Manager Sales
Resume:
Robert J. Brown III
RESUME
Career Objective
Sales and/or Marketing management position with either an established or challenger to the status quo organizations which either wishes to maintain or exceed market-share expectations based on market driven proprietary or licensed research generating best in class products and services.
I. THE BASIS OF VALUES -Roots
Having been fortunate to have traveled to more than 26 countries, to become acquainted with other cultures easily transcending cultural limitations yet recognizing the differences and the reasons behind the diversity that makes us all so uniquely human. Bilingual in English and Spanish, I have extensive experience in international agribusiness working with renowned yet unknown to the public, hardworking gifted artists of genetics, the nameless plant geneticists, who have increased the world food supply many times over saving millions. Increasing business activities all along the food supply chain that feeds us. All critical industries have these people with a vision of the future just as every tool from CRM software to intuitive text has been designed by some nameless people who are our true cultural heroes a they have given us the tool of commerce have worked extensively with marketing driven research, but the pleasure in this part of the business is in building successful relationships of trusted mutual reliance. II. THE PREPARATION – It is a Ritual
A product must be positioned in the best light possible which will appeal to the buyer’s analytical emotions, but because before he sees the product I must know as much about the client, the company, and their products, their products uses, and their customers uses extensively. All the best points to emphasize and the weak points, not to be hidden but to be addressed, then flattened into irrelevance by the advantages. if they are not deal killers never hide the weak points but rather bring them up as matter of fact to be discussed, because the buyer already knows about them, and I as the products advocate already have the answers. Always be ready to address the unexpected and when faced with it if you do know the answer suggest it as well as state that you have or will speak with management, research, and or production about it. When faced with an issue you do not know the answer to, this the one answer that maintains authority, dignity and above all else, integrity is honesty. Honesty builds more credibility for you as an individual and your company’s image. Then team up with the customer to find the answer so that he becomes part of the answer. He ROBERT J. BROWN III
Sales & Marketing Professional
2533 Antonio Drive Unit 105
Camarillo, CA 93010
***************@*****.***
becomes part of the process of developing better products when the answer is found he will own it, combine the unexpected with the counterpoint that the customer makes his own points augmented by the already known. The fact not just the belief that he helped to make the point but to make sure the client realizes while being led to this conclusion he is tacitly agreeing to buy what he can from what is available from the current program, in exchange for taking part in the solution an investment must also be made at the buyers level to buy, which funds the application of the answer he has thought of, funds from which create the cash flow that fuels the company. Is it counterproductive if we are ready to address those concerns in the closing when we have shown how the products advantages superseded any flaws?
Do Not Forget to Ask the customer for the order because he or she is ready to buy from you, they closed the deal themselves with their own successful solution that you led them to. Great job. Have him sign the contract, get out of his hair, head back to the office file the order to be processed and send he or she a handwritten thank you note with a gift certificate to good restaurant they can enjoy with their significant other.
III THE RESULTS – The Customer Close
I want to make the buyers job easier, we provide solutions because we know what our product can do, and we know what the client needs, if my voice, in my writing, in my marketing materials, in the staff’s confidence in me, in my sales and tech team’s follow-up to insure it is working, pointing it out to the client so they can report favorably to their managers. You can only do the best that you can do and nothing more. They know that I’m doing the best I can for all concerned. To summarize my experience these points, detailed information follows
• I have managed multi-million-dollar companies, marketing campaigns, new product launches, media buys, print, audio, and video production, sales & marketing staff, worked closely with marketing, research, and development teams directing them to the marketplace needs.
• I have been responsible for the seamless consolidation of a takeover target into the international subsidiary I managed.
• I have increased sales at every company but one during my career.
• I have brought to the last major technologically challenged industry the tools of success in the 21t century setting them up for the next wave. Ride that wave or fall behind.
• To get to that point I earned the respect that comes from doing the best you can do and the best I can do is more than enough the most I can do is more than anyone else can do, more than enough.
• I did the best I could do by asking educated questions, studying the customer market, listening, coaching, listening, coaching and over again and then received the best from where it had to come from, the team, the company of people I wanted did what I had to do to receive the win, even in in 2nd place there I no losing, only opportunity to get better.
