Feed Sales Specialist

Position Summary:

Promote and sell United Cooperative’s feed and forage products to customers and prospects throughout the United Cooperative trade territory, in a manner which increases United Cooperative’s market share and achieves United Cooperative’s goals of customer satisfaction and profitability.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Actively make sales calls to both existing feed patrons and new prospects to increase product sales and to increase market share of feed and related products to dairy and livestock producers within assigned geographical area as directed by management. Make 8-10 effective sales contacts per day in an efficient manner. Take written orders and contract feed and other products on an on-going basis. Build a client base focusing on credit-worthy producers. Grow feed product sales to livestock producers directly impacted by your sales efforts to reach annual budget goals of Feed Division.
• Increase use and sales to existing and new customers of specialized products to include newly developed product lines. This includes preservative products, animal health products, plastics for forage and feed storage, feed additives, specialty feed products, and other product lines that can generate new sales and margin for the cooperative.
• Build relationships on dairy and livestock operations and ask for opportunities to bid on feed and mineral mixes and loads of commodity feed products. Follow up in a timely manner to all feed bids and price quotes provided to prospects. Track how we compare on all bids provided on both bids we attain and bids we lose.
• Maintain and manage a target call list of 100 - 150+ accounts, actively contacting this group to assess what they buy, who they buy from, and how United Cooperative can become their supplier of choice. Work with sales management to develop account strategies to grow United Cooperative’s influence in the marketplace.
• Provide a high level of technical production service to customers: Rations, Record Analysis, Inventory Management, Feed Budgets, etc.
• Provide nutrition and production management services to client base according to client preference.
• Monitor and document production and profitability improvements for dairy producer clients implementing program and product recommendations. Ensure documentation is reviewed with the producer.
• Be an active participant of a sales team to grow United Cooperative’s influence within the assigned sales region. Effectively utilize internal and supplier resources to increase market influence and grow market share.
• Monitor and work within the United Cooperative credit policies and work with management to enforce credit policy while maintaining customer relationships.
• Help provide newsletter articles and/or direct mailer pieces as appropriate to targeted livestock producers on topics that are timely and important within the United Cooperative market territory.
• Assist other divisions with leads on prospects and communication of situations that are occurring with producers that you work with.

Self-Development and Professional Improvement:

• Attend training and professional development meetings, informational meetings, and seminars as directed or approved by supervisor.
• Set and attain written sales goals. Develop individual strategic sales plans for targeted accounts. Provide written reports as requested by management.
• Implement concepts learned at training to improve the service, value, and sales potential of United Cooperative to member owners and prospective patrons.

Other Expectations:

• Maintain a high degree of integrity and honesty with customers, fellow employees, suppliers, and management. Strive to consistently improve professional performance and image of the cooperative. Maintain confidentiality of all business information. Support direction and decisions of the United Cooperative board and management. Provide other duties as may be assigned or requested by management.
• Abide by United Cooperative’s “Standards & Expectations” for your position and strive to achieve United Cooperative’s “Sales Success Measures & Benchmarks”. These documents are provided and maintained by sales management.

Qualifications:

• A Qualified individual will have strong people skills, including persuasiveness and persistence, the ability to learn new information quickly, and be self-motivated and organized. Computer skills necessary, including the ability to work effectively with Microsoft Office.
• Four-year degree in an agricultural field or the equivalent combination of farm experience and prior sales experience required.

Working Conditions & Physical Requirements:

• Ability to lift up to 50lbs.
• Ability to bend, stoop and stand for long periods of time.
• Must be able to work in indoor and outdoor weather conditions.