Sales Manager in Columbia, South Carolina For Sale

Straight Up Southern is looking for a Sales Manager to oversee 50 independent reps throughtout the Southeast and Midwest with more territories soon to come.  Internally, you will oversee customer service and inhouse sales employees.  In addition, you will strategize ways to improve sales, stay ahead of competition and report twice weekly to the management team.   There is some travel to tradeshows; 5-8 weeks per year.  Most tradeshows are in permanent showrooms, allowing you to focus on customer satisfaction and sales rep productivity.   You are encouraged to become involved with product development and marketing.  You are expected to research rep and customer opinions on trends and ideas to help the company design the best products for the market. Our company is 20 years old.  It is the parent company for Itsa Girl Thing, Eat More Tees and, brand new, Fripp&Folly. Each brand is built from first selling t-shirts and adding product extensions over time.  Our most recognized brand is Itsa Girl Thing at www.itsa-girl-thing.com.  We have grown substantially over the past 5 years.  Our new 55,000 sqft facility gives us room for growth for several more years.   About our people, we are a creative team with high expectations.  Straight up Southern has a reputation for becoming the leader in each market we enter, and maintaining this can create pressure.  The nice thing is that, except for tradeshows, we do not work weekends, we do not work at night.  Most sales and service employees work 40-45 hours per week, allowing everyone to recharge before another high performance week.   A successful sales manager will maintain a 20% - 30% sales increase, will be very warm and personable with sales reps and employees, will be very organized and structured -  with a plan for reps and employees on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and strive to find ways to improve the company's performance both in sales and employee productivity.Requirements4-yr college degree 5 years sales management experience in any of these fields: gift, apparel, home or resort. Proven track record of strong sales managment, with recommendations from previous employers, salespeople and customers. Benefits$40,000 salary plus bonus ($10,000 - $20,000 expected) 2 weeks vacation Health insurance (50%) Retirement matching
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