Customer Development Director

10th St. Talent has been retained on a confidential search for a privately held manufacturer in the Hudson Valley. They make premium products in the USA and sell them to preschools, childcare programs, and school districts. For decades, the business has grown on reputation and word of mouth, with a small customer service team handling orders as they came in. The board has recently approved growing this sales and customer service organization and this hire will lead that initiative.

Responsibilities

• Build the relationship with the product side of the business, who owns strategy, pricing and marketing.
• Train and coach the customer service/account manager team to elevate customer success and grow inside sales.
• Build the sales engine: territories, KPIs, incentive plans, CRM, forecasting.
• The salespeople carry territory, the account managers carry the relationships, and you build the processes.

Required Skills

• B2B commercial leadership across both sales and service, leading inside service and regional sales teams
• Building or rebuilding regional sales teams or inside account management and service teams
• Raising standards in service or account management teams, demonstrated by NPS, CSAT or retention
• Selling premium physical products to institutional or commercial buyers on long cycles, with procurement officers and bids involved
• Delivering on numbers while increasing customer satisfaction

Preferred Skills

• Education, childcare or children's products
• Familiarity with Head Start, CCDBG or state PreK funding
• Turning a support team into a selling team
• A manufactured goods background, where lead times and fulfillment are part of the sale

This role is on-site in Poughkeepsie with relocation assistance available.