Director of Sales

Founded in 2020, Willow is the world’s first carbon negative lawn + garden brand. We’ve developed a line of better-for-plants and better-for-planet products that are designed from the ground up to reverse climate change. By taking CO2 out of the atmosphere and turning it into high-quality growing products, we’re uniquely positioned to scale a meaningful climate solution, all while giving consumers and businesses best-in-class gardening products. We’re on a mission to capture one billion tons of CO2, and are just starting to build our team.

Role

We are seeking an experienced and highly motivated sales leader who will be responsible for building our wholesale business from the ground up. As the first sales hire, you'll be tasked with not only opening new doors, but to have a relentless focus on driving purchase velocity as we scale. To succeed in this role, you need to be able to fail, learn, adapt and fail again.

Our ideal candidate is punctual, reliable, super organized, and persuasive. They’re a master closer, with experience calling on buyers directly, working with brokers / distributor reps, merchandising / upselling at the store level, and with a proven track record of growing brands in the retail space. They’re excited to roll-up their sleeves and get into the weeds, while remaining focused and unabated on what is most important to growing the business. 

Reports to: CEO

Responsibilities

• Objective 1: Best-in-class purchase velocity
• Grow sales and purchase velocities at existing accounts through 1) exceptional relationship building and 2) identifying creative solutions for improving sales across product, brand, marketing, and everything in between; put simply, you will be the key driver in achieving wholesale product-market-fit
• Continually interact with, and learn from, customers (in-store and out) in an effort to both promote brand awareness and to develop / document a deep understanding of how our products can better meet their needs
• Build / launch / iterate sales and marketing plans, merchandising strategies, training and onboarding systems, and other creative marketing tools in an ongoing effort to build and refine the Willow Retail Playbook
• Evolve from high-touch, non-scalable, get-your-hands-dirty strategies in the early days to a highly efficient, national growth plan in the long-term (while enjoying every minute of it)
• Objective 2: Double digit monthly revenue growth
• Set, refine, and exceed monthly volume and distribution goals to achieve overall objectives in the market
• Leverage customer sell-through data to support a fact-based selling approach; focus on understanding key volume drivers, program ROIs, and building a plan that will achieve the financial goals of both Willow and our retail partners 
• Implement and execute programs to establish highly-productive retail, broker, distributor, and partner relationships that achieve our sales objectives
• Deeply analyze sales data, prepare regular reports, and act-on your learnings in a data-driven, continuous-improvement process; lead a regular strategic assessment of existing and potential accounts across existing and new product lines
• Objective 3: 100% account repurchase rate
• Build winning relationships with the retailers, brokers, distributor teams and category managers to ensure top notch execution and continued growth
• Manage existing retailers by establishing promotional calendars, new items, trade spend, inventory management, post-promotion analysis, and retail programs for designated geography and accounts
• Proactively identify areas for improvement or new opportunities among our existing and potential accounts, and take action across distribution, price optimization, product placement, fulfillment, and promotional effectiveness
• Maintain a regular schedule of weekly appointments with new and existing accounts
• Ensure seamless order entry and fulfillment processes, great customer service, as well as timely collections and payment issues
• Objective 4: Rapidly expand Willow’s retail footprint
• Manage a daily prospecting, outreach, drop-in, and follow-up schedule to close new accounts, upsell existing partners, and drive referral business
• Actively manage brokers and distributors to exceed all sales / performance goals  
• Perfect the balance between quality and quantity in our retail partners as we scale from 10 partners (today) to 200+ by the end of your first year
• Position Willow, from day one, for long-term, mainstream success nationally: optimize margins, sell-through, positioning, operations, supply chain, etc.

Qualifications

• Deeply and demonstrably passionate about our mission to solve the climate crisis by turning CO2 into high-quality growing products
• Standout sales experience, with a strong preference towards national account experience, big CPG or lawn + garden, and / or high-growth break-out brands
• Obsession for understanding and acting-on customer behavior: lives, breathes and dreams about how to better reach / understand / serve our consumers
• Leadership experience: prepared and excited to build a highly-functioning sales team
• You are abundantly curious and a student of process, constantly seeking opportunities to improve, learn, optimize, and innovate
• Demonstrated excellence prospecting, cold-contacting, closing, managing, and up-selling new accounts, brokers, and distributors
• Ownership mindset and an autonomous, strategic thinker who’s ready and hungry to build a big brand from the ground up 
• You’re incredibly nimble, scrappy, and a focused leader in the ambiguous situations that come with early stage companies. You create solutions to problems, take proactive ownership, and keep a positive attitude even when times are tough
• Strong planning and customer management skills, with excellent analytical skills and attention to detail, and ability to translate this into winning partnerships with retailers
• Must be able to work flexible hours
• Ability to travel domestically freely and comfortable working remote

Benefits

This is an opportunity to become an early employee at a high-growth start-up, with a high focus on your personal career development and continuous learning opportunities. You’ll find a supportive culture of continuous growth and empathy.

We believe that optimism, having fun every day, and not taking ourselves too seriously will be powerful cultural tools to scale our impact, and we're looking for folks to help us build that culture.

We also offer:

• Competitive pay + commission + paid time off
• Company subsidized health, dental & vision insurance
• Flexible work scheduling
• Equity grants and options for the right candidate