• I was given responsibility for Sales, Marketing, Operations, IT, HR, Finance, Product Development, Customer Service, Training because of these principles.
August 1, 2016 – March 30, 2018 Corona Seed Co. General Manager I arrived at Corona Seed with high expectations and hopes of buying this company after a period of learning the intricacies of this mature 23-year old seed distributor with an annual turnover in the range of $4- 5 million. I found a company that was financially healthy, no debt, low inventory, yet without a clear picture of where it fit into the working dynamic of the seed industry and a rudderless future. With sales stuck at this level for 10 years, and an aging tired sales staff with negative opinions of the company, its ownership, and of each other constantly pointing out to on an almost daily basis the shortfalls of the other.
I did the best I could to right the course of this ship to steer it into seas of plenty. I learned valuable lessons though including the most important of part of running a business, managing the cash very closely. The daily, weekly, bi weekly, monthly, semi- and annual tasks that must be conducted for a company to be successful. This art of discipline and diligence to detail, helps to avoid
& catch cash and banking errors with the resulting loses, 3 times there were Criminal acts of forgery by outsiders to steal cash, 3 times in 18 months, 3 times the acts were caught quickly by management, 3 times the company convinced Bank of America they had erred and were responsible for not catching the criminal acts while in process. The criminal got away with it, but the bank had to absorb all the costs. But only because the owner who is very detail oriented reminded the bank that they recommended expensive hologram sealed check sets that would guarantee the company would not fall victim to forger. Th ecompny did not lose
• Check what is being done by sales staff, office administration, check for errors & compliance with company processes,
• monitor cash flow, income, and outgo, analyze all against history, improve wherever possible within the budgetary constraints performing accounts on an ongoing basis.
• Check for completion of daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi, and annual basis.
• Sales forecasts, organized weekly staff meeting & sales meeting (they did not before I arrived)
• Improve the morale, set an example and keep the staff interested in improvements, via coaxing, rewards, revamping the
• incentive plan, and coaching via seminars, backing them by visiting clients with them.
• Marketing literature updates, Constant Contact monthly newsletter by email, revamped pricelists, website totally redone with new products but still within the budget. In English and Spanish.
• Despite resistance from the entire staff I instituted the beginnings of a CRM program with Slack and was moving towards adopting Zoho CRM which I continued after leaving as I set up my own consulting firm, NuLife Associates. I was able to sign the company up with a limit of 5 users at minimal charge for trial run of it effectiveness on productivity. I especially wanted the sales staff to start recording their calls on a user-friendly sale platform that was accessible
• I opened new accounts/distributors in Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco, UAE, Iraq, Iran, North Africa, Mexico, and the West Indies. Some of them especially in the Middle East require exclusivity of a brand. Before granting contracts, which had to be negotiated by product to maintain a minimum annual purchase we had be very selective of who we granted the exclusivity to because their performance or nonperformance if you will, can either catapult forward or set back marketing strategy for years. Previous experience with the people running the companies and determining clarity of their motives were an important part of the background checks.
• At the time of my departure the owner had agreed with my almost 1 year initiative to open a new sales territory north of Santa Barbara to Salinas and hire the man I selected. This will generate another source of revenue from California’s top premium growers and the product they use which is generally more expensive but with less liability because of their tried and tested backgrounds that came from excellent research programs from solid companies I was prepared to purchase this business despite what I perceived to be many issues left to be corrected but I had a good plan ready to be executed on the first day I was the owner. However, at the end of the day the deal killer was the price and with the owner not appearing to back down after over 6 months plus the tension levels rising with everyone including myself I decided it was time to leave for a break.
April 1, 2016 – July 31, 2016 SandiaTec, Inc. Sales Manager SandiaTec Inc, is a diversified corporation with:
Division 1 - Custom farming – Farms 1000+ acres for contract vegetable for fresh produce and seed crops Division 2 - Seed cleaning and milling for its own contract production and has the infrastructure necessary to deliver clean and size graded seed in fulfillment of its own production contracts and offers the service for other who typically do not have their own in house or nearby facilities.
