Leslie Michaelsen Email & Phone Number

San Antonio, Tx, Us

• Strategic Brand Recruiter: Lead the identification and recruitment of brands, manufacturers, and collaborators to expand Creative Sales' market presence and drive business growth.• Market Expertise: Conduct market research, attend Trade Shows, and stay current on Buyer and Category trends, ensuring our strategies align with market needs.• Vendor Advisory: Provide strategic guidance to vendors, aligning their goals with retailer objectives and category changes to optimize product assortments for business growth.• Effective Vendor Liaison: Manage communication with vendors, ensuring clarity on submissions, timelines, assortment priorities, markdown strategies, and product launch.• Collaboration for Success: Cultivate vendor relationships based on category knowledge, business acumen, proactive analysis, issue management, and successful strategic direction.• Performance Reviews: Regularly review vendor performance, offering insights and suggestions to identify growth opportunities in sales, promotions, and category changes.• Data-Driven Decision Maker: Analyze sales, profits, margin, units shipped, markdowns, budgets, and ecommerce data to determine actions to meet Vendor goals.

• Vendor Account Management: Managed day-to-day operations of vendor accounts, ensuring smooth coordination and effective communication.• Promotion Planning and Execution: Orchestrated promotional calendars in alignment with vendor objectives and retailer timelines. Monitored and analyzed the success of promotions, coordinating display/shipper submissions and ensuring in-store execution. • Competitive Analysis: Conducted comprehensive competitive analysis through retail audits and research, providing valuable insights to enhance strategic decision-making.• Complex PO Issue Resolution: Assisted the PO Manager and Account Admin in handling intricate Purchase Order issues. • Creative Problem Solver: Demonstrated problem-solving and creative thinking abilities to resolve unique challenges between vendors and retailers, always seeking win-win solutions for both parties.• Category Review Management: Collaborated with vendors to ensure timely category review preparations. Reviewed presentations for accuracy, managed samples, and provided support during category review meetings. • Work Participation for Category Review: Meticulously ensured all current and new samples were accounted for before category review preparations. • New Item Set-Ups: Worked closely with vendors to gather detailed information for new item set-ups, including specifications, packaging, images, costing, and troubleshooting any red flags, such as competitive retail and packaging issues.• Data Analysis and Reporting: Regularly reviewed inventory, Purchase Order discrepancy, and e-commerce reports to identify trends and make data-informed decisions.• AP/AR Management: Collaborated with vendors to address deductions, promotional redemptions, and billing issues, ensuring accuracy and financial transparency.• HEB Systems Proficiency: Demonstrated a thorough understanding of all HEB systems, enabling efficient navigation and problem resolution.

San Antonio, Texas, Us

• Relationship Building and Lead Conversion: Cultivated client interest through effective relationship building and lead conversion strategies.• Tailored Marketing Strategy: Streamlined the onboarding process for new accounts and delivered customized marketing strategies covering branding, web design, SEO, PPC (Google AdWords), direct mail, social media management, Facebook advertising, photo/video production, community marketing, and collateral materials.• Dedicated Client Management: Served as the primary daily point of contact for a portfolio of 50+ clients, offering advisory services and acting as their Marketing Manager.• End-to-End Project Leadership: Oversaw project management, execution, and implementation of marketing campaigns, ensuring seamless operations and timely deliveries.• Creative Direction and Brand Consistency: Provided creative guidance to maintain brand alignment across all marketing materials.• Quality Assurance and Best Practices: Ensured client deliverables met both Breakaway Practice and client standards, incorporating industry best practices for enhanced effectiveness.• Vendor and Design Team Coordination: Effectively managed vendors and design teams, leading project execution and implementation for successful outcomes.• Website and SEO Project Leadership: Took the helm as the lead and liaison for website and SEO projects, ensuring successful alignment with client objectives.• Data-Driven Optimization: Monitored campaign performance and offered data-driven recommendations for enhanced marketing campaign effectiveness.

