Sales Manager

**** **** ***** ***** 905-***-****

LEO BENKO Mississauga, ON. L5W 1T2 ac93ua@r.postjobfree.com

PROFILE

Sales and Marketing Leadership

Strategic, results driven leader with comprehensive sales and marketing management abilities primed with industry leaders. Effective team builder and coach. Develops customer-centric cultures and processes to generate new business and grow customer and brand value. Strong communicator and proven leader in:

Marketing and Business Development

Building Superior Sales Teams

Strategic Alliance/Key Account Building

Dealer/Distribution Channel Performance

Brand & Product Management

Sales Operations & Supply Chain Mgmt.

Strategic Analysis/Business Planning

Sales Forecasting/Budgeting

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

SKYLINK TECHNOLOGIES INC., Brampton, Ontario 2018

Sales, Marketing and Operations Director

Led NA operations of Chinese electronics and garage door opener manufacturer to significant growth in pro installer market and to retailers, including CTC, Walmart, Costco, Home Depot and Amazon.

SEAL KING INC., Brampton, ON 2015-Present

General Manager

Hired, trained and coached 3 sales representatives and grew sales by 43% over 2 years. Led all marketing activities. Developed sales and marketing strategy to increase Ontario and US distribution.

Extensively improved the persuasiveness, utility and clarity of all printed communications and product labels. Updated website with new safety and tech data sheets to improve user experience.

SENIOR FLEXONICS CANADA, Brampton, ON 2013- 2014

Inside Sales Manager

Led 7 Inside Sales Engineers for a leading flexible connection systems manufacturer. Team designed and sold custom assemblies, with contract values that often exceeded six figures. Streamlined workflow and developed metrics to improve team effectiveness and launch new Business Development programs.

LARSON JUHL CANADA, (A Berkshire Hathaway Company) Mississauga, ON 2004-2012

Canadian General Manager (Consulting from 2010)

Led and restructured operations of Canada’s leading framing manufacturer, with170 employees and 4 branches. Prior to integrating Canadian team with US Group, I championed Lean initiatives to increase productivity, simplify operations and raise customer service levels. Minimized replenishment cycle times and increased turns. Workflow changes saved over $1.5M in yearly payroll. Led HR and H&S programs.

Developed Canadian marketing strategy and guided Marketing Manager in the creation of annual price book/catalogue, in store promotions, and product and dealer support materials. Managed promotional programs with vendors and negotiated pricing, supply, co-op and rebate agreements with them.

Strategic relationship building increased market share. Won Canadian wholesale exclusivity for an industry leading brand. Doubled sales with key customer (to $700K) by displacing main competitor.

Dynamic Product Launch Strategy and targeted marketing campaigns generated dealer and consumer excitement and strengthened Company’s position as the leading wholesaler to the custom framing trade.

VELCRO INDUSTRIES, BV, (Various Roles and Locations) 1987-2003

Commercial Director, Europe, Velcro Europe, Barcelona, Spain 1998-2003

Profit and Loss and Strategic Planning responsibility for the sales, marketing, distribution and customer service activities of Europe’s largest touch fastening manufacturer. The 60-member team, with 5 branch operations, consistently achieved earnings targets and took sales to $90M in FY2002. Grew sales by 50% over 4 years and extended our brand and market leadership across Europe.

Built a cross functional commercial, manufacturing and product development team to identify target markets and resolve customer needs, develop new products and create value added applications and end user solutions for industrial OEM, construction, consumer, medical and automotive fastening markets.

Streamlined and standardized business planning process with country managers to advance strategic continental objectives, develop national opportunities and regularly review progress.

Guided sales team and forged strategic distribution alliances to drive growth, increase market share and account base, leverage brand equity and cost-effectively expand sales into Eastern Europe and Africa.

Velcro Limited (formerly Addey Milner Limited), Manchester, England

Managing Director (General Manager) 1996-1998

Led turnaround to profitability and successfully groomed my successor. Company was a family owned distributor that Velcro recently acquired to be their UK foothold. Sales growth of 60% in 3 years led to the acquisition of largest UK manufacturer in 1999. Developed business plan to purchase fabrication equipment and warehouse to exploit new value-added opportunities, increase margins and grow customer base. Expanded and coached sales force to further accelerate growth and leverage distributor sales.

Improved warehouse, order entry and purchasing procedures to increase productivity. Achieved ISO 9002 certification. Increased inventory turns and fill rates while improving cash flow and collections.

Created, led and empowered cross functional teams to analyze root causes and implement corrective actions to improve financial reporting and greatly reduce order fulfillment errors.

Velcro Canada Inc. Brampton, ON

Ontario and National Accounts Sales Manager 1991-1996

Doubled Ontario sales between 1992 and 1995. Growth achieved through competitive gains, value-added applications development, and distributor and sales force training programs.

Applied the Production/Quality systems Velcro Industries used extensively as an automotive supplier to develop supply partnerships with large industrial OEMs, primarily competitive recaptures. A problem-solving sales process, innovative packaging and sub-assembly design and Kan-Ban inventory systems were used to increase our value to our customers.

Region (team of five) consistently achieved highest scores in customer satisfaction surveys.

Marketing and National Accounts Manager 1987-1991

Strong industrial and consumer market experience in marketing and pricing strategy, sales literature, communications and package design, product sourcing and development, pricing and margin analysis, merchandising, promotion, tradeshow, distribution channel and agent management.

Streamlined and automated order entry system to reduce errors and provide timely and accurate delivery information to customers. Led National Customer Service project to obtain ISO 9001 certification. Productivity gains enabled Customer Service to add Inside Sales support without increasing staff count. Created and implemented KPIs for fill rate evaluation, sales and market analysis, customer satisfaction surveys, demand forecasting and inventory management. Responsible for all government bids.

Conducted SWOT analyses and developed a strategic growth plan to build new markets and distribution channels. Plan significantly increased market share, earnings and brand strength in following years.

EDUCATION

YORK UNIVERSITY, MBA, Toronto, ON

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, Honours BA (High Distinction)

Fluent in Spanish, with working knowledge of French and Slovenian languages.

Active Member, Lean Enterprise Institute. Proficient Microsoft Office user.

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