Division 3 – Homegreens –Homegreens is a unique retake on the garden in a box which is marketed as a year-round vegetable garden via Amazon and direct mail order producing delicious healthy living sprouts for the kitchen as fresh produce for 12 months of the year. It sprouts under ordinary household light and temperatures, you would think this would be great for garden centers. But that mode of thought was limited. I had an idea for a complementary strategy. We aimed the kit at wholesale school material providers and directly at elementary school districts decision makers of upcoming school years curriculum during the late spring when curriculum of the upcoming year is decided and what materials were needed to formulate their budget, most school districts publish on the web the people to contact with their email and telephone number. I hired people from a government funded agency that was charged with finding jobs for their graduates subsidizing their first 90 days, I interviewed them, testing their skills at Microsoft Excel and then their telephone manner by preparing a script for them to read onto a recording app, we had purchased a Dialpad system on which once they had an interested customer on the line the calls were transferred to me to go over the details, I would emphasize how this kit would satisfy 2 or more of the mandated science criteria, drop then First Lady Michelle Obamas Eat Vegetables Campaign and close the close the deal. It was successful low-cost telemarketing effort with sales increasing from 7-10 boxes per week to 70- 100 crates of 10 boxes per week by the time I left. It was truly a very good product which was a pleasure to represent. August 1, 2015 - March 31, 2016 Good Harvest Seed Inc. Vice President -COO I was recruited to this start up subsidiary of a moderately known Chinese owned vegetable research, seed producer and distributor with quite frankly, a doubling of my salary, a commitment for stock options, and a 3 year employment contract to build their subsidiary the offer was made shortly after the time I had been given a $10,000 raise per year at Emerald which was the first and only raise I had received in the 7 years I was there. I am not completely sure what happened to them, but they abandoned the deal by not fulfilling any of the financial obligations necessary which had been approved by their Board of Directors to start the business up. They never paid more than $40,000 of the budget and never answered the question of why they had done this, so I can only speculate that they were heavily in debt to their bank and when Chinese bank credit was significantly tightened in September 2015 that their own survival was threatened and as far as I know this company has been closed. I inquired in to my old position at Emerald, but they had already hired the owner’s cousin for the position, he was qualified for the position, so I had nowhere to go but elsewhere.
They owe me the balance of my employment contract - $320,000. and a Modesto area grower $15,000. It bothers me that the grower remains unpaid.
December 1, 2007 – July 31,
2015
Emerald Seed Company Global Sales & Marketing
Manager
I was basically unhappy with my arrangement with my previous employer, so I approached the owner of Emerald with the idea of hiring me to be his first ever professional sales and marketing manager. We did a wonderful job; the products were being accepted by customers on a parallel with other major companies reducing their number of authorized distributors therefore creating an even larger market for competitive products.
• Sales doubled in the 1st 4 years that I was Sales Manager
• Sales were almost tripled by the time I left.
• Instituted and fine-tuned a Microsoft program to serve as a CRM (obsolete by now but at the time it worth the while).
• As the no. 2 in the organization I had the authority to carry out marketing plans without much upper approval necessary, so I tried many approaches to the market to determine which worked where and which did not.
• On my own initiative I sourced out and upon my urging we introduced 2 new and successful product lines that generated hundreds of thousands of new revenues
• I left this company only because I was seduced by an offer of double my income, this was the largest error of my professional life
GRAPHS OUTLINING RJB CAREER EXPERIENCE
tasks Sales Marketing Operations InfoTech HR
Prod
Dev Cust Serv Training Finance
Corona X X X X X X X X X
SandiaTec X X X X X X X X
Emerald X X X X X X
U Genetics X X X X X
GoVaSd X X X X
Samen Msr X X X X X X X X X
Neuman X X X X X
ARCO X X X X X
Dessert X X X X
totals 9 9 7 4 6 8 9 5 3
Other companies I have worked with, detailed information available upon request March 1, 2005 – Nov 30, 2007 United Genetics Seed Company Sales Manager, U.S. & Mexico
August 1, 2001 - February 28, 2005 Golden Valley Seed Sales & Marketing Manager
January 1, 2001 – July 31, 2001 Rutter Media
Key Account Manager
July 1, 1996 – December 31, 2000 Samen Mauser America, Inc. President / CEO
July 1, 1994 – June 30, 1996 Samen Mauser AG, Winterthur, Switzerland General Manager NAFTA region (Located in El
Centro, CA)
May 1986 – June 15, 1994 Neuman Seed International, El Centro, CA International Sales Manager Regional Sales Manager Purchasing
Manager – Seed Marketing / Advertising Manager
November 1981 – May 1986 ARCO Seed Company, El Centro, CA National Sales Representative
Flower Seed Department Interim Manager Seed purchasing June 1981 – November 1981 ARCO Seed Company, El Centro, CA Inventory Control Specialist (short
term assignment to learn the inner
workings of a seed company)
March 1979 – June 198 Dessert / ARCO Seed Company, El Centro, CA Export Manager / Credit Manager
CAREER SUMMARY
• Experience in sales and marketing of vegetable, field, and flower seed.