• Comprehensive Project Management: Spearheaded the end-to-end management of sign projects, from conceptualization to project closure. This encompassed estimating, city permitting, purchase orders, purchase agreements, and invoicing.• Budget Oversight and Financial Management: Demonstrated a keen eye for budgeting and accounting in project management. This involved generating quotes, estimates, purchase agreements, as well as handling accounts payable, accounts receivable, and the seamless project closure process.• Client Communication: Provided consistent project updates to clients, ensuring transparency and a clear understanding of project status throughout its lifecycle.• Cross-Functional Coordination: Orchestrated seamless collaboration across various departments, including sales, graphic designers, estimating, purchasing, engineering, and accounting, to streamline the different phases of sign projects.• Effective Subcontractor Management: Successfully managed subcontractors by soliciting competitive quotes and overseeing installation, ensuring all aspects of the project were executed with precision.• Regulatory Compliance and Permit Expertise: Conducted in-depth research on city codes and permits to ascertain allowable signage and specifications, ensuring compliance with local regulations.

As a new mom in a city where I did not have access to a support system for child care, I discovered other parents had the same problem. I started Time Out Sitters to provide parents with qualified, background checked, CPR certified sitters.Featured in the Baylor Business Review (Fall 2012) article, “Mompreneurs: Finding a Balance”• Researched industry best practices and developed business plan, strategy and marketing initiatives for start-up babysitting agency that provided sitters for over 6oo registered clients• Directed graphic design contractor in the completion of “look and feel” of marketing materials including the company website • Collaborated with solutions architect contractor to develop and build a proprietary software program for client registrations, bookings, sitter schedules and tracking accounts receivables• Developed marketing materials for various channels including social media• Hired and managed over 40 contract sitters and collaborated with their schedules to fulfill client requested book• Reconciled bookings with sitter payments to collect monthly fees

• Managed media and print placement for the national print program by coordinating execution of offers and creative for the North and West territories corporate stores• Instrumental in set-up of online typesetting system by joint effort with client representative; proof of bluelines and press checks• Worked with field and franchise clients to ensure optimal marketing strategy• Coordinated field communication of upcoming print drops and promotions through period marketing calendars for corporate markets• Worked with corporate field marketing team leaders and internal insight and data team to develop national print strategy and test recommendations• Prioritized all schedules to ensure the agency/client incur no late fees• Managed national Hispanic and WingStreet initiatives which included drafting system communications by communicating to internal and external customers all relevant information, developing coupon offers and creative, placing orders and linking with outside creative agencies• Facilitated the national print program by collaborating with creative directors and clients to develop creative for ad-hoc projects and direct mail initiatives• Led daily meetings with clients, vendors and internal teams to develop relationships and ensure that all parties are focused, educated and involved• Collaborated with franchise client for optimal print placement, providing marketing calendars, recommending and overseeing LSM (local store marketing) initiatives and POP (point of purchase) materials while managing client budget

Us

• Researched, compiled and distributed a weekly analysis of competitor’s products to sales force• Collaborated with marketing director, copywriter and graphic designer to develop a sales kit• Fulfilled client requests for information on specific services offered• Assisted with event planning for 3 day off-site conference for clients• Provided administrative support to the VP of Sales & Marketing and Marketing Director

• Worked on a product launch for Hewlett Packard; my team completed $1.5 million of work in six months• Responsible for daily project management of multiple projects from the concept stage to final deliverable including writing creative briefs, developing schedules for projects and conducting weekly production meetings for internal team• Built and maintained working relationship with clients by assessing clients’ needs and making strategic recommendations based upon those needs, managing client expectations and briefing the client on status of projects• Worked with creative department to ensure work was on strategy and on schedule• Maintained financial status of my team’s account by building the billing binder and spreadsheet to track and compare estimates and invoices• Project experience included corporate marketing, channel marketing, product marketing, direct marketing and interactive marketing