Sales Manager
Resume:
GOWRI NATARAJAN
**********@*****.***
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gowrin
Objective
Obtain a role in an organization to expand my leadership responsibilities to improve operations, increase
profitability, and enhance company growth. My objective is to leverage my experience while continuing
to be challenged. I have 15+ years of experience working for service providers developing
marketing/operations strategy. My background in Management, Operations, Project Management, Six
Sigma and Technology represent a unique combination of disciplines. Personally, I have the drive and
determination to consistently achieve success as a leader in all of the organizations that I have worked
within the past.
Overview
Creative Strategy leader with over 10 years’ experience leading cross-functional and multi-disciplinary teams in
strategic planning, new business concept initiation and implementation, marketing and sales, and channel distribution;
expert in strategy creation and partner program development. Skilled on integrating marketing plans into overall
business strategy with a team-based approach, increased market share and brand equity. My strenghts include talent
building cohesive teams with strong problem solving skills, able to manage time-sensitive projects with multi-million
dollar budgets.
05/2005 – Present W.W. Grainger, Lake Forest, IL
W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE: GWW), a B2B, 21,400+ employees, $8.1B sales, facilities maintenance products
supplier US and abroad.
Strategic Operations Manager (2013 – Current)
Provide leadership and expertise to 15+ sourcing professionals and supervisors to ensure service, revenue, profit, expense
and operating earnings targets are achieved. Build strong relationships with field partners in specific districts and regions
to ensure sales opportunities are closed while balancing the needs of the customer and the company.
Accomplishments
• Manage a P/L of $38M. 2014 financial performance Vs. Plan: Sales 134% over plan, Gross Profit: 142% over
plan.
• Improved team members’ performance by coaching 4 low performers to attain consistently meet expectations.
• Lead three key projects (Metalworking sourcing strategy, Market ownership, and Healthcare and Oil & Gas
segments).
• Created a specific focus to partner with export team and improved e revenue/profit growth for the export business
by 26%.
• Increased service level metrics by developing standard work instructions to cross train team members to process
all assigned customers and vendors.
• Partnered with field partners to grow strategic accounts 3X YOY.
Brand Planning & Operations Manager (11/2012 – 07/2013)
Responsible for creating Dashboard, planning strategic activities that would support the $1B business. Identify and
communicate risks and opportunities and generate plans to address each.
Accomplishments
• Developed, analyze, and communicate business models to guide business decisions, promoting data-driven
strategic change.
• Managed strategic planning team daily and lead organization-wide strategy meetings.
• Lead strategic planning, and set and advocate for internal and external goals.
• Defined, track, and communicate metrics around new initiatives, comparing to previous outcomes.
• Focused on continuously improving processes, personal skills, and work quality by leveraging A3 Thinking
throughout the year. Track and manage the 3 buckets of T&E, Training & Education and professional services
• Providing on-time Safety driver, results metrics including competitive information. In addition I effectively
partner with cross-functional teams to measure tactical metrics
• Acted as the project manager for the Safety Value proposition development and rollout.
GOWRI NATARAJAN
**********@*****.***
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gowrin
• As a stretch partnered with the Healthcare segment to develop and roll out the safety strategy, which was beyond
my normal scope of responsibility.
Marketing Manager, Customer Segments/Business Platforms (03/2008 – 11/2012)
Responsible for creating and implementing go-to-market strategies for manufacturing customer segment and then new
channel across Grainger’s inventory management platform.
Accomplishments
• Exceeded revenue target by 23% by delivering $406M in scanned sales against a target of $330M.
• Exceeded vending installation target by 54% by developing and activating the industrial vending marketing
strategy.
• Conceptualized and launched KeepStock University – on-demand virtual training for 3,000 Sales team members –
delivering an increase in installs and reduced sales cycle time.
• Created, executed and managed $12M marketing budget for the Manufacturing customer portfolio.
• Created the annual 2012 multi-channel strategy and the execution plan for the $2.3B Manufacturing segment.
• Developed and delivered marketing strategies and integrated marketing campaigns for the food processing vertical
segment, resulting in 143% YTD goal. Developed training and tools for 235 account managers.
• Developed and tested direct mail campaigns, added additional contacts within active accounts with relevant
messaging and offers through multiple touches resulting in an ROI of 49:1. Drove $3.8M in revenue in 2011.
• Lead the development of Go-To Market strategy for 4 GPO manufacturing customers worth a potential $128M.
• Developed a relevant email campaign methodology to all manufacturing customers resulted so far about $4M
return with a minimum cost. This best practice has been implemented across all segments.
• Generated 21% YOY growth in machining category by building partnership between product management and
customer VOC.
• Developed, tested and rolled-out a new first Grainger safety service called online safety manager.
• Indirectly coached and managed a team of three consultants.
Associate Marketing Manager, Analytics (06/2005 - 2008)
• Data mined and built customer profiles and provided strategic insights.
• Introduced the Arima methodology of Sales Forecasting and trend measuring
• Delivered web based reporting/analysis for Grainger.com using Coremetrics, Webtrends and SQL Server.
• Enabled pricing and product management teams by developing IT strategies to improve business opportunities.
•
01/2002 – 2005 Officemax Inc, Naperville, IL
OfficeMax Incorporated is a $7.2 billion distributor and a leader in both B2B office products solutions and retail
office products
Senior Sales & Marketing Analyst
• Generated $30 million in annual sales among key corporate accounts by providing analytics and customer insights
• Automated Customer Insight Report (CIR) creation and reduced operational time and cost by over $3Million in
one year
• Led the full lifecycle of annual marketing campaigns for the large and medium size customers.
• Developed methodology to identify and classify customers based on SIC benchmark.
• Key role in developing the sales target and compensation for the different roles in the sales organization.
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• Previous Experience
• 2001 - 2002 Consultant - Volt Consulting Services
• 2000 - 2001 Student - Harper Community College
• 1997 - 1999 Project Manager - Sigma Computers, Inc, Chennai, India
• 1995 – 1996 Lecturer - MGR Engineering College, Chennai, India
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GOWRI NATARAJAN
**********@*****.***
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gowrin
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• Education/Professional Development
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA
Master of Business Administration, Majors: Finance and Marketing
• Madurai Kamaraj University, India
Master of Engineering, Majors: Microwave & Optical
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• Certifications
• Project Management Professional (PMP)
• ASQ-Certified Six Sigma Green Belt
• DMA, Microsoft Office, Business Systems analyst certification, Grainger Lean-Six Sigma Certified
• Additional Information - Proficient in SPSS, SAS,SAP BW, CRM, Business Objects, Microsoft Office (Word,
Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook), Microsoft Project, Visio, SQL,Oracle, FrontPage, HTML and Epiphany.
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• Professional activities
• Visiting Faculty at DeVry University 2014-Current
• Grainger’s Generational Business Resource Marketing Leader, 2012-2013
Grainger’s Asian Pacific Islander Business Resource Deployment Leader, 2013-Current
• Junior Achievement Volunteer 2013 - Current
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