Sales Support Team Lead

Let’s be unstoppable together!

Circana (formerly IRI and NPD) is the leading advisor on the complexity of consumer behavior. Through unparalleled technology, advanced analytics, cross-industry data and deep expertise, we provide clarity that helps almost 7,000 of the world’s leading brands and retailers take action and unlock business growth. At Circana, we are fueled by our passion for continuous learning and growth, we seek and share feedback freely, and we celebrate victories both big and small in an environment that is flexible and accommodating to our work and personal lives. Join our inclusive, committed team to be a challenger, own outcomes, and stay curious together. Learn more at www.circana.com.

Collaborative Gateway Solutions

Our solutions bring retailer data into a single platform that can be accessed by a retailer and its suppliers, putting the same data and insights on the desks of all parties to drive highly effective collaboration and growth. Every retailer gateway is different, designed to meet the needs of the retailer, and Circana’s Liquid Data platform provides unprecedented flexibility that allows each gateway to tailor the unique data assets of the retailer into actionable insights and recommendations. Gateways typically contain some or all of Point of Sale data, Supply Chain data, Member Insights and Audience Building.

Our Gateways can have anything from a dozen to over a thousand supplier clients and as such, selling Gateways is a complex process that depends on various Circana team members working closely together, following detailed processes and depending on essential automation. Selling of Gateways is arranged in groups under different Gateway Commercial Leaders. The Sales Teams own the value proposition, revenue goals and sales processes for their different gateways.

What will you be doing?

As Sales Support Lead you will be responsible for supporting the sales of a group of Circana’s Collaborative Gateway Solutions, including the Sam’s Club MADRID 2.0 Gateway. You and your team of two Sales Analysts will use strong organizational and analytical skills to deliver new business for your gateways.

You will work closely with the dedicated Sales Leads for each gateway and with Circana’s Client Insights teams, the broader Gateway team and Circana’s dedicated retailer teams and will be responsible for ensuring that the sales pipeline maintains momentum. You will monitor our commercial portal and ensure smooth client set-up, vendor information gathering, pricing calculations, sales communications, ID gathering and sales reporting.

You will actively monitor our Sales Support Helpdesk to ensure that clients and prospects are supported in the process and you will play a key role in client implementation and ensuring the necessary steps are taken to ensure client access is established. You will be responsible for entering opportunities into and maintaining our Finance system and ensuring that revenue is recognized, and you will provide commercial after-sales support. You will also be a key contributor to the evolution of our gateway processes as we evolve to use new technologies and develop more effective ways of working.

To be successful in this role, you must demonstrate the ability to organize yourself and your team across fluid priorities and be responsive to high volume enquiries from clients and client service teams. You will need to have direct and honest discussions with clients and team members around the program rules, proactively identify program risks and opportunities, and keep organized and thorough records of the sales cycle and status of our financial goals. Your success will ensure that the Sales Leads for the gateways you support are able to focus on developing the gateway propositions by engaging closely with clients around the value proposition and selling to higher profile or more challenging ‘special service’ suppliers that do not pass through the standard process.

Job Responsibilities

Administer the client sales process

• Operate the Sales Support Helpdesks for your gateways, involving Sales Leads as appropriate for more complex enquiries

• Develop expertise in the commercial portal and work closely with the application team to ensure the system excels

• Diagnose client progress through the sales process and intervene if necessary to ensure effective pace through the system

• Field initial inquiries from prospects and set them up in the system

• Communicate the benefits of the program to new suppliers engaging via our sales portal

• Perform product investigations directly in your gateways to validate client requests for access

• Calculate pricing for the product tiers based on your own reporting from the retailer gateways

• Monitor sales stages and pursue with clients who have been inactive

• Ensure client user information is available for set up

• Ensure sales decisions comply with program rules of engagement. Eg. Pricing, contractual terms

• Coordinate committed delivery dates

• Oversee the annual renewal process to ensure that 1000+ clients are renewed in a timely manner

Post-Sales Activity and Support

• Enter client financial sales information into Finance system (Dynamics)

• Develop strong relationships with Finance teams and utilize your network to resolve individual client issues such as late payments and payment for cash-in-advance clients

• Ensure requirements are met for revenue recognition

• Liaise with client and internal teams over incremental purchases and scoping changes

• Manage commercial consequences of client mergers and acquisition

Develop sales process best practices

• Proactively design and implement new processes to enable delivery of our sales plan, utilizing new technology and your strong relationship with our cross-functional partners

• Develop and continually improve our team’s own ‘manual’ approach to tracking, ensuring meticulous records are kept and the status of other systems is always well-understood

• Work closely with newly formed and centralized CPQ team and Renewal team to standardize and transition tasks if appropriate

• Prepare revenue reporting for Sam’s and IRI leadership

Team Leadership

• Lead, manage and develop a small team of two Sales Analysts

• Ensure team demonstrate working knowledge on all data assets and intermediate hands-on ability with the Unify platform

• Ensure rigorous QC of own and team’s work

• Actively promote a productive work environment in your team that is free of non-inclusive barriers

• Advocate for cultural transformation and lead by example

Essential skills:

• Analytic Capability – Use a systematic approach to solving problems that involve breaking it into smaller pieces, tracking the implications of situations downstream, generating multiple alternatives, and making comparisons of potential solutions before taking action.

• Quality Control – Drive to achieve high quality results through effective data integrity and rigorous attention to detail.

• Planning, Organizing and Adapting – Determine effort and resources required to meet objectives; able to plan, coordinate and manage to those objectives effectively to ensure task completion, and adapting to changing circumstances.

• Client Focus – Consistently act with client satisfaction in mind and follow through on commitments to ensure the needs of the client are met.

• Sales Aptitude – Understand the importance of the Retailer Gateways to the retailers’ and Circana’s overall growth objectives, and continue to proactively drive toward the revenue objectives, overcoming roadblocks, and reporting financial results and outlook internally.

• Resilience – Excel under high pressure, against immediate deadlines, and with high visibility.

Other requirements

• Bachelor’s degree

• Minimum 5 years background in CPG, Grocery, Mass Merchandising, Drug Store or Club Retail

• Experience working with retailer POS, supply chain, loyalty, or media targeting / evaluation data

• Excellent in Microsoft Excel, strong in PowerPoint and Word

The below range reflects the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range. This range may be modified in the future. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, shift, travel requirements, sales or revenue-based metrics, any collective bargaining agreements, and business or organizational needs. The salary range for this role is [$64K to $97,000K].

This job is also eligible for [bonus/incentive/commissions/equity] pay.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including [paid time off, medical/dental/vision insurance and 401(k)] to eligible employees.

You can apply for this role through [methods to apply (e.g., Careers website link and/or Intranet site for internal candidates)].