Your Opportunity as the Senior Lead, Customer Commercialization

The Customer Commercialization (CC) Team serves as a critical conduit between Brand Marketing, Brand Commercialization, and the Field Sales Team.  The Senior Lead CC position owns the Joint Business Planning (JBP) for customers to enable category and customer growth and represents customer strategies to key internal constituents.  They will also translate National Go to Market Strategies (GTMS) into customer specific activation and incorporate SBA targets into customer level quotas and budgets.   This specific position will support the Walmart Inc. (Walmart and Sam’s Club) and Costco team.  This position has one direct report who manage our Wholesale and the Dollar channel customers for the Frozen Handheld and Spreads Businesses.  

Location: Orrville, OH (Close proximity to Cleveland/Akron)

Work Arrangements: Hybrid - onsite a minimum of 9 days a month primarily during core weeks as determined by the Company; maybe more as business need requires

In this role you will:

Big Picture

Support the development of category and account growth opportunities and the long-term sales strategy of The J.M. Smucker Company (JMS)

Run Joint Business Planning based on assigned SBA customer roles

Identify and communicate customer roles and strategies within the SBA 

Coordinate with internal functions 

Engage with customer team 

Tailor business driver initiatives to meet customer needs 

Plan and set agendas for top-to-top meetings with key customers 

Identify demand-creating solutions for customer-specific execution with the goal of achieving SBA plans

Validate assumptions against key metrics (ROI, on-strategy, etc)

Coordinate with necessary internal functions (Enterprise Activation/Commercialization, Revenue Growth Management, Customer Finance, etc)

Develop customer level targets, budgets, and profit goals tied to customer JBP and coordinate with Manager/Director on final approval of customer specific plan during annual planning process

Inform Sales Planning and Target Setting, liaising with Leadership and cross functional partners to guide recommendations

Own final approval of customer specific plan 

Work with Promotion Event Analytics/Sales Analyst to validate inputs and assumptions 

Track progress against customer plan 

Day to Day

Partner with sales leads (National Account Managers/Regional Sales Managers/Key Account Managers) and brokers to provide execution and communication support of JM Smucker annual sales priorities

Lead ongoing analysis of business performance to support daily operations and monthly business reviews

Make commercial recommendations to improve both JMS and customer sales and margins to identify potential performance assumption issues and provide commercially viable recommendations

Identify demand-creating solutions for customer-specific execution with the goal of achieving SBA plans 

Review customer sales performance, profitability and track against sales accuracy to influence demand forecasts

Assist in developing and delivering presentations focused both externally and internally

The Right Place for You

We are bold, kind, strive to do the right thing, we play to win, and we believe in a strong community that thrives together. Our culture is rooted in our Basic Beliefs, and we believe in supporting every employee by meeting their physical, emotional, and financial needs.

What we are looking for:

Minimum Requirements:

Bachelor’s degree

7+ years of experience in the Consumer-Packaged Goods industry

Previous experience with JBP process

Previous experience and demonstrated understanding of an accrual-based trade system 

Strong story telling skills utilizing syndicated data (IRI or Nielsen) or customer specific data

Ability to work with cross-functional partners to drive business results 

Proficiency in Microsoft Office

Demonstrated understanding of customer strategies and retail environment 

Excellent organization and written / verbal communication skills 

Self-motivated with ability to manage multiple / diverse projects 

Ability to travel up to 25%

Additional skills and experience that we think would make someone successful in this role (not required):

Experience in Spotfire, Tableau, CAS or similar platforms

Experience with Walmart, Sam’s Club, and/or Costco

Learn more about working at Smucker:

Helping our Employees Thrive

Delivering on Our Purpose 

Our Continued Commitment to Ensuring a Workplace for All 

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