TITLE: Senior Sales Manager - Trade + Contract
REPORTS TO: Director | Trade + Contract
ABOUT US: Blu Dot (www.bludot.com), an award-winning designer and maker of modern home furnishings, is currently searching for a Strategic Growth Manager to join our dynamic and values-driven company.
Company Purpose
Inspire a more creative way of living through good design that's good to everyone.
Core Values
- Good design is good. Good design should be reflected in everything we do.
- Keep it simple. Strive for economy in all that you do.
- Everyone is invited to our party. Treat every individual with respect & dignity.
- Our glass is half full. Focus on the positive.
- Be humble. We take nothing for granted.
- Turn it up to 11. Determine what is expected and do a little more.
- Stay curious. Try, learn, improve, repeat.
ABOUT THE ROLE: The Trade + Contract Strategic Growth Manager will oversee Trade + Contract sales channels, managing national B2B accounts, strategic partnerships, and custom contract sales channels managed from Blu Dot's HQ in Minneapolis. This role is responsible for driving revenue growth, strengthening client relationships, and developing initiatives to expand Blu Dot presence within the industry. The Trade + Contract Strategic Growth Manager will also lead the in-house Trade + Strategic Contract Partnership teams, ensuring a consistent, sales-driven and relationship-focused approach at every client touch point. Collaborating closely with leadership, our in-market Contract sales team, fellow customer facing channel managers, and business operations, the role will align strategies to meet company objectives while delivering exceptional value to clients - ensuring new customer acquisition and YoY revenue growth in channel.
Success in this role will hinge on building continued brand awareness, world class service in both Residential Trade and Contract channels, intuitive market strategies, fiscal prudence, and talent development.
Trade + Contract Sales:
- Drive revenue growth and expand market share within assigned accounts and regions for both residential Trade + Contract customer channels.
- Set sales goals and KPIs for the team, tracking performance to ensure targets are met.
- Participate in attaining and executing company OKR goals as assigned.
- Partner with Director to define and execute strategic sales goals by channel to meet and exceed business objectives.
- Lead a team of account managers and service professionals, ensuring alignment with company goals and customer service standards.
- Motivate engagement by sharing the Blu Dot brand origin story and imbuing a love of original design to clients & team members.
- Solicit feedback about Residential Trade and Dealer experience (separately) via annual customer survey deployment.
- Deploy and manage Contract account (Dealer) prospecting and account tracker. Measure quarterly and report on channel penetration by market - identifying top prospecting opportunities and deploying action plans and accountability expectations with customer facing teams.
- Identify and deploy initiatives that support opportunities for improving Trade + Contract client customer experience at every touch point.
- Ensure standard sales discounting is being adhered to and that best practices are in place for special pricing considerations - establish and maintain internal tracking log for all known Dealer/project pricing exceptions.
- Represent Blu Dot as needed at industry-specific trade shows and via partner specific in-market initiatives.
Sales Strategy + Execution:
- Develop, implement, and monitor performance of data-driven strategies to optimize sales and marketing ROI, focusing on high-growth segments and strategic accounts.
- Identify new business opportunities and markets, driving acquisition strategies within both the residential trade and contract furniture landscapes.
- Leverage analytics and market research to develop smarter outreach campaigns targeting high-value accounts.
- Monitor market trends and competitor activity and programming to adjust sales approaches accordingly.
- Audit and segment customer groups by class (delineation by system line) to improve communications and marketing efficacy.
- Assist Director in building and analyzing market budget analysis - holding yourself and the team accountable for reaching budgeted sales goals on both an annual and quarterly basis.
- Be versed in Contract sales data and reporting- review and analyze data to inform decision making - top Dealers, A + D outreach (led by outside sales teams) and prospecting, Dealer incentives and YoY performance.
Client Relationship Management:
- Build and maintain strong, long-lasting relationships with national B2B clients and strategic partners.
- Primary strategic account owner for Dealer clients representing Contract system lines (Allsteel, Teknion, MillerKnoll, Haworth and our strategic partner, Steelcase), National Contract accounts, and our online Residential trade program.
- Serve as the final escalation point for key accounts, resolving issues and driving proactive solutions to maintain top industry reputation and repeat business.
- Compile and maintain industry-specific event invitation lists, using data-driven reporting to ensure key accounts are prioritized for relevant events.
Team Management + Development:
- Foster a high-performance team culture by driving innovation and championing professional growth.
- Empower team to deploy customer-centric and creative problem-solving tactics and encourage ownership of accounts, barriers, solutions, and new ideas.
- Provide timely and constructive feedback to direct reports, be invested in their development and training
- Recognize individual and team achievement - share praise and successes.
- Conduct annual performance reviews in timely and constructive manner - Director and channel Operations Manager to provide partnership/input in crafting.
- Act as a sounding board and trusted thought partner to Director for all channel specific expansion and program efforts.
- Recruit, train, and onboard new sales team members as dictated by business need.
- Lead by example - uphold and demonstrate our company core values.
Marketing + Brand Awareness:
- Maintain awareness of Residential Trade + Contract industry and competitive landscape - possess a technical and professional knowledge base and competitive analysis platform.
- Assist in the execution and evolution of ongoing company strategic initiatives such as Contract Email Campaign.
- Audit digital and printed materials available for specific Trade + Contract client outreach - work with Trade + Contract project manager on new asset briefs with marketing as needed.
Cross-Functional Collaboration:
- Work closely with marketing, business operations, and product teams to successfully deploy strategic initiatives that align with the company's growth objectives.
- Provide input into product development and service enhancements based on client feedback.
- Solicit and communicate quality issues and assortment feedback, as they specifically relate to Trade + Contract clientele needs.
- Consult with outside Contract sales teams to build monthly Trade + Contract newsletter content, highlighting customer-class specific products, resources, initiatives and brand updates.
- Partner with accounting & business operations to evaluate customer payment status and credit limits, balancing risk with business growth opportunities.
Reporting + Analysis:
- Develop and maintain customer segmentation frameworks to enhance marketing strategies and improve client engagement.
- Enable specific sales insights by implementation of robust channel reporting, leveraging Blu Dot's analytics platform, Tableau.
- Monitor sales performance, analyzing data to make informed decisions.
- Identify under performing customer segments and lapsed accounts and implement targeted outreach campaigns.
- Evaluate sales performance trends, identifying opportunities for improvement.
- Work with Product and BI Teams to analyze channel specific assortment data and analyses.
- Prepare and present sales, open projects and prospect reports to direct leader weekly.
Ideal Experience + Qualifications*:
- 8+ years of experience in key account or national account management within the contract furniture, design, or architecture industries.
- 8+ years of experience managing people or teams.
- Extensive experience developing, executing, and measuring successful sales strategies for B2B clients.
- Demonstrated ability to manage large-scale projects while maintaining focus on high-priority goals, such as customer classification improvements and revenue growth.
- Emotionally intelligent with strong interpersonal skills and a natural aptitude for building relationships and trust.
- Proficiency in CRM platforms, Microsoft Office Suite, and data analysis & visualization tools such as Tableau.
- Exceptional presentation and communication skills, both written and verbal.
- Strategic thinker with the ability to translate market insights into actionable plans.
Additional Requirements:
- Position is based out of Minneapolis, MN headquarters with a flexible working environment/schedule (no full-time remote work available).
- Flexibility to work in-person and in the evenings (for industry events) as required.
- Occasional travel required.
*Everyone's welcome to our party! Blu Dot always welcomes candidates with unique and diverse backgrounds. Blu Dot is a member of E-Verify. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States.
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