spend vs budget is required to be sent for client reviews within the deadline date stipulated.
• Develop Liquor Chain and Online Key account strategy in conjunction with customers, clients and regions in alignment with strategic objectives.
• Negotiation, implementation and management of KA Trading Agreements. This includes management of rebates to ensure that payments are up to date.
• Communicate all agreed activities to Trade Marketing.
• Regular trade visits with Sales Teams.
• Effective involvement in and contribution to trade marketing feedback sessions.
• Effective communication with RSM’s and managing allocated products for relevant key accounts to RSMs.
• Develop an account plan for each key account customer for the fiscal year. Ensure that these plans are signed off by the relevant clients and customers. Ensure that a report is drafted that is sent quarterly pertaining to spend vs budget.
• Analyse market trends, customer preferences and provide inputs on the same to marketing. Ensure that use is made of all IRI reports to support the analysis.
• Keep abreast of industry trends through networking with opposition counterparts and forging stronger relationships with customers. Ensure that there is a sharing of information from industry trends with Buyers from datasets in cycle meetings.
• Submitting sales reports to key accounts monthly - communicating monthly, quarterly and year to date sales, showing growth/shortfalls to targets.
• Acquiring and analysing (customer group figures) sales in and sales out data to guide on forward planning.
• Ensure continuous development and up-to-date industry knowledge and competence.
• Contribute towards informal succession planning and skills transfer within the Sales / Trade Marketing team by, adopting a coaching and/or mentorship approach and teaching team members new learnings.
• Adhere to all MWM-related policies and procedures and ensure best practice approaches in role.
• Follow through to ensure that personal quality and productivity standards are consistently and accurately maintained.
• Plan and prioritize, demonstrating abilities to manage competing demands.
• Demonstrate ability to anticipate and manage change effectively.
• Demonstrate flexibility in balancing achievement of own objectives with the ability to understand and respond to organizational needs.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Diploma / Degree relating to Sales and Marketing.
• 5 years’ experience FMCG Sales Experience and Key Accounts Management experience.
• Cape Wine Academy.
• Valid driver’s license.

Should you not receive any feedback within 2 weeks after the closing date, please consider your application unsuccessful.