Account Specialist & Sales Support- Partner Business

Hickory Farms, LLC is a leading retailer of food gifts and specialty foods available online, in catalogs, in leading mass merchants, supermarkets and seasonal retail shopping locations in the US and Canada. In business since 1951, we are driven to be the best retailer in the food gifting space. Our corporate headquarters are in downtown Chicago, IL. We also have offices in Joliet, IL, and Toronto, Canada. This is a hybrid role with 2 days in our Joliet or Chicago office.

Hickory Farms is privately held with more than $150 million in revenue and is on an aggressive growth journey – combining both organic growth and acquisitive growth – developing new products, expanding into more gifting occasions, and reinventing our brand to grow our customer base. We are investing in our team and our infrastructure to support this growth. Every member of our nimble, entrepreneurial team makes an impact every day in a high-energy culture that we describe as “a 69-year-old start-up.

The Account Specialist is responsible for supporting the senior manager of business development in the day-to-day operations and growth of the corporate sales division. The main responsibility for this role is to set-up and maintain all documents needed to track and analyze sales by product for key accounts, including FTD, Costco and Amazon. This role will also be the main contact and customer communication liaison for the overall Partner Business.

• Responsible for execution of customer set-up for ecommerce partner business including asset management, spec sheets, and product information.
• Manage book of accounts daily including sales and customer service.
• Partner with cross-functional partners in marketing, creative and product to meet deliverable dates by customer. Manage timelines effectively internally to assure on-time execution.
• Maintain sales pitch decks including, images, specs and product information.
• Support Senior Manager in preparation for customer meetings including pitch decks, agendas and sales recaps.
• Maintain product spec sheets including master carton measurements, list prices and additional product information for the sales team. Partner with warehouse team to ensure accurate data is shared with customers.
• Request and track product samples for photo shoots and pre-production approval.
• Maintain and update sales analysis and competitive shop documents to drive recommendations for the customer and sales team.

Education and/or Work Experience Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree preferred
• 1-3 years of experience in a related role; retail industry and merchandise experience preferred
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including ability to effectively communicate with internal and external customers
• Detail oriented and problem-solving mentality
• Excellent computer proficiency (MS Office – Word, Excel and PowerPoint)
• Experience managing data management systems, product information systems, and/or enterprise resource planning systems; experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations preferred
• Must be able to work under pressure and meet deadlines, while maintaining a positive attitude and providing exemplary customer service
• Ability to work independently and to carry out assignments to completion within parameters of instructions given, prescribed routines, and standard accepted practices