Hi, I’m
TARA HARRIETT
Sales Executive
Linden,NJ
Summary
Experienced sales leader and territory manager with a proven track record of over 12 years in driving sales and business development within the food service industry. Proficient in territory sales management, including negotiations, proposals, account management, competitive market analyses, team leadership, and innovative sales and marketing strategies. Demonstrates consistent success by cultivating valuable partnerships and collaborating effectively with individuals at all levels of an organization, from stakeholders and management to sales team members and customers.
Overview
17
years of professional experience
Work History
E. Armata
Training Director / Territory Manager
09.2022 - 03.2024
Job overview
- Directed the planning, design and implementation of internal training program
- Created training materials including facilitator guides, participants guide, learning activities, role playing scenarios and training presentations
- Partnered with executive team and senior operations leaders to identify training needs and implement solutions
- Managed the development of policies and procedures related to training
- Adapted and developed training materials in accordance with business needs, encouraging the sharing of system knowledge and best practices
- Provided statues updates to Senior Management on training progress and outcomes
- Knowledge of quality assurance, industry standards, continuous quality improvement and process mapping
- Developed and executed the learning strategy based on deep understanding of the business priorities to ensure business' success
- Ensured efficiency of sales operations
- Devised and implemented effective territory sales and marketing strategies
- Discovered sales opportunities through market penetration within region
- Presented products and services to prospective customers
- Prepared and submitted reports addressing issues, opportunities, and status of buying cycle
- Collaborated with colleagues on sales team and provided territory support during absence.
AAK Foodservice
Territory Manager
01.2019 - 01.2020
Job overview
- Maintaining and growing business with national or large regional chains to meet profit or net sales growth targets by managing relationships with targeted customers while driving the sales pipeline and sales budget for current and new customers within assigned territories
- Planning, organizing, and executing sales or marketing programs for both short- and long-term growth targeted toward existing and new accounts either personally or through select brokers
- Understanding and representing the entire AAK portfolio and capabilities to create or fulfill opportunities that strengthen the brand and drive synergies internally or for the customers
- Playing a key role in the development of short- or long-term food service strategies as well as developing and executing the sales and marketing plans to achieve them, delivering measurable results that achieve/exceed revenue and margin targets
- Obtaining appointments at the executive/buyer level with regional, well-known targeted prospects including food service/manufacturers, brokers, and strategic distributors, and regional chains
- Ensuring customer satisfaction by clearly understanding their needs and the ability to articulate why AAK is the right partner to help them to identify and achieve opportunities
- Leveraging superior product process to reposition product line in marketplace as well as revisiting pricing to align with more premium positioning and allow for rebate programs to compete with national brands
- Following competitive and customer trends, identifying and recommending opportunities with existing and new customers, making recommendations that address's complex customer needs
- Managing $50M in commodity sales, growing profits from strategic accounts by over 85% and securing new product distribution resulting in $17M in incremental sales, increasing category appeal by making pricing more competitive on specific items
- Using relationships with customers to gain insights about current usage, key trends, and future needs impacting food service products, improving company reputation resulting in robust growth with distributors.
AAK Foodservice
Field Sales Manager
01.2016 - 01.2018
Job overview
- Worked as a field represented for Oasis's largest account, Restaurant Depot, providing services on a local level for over 45 locations spanning the East Coast from Maine down to Florida
- Developed and maintained working relationships with those customers in the market as well as Restaurant Depot's corporate key personnel, ensuring a smooth transition of new packaging and flavors with all locations
- Conducted periodic information-only presentations such as seminars, trade show demonstrations, and training sessions
- Allocated product to locations, contracting pricing as well as sending contract balances to corporate, focusing on high volumes of oil and wide distribution of products to gain market share
- Led individual growth by branch to propel sales for Restaurant Depot as a whole, overseeing a budget in excess of $50M in sales, identifying and targeting products to increase sales by region while managing 100M pounds of oil
- Built and fostered a network of referrals to create new opportunities for revenue growth, generating and developing new customer accounts to increase revenue by networking or cold-calling or penetrating targeted accounts to radiate sales.
AAK Food Service
Marketing and Business Development Manager
01.2014 - 01.2016
Job overview
- Assisted sales team with the implementation of customer marketing and advertising campaigns, maintained promotional materials inventory, planned meetings and trade shows, maintained databases, and managed revenue in excess of 1.5M
- Planned meetings or trade shows by identifying, assembling, and coordinating requirements, establishing contacts, developing schedules and assignments, and coordinating mailing lists
- Held product sales presentations and in-service training as well as product training and WebEx sessions for field sales, managers, distributors, brokers, label groups, and end-users
- Solidified experience in opportunity qualification, pre-visit planning, call control, account development as well as time and territory management including identifying qualifying opportunities involving multiple key decision makers
- Worked with VP of Sales to develop customized marketing materials that could be used across all regions and the budgeting of marketing programs for all account including label groups and brokers of over $1M
- Assisted the VP of Sales in restructuring of sales department and the company compensation program.
AAK Foodservice
Inside Sales Coordinator
01.2007 - 01.2014
Job overview
- Managed customer inquiries in a high-call volume environment for domestic and international accounts, delivering customer satisfaction by providing superior customer service while motivating staff through meetings and incentive programs
- Drove strategic departmental planning, competitive analysis, marketing positioning, new business development, new product instructions, staff training and development, building partnerships, and maintaining client relationships
- Managed 5 outside sales associates while internally handling territories spanning Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York State, the 5 Boroughs, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and Road Island
- Coordinated sales promotion activities including assembling and presenting training materials and maintained excellent relationships with corporate clients by building a strong client rapport, building relationships with over 120 new food service decision makers
- Exceeded annual territorial business sales goals every year by 20% quarterly with an excess of 20,000 cases of new high profit margin business, managing and contraction over 100M pounds of new commodity oil and exceeding 30,000 units of high margin new business to food distributors and manufacturers.
Education
Union County College
Associate Degree
Skills
Tactical Territory Management & Planning
Team Building & Leadership
Sales Force Training & Development
New Account Development & Acquisition
Staff & Resource Allocation
Competitive Marketing Analysis
Budget Development in Sales & Marketing
Sales Operation Management
Product Branding & Company Re-Branding
Sales Presentations & Demonstrations
Contract Negotiations & Sales Terms
Consultative & Relationship-Based Sales
Strategic Partnerships & Networking
New Territory Expansion
Effective Negotiation Skills
Telephone/Sales Skills
MS Excel & Thank Reliability-Cause Mapping
Effective Leadership & Customer Value
Microsoft Office Suite: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
Salesforcecom, SAP BW, TABLEAUSales Toolbox, MOC Database, VAI ERP, Salesforce, Produce Pro, Salient
Timeline
Training Director / Territory Manager
E. Armata
09.2022 - 03.2024
Territory Manager
AAK Foodservice
01.2019 - 01.2020
Field Sales Manager
AAK Foodservice
01.2016 - 01.2018
Marketing and Business Development Manager
AAK Food Service
01.2014 - 01.2016
Inside Sales Coordinator
AAK Foodservice
01.2007 - 01.2014
Union County College
Associate Degree
1 2000