Due to my previous accomplishments, hard work ethic, and ability to establish and maintain professional customer relationships, I was promoted to Business Manager (bypassing the Assistant Business Manager role altogether). I first started off by managing Frozen Grocery and Dairy commodities, and by achieving budgeted goals for these areas of accountability, I was consistently awarded more and more commodities to manage. In the end, I was managing over 90% of total Grocery categories and 100% of HBC and Drug/GM. Exceeded year over year annual budget goals by an average of 5%.Through budget tracking and billing reviews I saved the account over $17MM in misdirected annual sales. I am experienced in using Neilsen, DunnHumby, and Business Objects syndicated data to look for market trends and shopper habits and create fact based proposals based on the analysis.Support account team in the development of sales plans and increase Daymon business connectivity with customersPerform, coordinate and lead the analysis and development of: marketing plans; product promotions; advertising; in-store displays; merchandising strategies; and inventory forecastingManage assigned categories, perform analysis, and develop and recommends strategy within assigned area of responsibilityDemonstrate increased innovation and autonomy around marketing, brand management and consumer data analytics; may lead team providing more experience and covering more suppliersPerform activities in a consultative manner, influencing and convincing buyers, effectively selling Daymon servicesSkills Gained/Enhanced:Relationship building with multiple internal customers and outside vendorsCategory managementPromotion marketingTeam coaching and cross-trainingProject managementBudgetingAnalytic interpretation (Nielson, DunnHumby, Business Objects)Product presentationForecastingProduct samplingInfluencing without authorityWorking with minimal supervision

This promotion afforded me the opportunity to further build customer account relationships within the Kroger - Smith's Food & Drug account. My tasks were split between working with a Kroger Manufacturing Brand Manager and Daymon Managers. Because of my thirst for knowledge and the desire to gain more responsibilities, I was awarded with several commodities to manage (Paper Products, Canned Goods, Pet). Created highly profitable POG to capture incremental selling opportunities for both the customer and vendors, boosting sales by over 300%.Responsible for product maintenance integrity; assuring that all new items were properly set up in the Kroger and Daymon systems (warehouse and pricing), correct billing and promotional contracts were in place with accurate dates and allowances, tracking of new and existing PO's.Develop private label products for major accounts in collaboration with the assigned sales manager.Responsible for all aspects of products and marketing programs for all private label customers to achieve market share growth. Execute marketing strategies and promotional activities related to the customers. Provide market research, sales reports, marketing tools (for sales support), market trends and comparison to competitors' products to customers.Analyze factors such as pricing, distribution and product performanceAssist in creative development of new items, communicate with customers and suppliers regarding packaging specifications and materials.Assist in product sample creation across product divisions while ensuring timely delivery samples to customers.Skills Gained:Relationship building with multiple internal customers and outside vendorsCategory managementPOG creationBudgetingAnalytic interpretation (Nielson, DunnHumby, Business Objects)Product PresentationForecasting

The beginning of my career with Daymon Worldwide started with this role, working out of my home office and calling on multiple PETsMART stores in the Southern California region (Counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo). I established and maintained relationships with key contacts at each store location, selling in and setting up incremental displays for both PETsMART's own Corporate Brand and National Brand vendors such as Milk Bone, Kong, Blue Buffalo, and Cardinal Pet Care. During this role I had the privilege of creating a massive Milk Bone display in preparation for a Canine Assistants media event.About 2 years later, I joined the Kroger - Ralph's/Food 4 Less account where I covered multiple stores in the greater Los Angeles area. I built relationships with store managers, influencing them in their decisions on how to capture incremental sales and filling SKU voids in their Corporate Brands portfolio.In 2006 I transferred to the Kroger - Smith's Food & Drug account where gained extensive knowledge of grocery refrigerated and frozen products. Here I built relationships with various meat, deli, and grocery managers in Utah, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. I also worked with a great perishables reset team where our collective efforts of hard work and reputation to get projects perfectly completed were well respected in the industry.Skills Gained:Relationship building with multiple key contactsIncremental sellingWorking with minimal supervisionCreating unique displaysCustomer satisfactionInfluencing without authoritySelf-starter, working from home officeWeekly recap reports to supervisorPOG integrityFilling SKU voids and opportunities