Inside Sales Manager
Location: Skokie, IL | Hybrid
Company: Jelmar / CLR Brands
Position Overview
Jelmar, the family-owned company behind the trusted CLR® brand, is seeking a motivated and results-oriented Inside Sales Manager to manage and grow a portfolio of retail accounts while supporting sales agency partners across multiple trade channels.
Reporting to the Director, Retail Sales, this role will be responsible for day-to-day customer management, sales agency coordination, account growth initiatives, sales reporting, and business development support. The ideal candidate is organized, analytical, relationship-focused, and eager to build a successful career in consumer-packaged goods (CPG) sales.
This position offers an opportunity to take ownership of customer relationships while developing expertise in retail sales, account management, and channel development.
Revised Key Responsibilities
Account Management & Growth
- • Manage a portfolio of assigned retail accounts across multiple channels.
- • Develop and execute customer growth plans focused on sales, distribution, profitability, and promotional effectiveness.
- • Identify opportunities for assortment expansion, secondary placement, pricing optimization, and new item placement.
- • Monitor customer performance and competitive activity to identify growth opportunities and risks.
- • Build strong working relationships with customers and internal cross-functional teams.
- • Conduct regular business reviews and customer follow-up activities.
Sales Agency Management
- • Serve as the primary point of contact for assigned sales agency partners.
- • Communicate customer priorities, promotional plans, distribution goals, and selling initiatives.
- • Track progress against objectives and ensure timely follow-up on customer opportunities.
- • Support agency partners with selling materials, customer insights, and executional priorities.
- • Hold agency partners accountable for delivering against agreed-upon objectives.
Sales Execution & Analytics
- • Analyze sales performance, distribution trends, promotional results, and customer opportunities.
- • Prepare customer presentations, sales reports, and business review materials.
- • Manage item submissions, promotional forms, customer requests, and project timelines.
- • Utilize Monday.com and other systems to track customer activities, projects, and follow-up actions.
- • Maintain accurate sales forecasts and opportunity pipelines.
New Business Development
- • Support the identification and evaluation of new retail opportunities.
- • Assist in prospecting, presentation development, and customer onboarding activities.
- • Coordinate samples, selling materials, and follow-up communications.
- • Work with sales leadership to assess strategic fit and growth potential.
Qualifications
- • Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Sales, or related field preferred.
- • 2-4 years of sales, account management, customer service, retail, or CPG experience.
- • Experience working with retail customers, brokers, or sales agencies preferred.
- • Strong communication, relationship-building, and presentation skills.
- • Highly organized with strong attention to detail and follow-through.
- • Analytical mindset with proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint.
- • Experience with CRM or project management platforms such as Monday.com preferred.
- • Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
- • Self-motivated with a desire to grow into larger account management responsibilities.
"What Success Looks Like"
- • Assigned accounts achieve sales, distribution, and profitability goals.
- • Sales agency partners are aligned, engaged, and executing against priorities.
- • Customer requests, submissions, and projects are completed accurately and on time.
- • New opportunities are identified and advanced through the sales pipeline.
- • Strong relationships are developed with customers, brokers, and internal teams.
- • The individual demonstrates increasing ownership and responsibility across accounts and channels.
