Sales Manager

Shappelle Thompson

** ******* ***** . *********, *** York 14623

Residence: 585-***-**** . Mobile: 585-***-**** . Email:

abm1tb@r.postjobfree.com

Sales professional with strong new business development, relationship

management, account service and customer care skills seeking challenging

growth opportunity in consultative line of business

Professional Profile

Consultative sales professional skilled at driving results in super-

competitive lines, including commodity paper products, print media and

broadcast media. Credible and dependable. Adept at creating opportunity,

identifying under-served markets, developing creative and competitive

offerings, and closing the business. Hardworking and disciplined. A

natural feet-on-the-street sales professional confident and comfortable

prospecting and cold calling to market difficult-to-sell products.

Authentic and genuine. A good listener proficient at discerning and

translating customer requirements. Flexible. Eager and enthusiastic at

the prospect of earning a new challenge in a related or unrelated field

of endeavor.

Areas of Expertise

< Marketing oriented. A marketing big-picture thinker skilled at

developing effective advertising plans and strategies to drive

results, frequently competing against similar or stronger players.

< Go-to-market planning. Skilled at identifying niche opportunities and

creating marketing strategies and tactics to drive profitable sales

results.

< Troubleshooting. Consistently well regarded for finesse in managing

difficult customer situations and taking at-risk accounts/clients and

converting them to raving fans.

< Relationship building. Tenacious at developing high-value, high-touch

relationships that lead to new business and earn repeat business and

customer loyalty.

< Relationship management. Meticulous customer care/account management

skills essential to marketing tangibles and intangibles commonly

viewed as commodities or negative products.

Professional History

Harrigan-Brady Paper and Packaging, Inc., Account Representative (2/09-

Present)

Recruited for position marketing paper and packaging solutions in the

Greater Rochester Area. Develop new business, service and support

existing high-dollar-value accounts, and consult with clients on

solutions. Devise market penetration strategies per overall strategic

goals. Author proposals and make presentations to purchasing,

engineering and middle management. Contemplating new challenges offering

greater career advancement potential.

< Capturing a hidden market. Identified a major piece of business

valued at $32K annually with a little-known hospital chain. Specified

cost-effective, competitive solutions that earned the client's trust.

The benefit: Entry into a new, profitable market space with little

competition-saving the client approximately 12% annually.

< Recapturing a lost customer. Arrived with two dozen donuts and a box

of coffee, pled for an audience and recaptured five out of seven

valuable pieces of business that had been lost. The net, net, net:

Restoration of $12K in profitable business.

Nexstar Broadcasting/WUHF and WROC TV, Account Executive (1/04-7/08)

Recruited for position responsible for developing new business and

maintaining current accounts for this media "duopoly." Developed

marketing strategies to drive ad sales. Cold called on prospective

clients and present buys to clients. Left to accept professional sales

opportunity in a more secure industry.

< Tenaciously developing new business. Cold called on a local home

improvement contractor for more than three months just to earn an

appointment. Completed thorough "due diligence" on the prospect,

learning that the company was a member of the Better Contractors

Bureau. Carefully scripted the pitch to ask smart questions and offer

the right product mix, effectively securing their commitment that

same day. The results: A happy client who racked up eight new signed

customers the week their promotion ran-a total return valued at

approximately $35K.

< Making a market with a distant college client. Drove three hours to a

Southern-Tier college to pitch and present ideas on how TV could

increase market awareness of the college and drive student

applicants. The results: A first-of-its-kind media buy valued at $40K

for three months.

< Growing the business in a tough market. Grew the Everest Institute

account from less than $200K annually to almost $500K. The results: A

22% increase over the prior year-a significant increase during a

period in which the local market experienced a 26% decrease in sales.

Shappelle Thompson, page 2

Residence: 585-***-**** . Mobile: 585-***-**** . Email:

abm1tb@r.postjobfree.com

< Overcoming barriers to build sales. Converted the Direct Buy monthly

buy from $2K per month sometimes to $8K per month every month by

building bridges and growing the personal relationship. The results:

$96K in new annual revenue to the station.

Gannett Rochester Newspapers/Democrat and Chronicle, Account Executive

(7/02-1/04)

Marketed and sold retail print advertising for this media giant.

Established new accounts and grew existing business. Supported clients

by developing creative print campaigns to drive business objectives.

Developed and delivered sales presentations to clients. Provided day-to-

day account service to clients as necessary. Left to accept opportunity

offering greater growth potential out of a declining industry.

< Making a market creatively. Took a fresh approach to marketing what

had become a very stale product-tried-and-true print media.

Identified an opportunity with the City of Rochester where the city

could fund advertising costs associated with businesses in certain

economic development zones. Worked with manager to create an "urban

retail" section of the paper that would offer ads at preferred

prices. The results: Sold 20 businesses special month-to-month

advertising packages valued at $7,200 total, ultimately signing 41

active accounts over the period.

< Replicating the plan to make new markets. Taking what had been

learned in Rochester, took the Newark section of the paper and

marketed month-to-month ads to small business prospects. The results:

$25,000 in new revenue out of thin air...all brought about through

effective cold calling and promotion of a product that met market

requirements!

< Recognition and reward. Honored as Sales Rep of the Month two months

in a row for excellence in sales achievement...jumping over dollars

to pick up dimes!

Cintas, Sales Representative (4/00-6/02)

Sold industrial laundry service, uniforms and rental services for this

market leader in the textile business. Established new business.

Serviced existing accounts and worked to renew customer contracts.

Closed out daily invoices and balanced paid accounts. Left to accept

less physically demanding position.

< Effective route sales marketing. Covering a route that spanned from

Rochester to Attica on the west and Perry and Warsaw to the south,

worked to troubleshoot innumerable long-standing problems in the

field. In one case, converted an angry under-served asphalt paving

customer to a raving fan by selling him dozens of new uniforms and

renting him innumerable additional supplies at discounted prices to

retain the business-ultimately earning the customer's long-term

business...a win-win for all parties that kept a customer from going

to the competition.

Famous Footwear, Assistant Manager (4/96-4/00)

Managed busy retail store for this footwear seller. Hired and fired,

placed help-wanted ads, screened and interviewed candidates, trained

employees, completed quarterly performance reviews and processed weekly

payroll. Coordinated the efforts of more than ten employees. Left to

accept promotional opportunity out of store-level retail management.

< Sell. Sell. Sell. Working with the cheerleading coach for a local

Catholic school, sourced product and sold as many as 22 pairs of

sneakers annually three years in a row. The results: A regular

customer who could always be counted on for $900 in sales at the

beginning of every season.

< Store quotas. Consistently met or exceed all weekly and monthly store

sales quotas by effectively motivating and managing the team, up

selling customers and ensuring that the right product was on the

floor at the right time. The results: Earned top-level ranking as one

of the top three sales managers in the company out of 40 stores-

nominated by the local district manager in recognition of

performance.

Interim Position

Nielsen TV Ratings, Membership Service Representative (7/08-1/09)

Education

Rochester Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Science, E-commerce

(pending completion May 2011)

Minor: Advertising and Public Relations . GPA: 3.50

Monroe Community College, Associates of Science, Communications

Outside Activities & Affiliations

Anthony L. Jordan Health Center, board of directors member . Channel 15

TV, volunteer independent TV producer . Clarissa Street Reunion

Committee, volunteer marketing coordinator . Good Shepherd Church, CYO

Basketball, volunteer junior varsity coach

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