• Exposure to domestic and foreign markets, market research, product research, product testing, advertising, and product launch on wholesale, distributor, and retail levels.
• Advance purchase and production planning of product to cover both anticipated and spot customer demands.
• Employee selection and supervision.
• Insurance administration/risk management, including worker’s compensation, equipment, and product liability.
• Set-up and implementation of a computerized inventory control program.
• Introduction and management of proprietary artichoke, hybrid cucumber, onion, pepper, melon, squash, tomato, watermelon and additional specialty product seed trialing and marketing efforts for the specific geographical areas for which the products are adapted.
• Worked closely with geneticists in major vegetable breeding programs to assist them in recognizing market needs for new products.
• Geographical areas of market exposure and extensive travel include United States (all regions), Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, Eastern Europe, Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Japan.
• Traveled for management meetings with European company management annually to France and Switzerland from 1991 until 2001.
• Proposed and engineered the acquisition of a U.S. based established company and merged it into Samen Mauser America to create new marketing channels for SM and to provide the infrastructure necessary to operate in the Americas.
• Bilingual – English / Spanish
• Computer literate – Microsoft Office Suite, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access. EDUCATION
Central Union High School, El Centro, CA –
1975 Imperial Valley College – Imperial, CA
1976-78 College of the Sequoias – Visalia, CA
1978-79
San Diego State University – San Diego & Calexico, CA 1980-83 Bachelor of Arts Sociology – Minor in business management, with emphasis on marketing, 2016 San Diego State University – Certification in Chinese Language and Culture FAMILY BACKGROUND
Born in El Centro, California on August 18, 1957, of immigrant parents from Scotland and Mexico respectively. Raised in a multi-cultural environment where both English and Spanish languages and traditions were observed.
Divorced with 2 daughters, I raised them as a single parent since 2006, the oldest is now a Registered Nurse managing a hospital Emergency Room while studying for her Masters Degree at the University of San Diego live in our home town of El Centro, the youngest is a student studying to become a Nurse at Ventura College lives with me in Camarillo. SPECIAL INTERESTS
Health:
Height 5-foot 8 inches Weight 160 lbs. Blood pressure 120/80. Heart beat – 70s - In very good physical condition having maintained a steady exercise program since high school. Recreational activities include jogging, physical fitness, occasional tennis, and art appreciation.
ORGANIZATIONAL & COMMUNITY AFFILIATIONS
Representative of my employer at:
American Seed Trade Association
California Seed Association
Arizona Seed Trade Association
CAADES Expo-Agro – Culiacán, México
Irapuato Expo – Irapuato, México
Agritrade Expo & Conference – Antigua, Guatemala
Ohio Short Course Flower Conference Latin American Trade Show – Miami, FL El Centro Chamber of Commerce
Community Service affiliations –
Rotary International Club of El Centro – Chairman Partners in Service 2001-2005 – Southwest High School Interact Liaison 2001 - 2005 Rotary International Club of El Centro Board of Directors – 1996-2001 Rotary International Club of El Centro – President 1999-2000 Rotary International Club of Imperial Valley – Board of Directors – 2010 – 2014 Rotary International Club of Imperial Valley – President – 2012-13 El Centro Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors – April 2013 – August 2015 St. Mary Catholic Church – Finance Committee – 2015 Knights of Columbus – 3rd Degree
SCORE – Attendee
Camarillo Chamber of Commerce – Attendee
Padre Serra Parish – Camarillo, California
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