Brandy Ake Email & Phone Number

Greater Chicago Area

Greater Chicago Area

• Proactively identify trends, opportunities, & insights in the Non-Chocolate Category to maximize sales & profits for American Licorice Co. & our Retail Partners.
• Utilize Retailer POS data & IRI Syndicated & Panel data to identify & quantify opportunity gaps
• Provide continual feedback on pricing, account directional changes, account strategies, & annual business plans
• Establish Category Management Department through mentoring & hiring of Channel Analyst, creation of processes & standard reporting, purchase & management of data sources, & obtaining highest levels of certification.

Greater Chicago Area

• Increased Addison recruiting and staffing market penetration through breaking of new accounts, expansion of existing clients, and resurrection of lost accounts.
• Generated new business through prospecting, cold-calling, client visits, and creating strategic relationships with key decision makers within target clients
• Ranked among best Business Development Managers in Chicago and in the top 25% of national rankings
• Resurrected 5 lost accounts and broke 2 new accounts in first year in a highly competitive market

• Responsible for managing & growing $9M in service accounts & $10M in product replacement accounts.
• Top commercial product sales account manager in 2010 & 2011
• Successfully positioned one of my clients to be in the Top 8 2012 Strategic Accounts for Sears Home Services
• Increased service accounts by 25% year over year (two years in a row) while industry was flat (through implementation of new Heating & Air program, negotiating rebate incentives into contracts, transitioning clients to.
• Hunt for new clients as well as sales opportunities within existing clients (closed 7 new deals, negotiated annual renewals for each account, sold 5 new offerings to several key clients)
• Direct resources to most profitable & strategic opportunities by vetting out leads, developing key partnerships, negotiating more profitable or resource efficient deals, & terminating contracts that do not meet our goals

• Accountable for creation & alignment of new pricing strategy & automation of pricing for 7M repair parts to maximize profitability
• Designed & performed 20+ tests to gain insight into the price elasticity of repair parts & impact on sales resulting in an additional $2M of margin
• Actively gathered & analyzed data (competitors’ prices, customer demographics, previous tests, sales trends, retail prices) to pinpoint opportunities for monthly price changes resulting in over $1M in added margin
• Partnered with business owners of the 4 parts sales channels to ensure company goals were met based on a single price for each part
• Provided reports & results to business owners, team, & senior leaders on relative tests and price changes
• Supervised two summer interns (selected their internship projects, mentored them, and provided feedback daily)

• Forecasted, ordered, & allocated approximately $350M in inventory of patio, grills, & Christmas products.
• Maintained in-stock levels at 97% while also decreasing unproductive inventories
• Ensured weekly ad success through proactive forecasting, ordering, & allocating of merchandise
• Analyzed sales trends & inventory to maintain accurate balance of sale & optimize sell-thru in 900+ stores/10 warehouses
• Answered 300+ store requests/questions per week in season through help tickets, calls, & emails
• Coordinated with import & logistics to bring product into our supply chain in a cost effective/timely manner

• Identified, defined, & executed sales strategies to increase bottom-line revenue
• Monitored performance metrics in order to identify inefficiencies & assist in their correction
• Accountable for customer satisfaction including management duties within the customer service department
• Responsible for the interviewing & hiring of store staff
• Helped increase awareness of new organizational strategy following the $12.3B acquisition of K-mart by holding training sessions for groups in excess of 100 people
• Determined & executed marketing efforts alongside regional management