Sales Associate and Representative

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Full Time Lakewood, NJ, US

Salary Range: $50,000.00 To $70,000.00 Annually

Company Overview

Astor Chocolate is a 4th generation privately held, family-owned company and has been a leading purveyor of chocolate for over 90 years, with our core strengths being innovation, creativity, and dedication to creating premium products. The company services multiple industries ranging from Hospitality, Travel Retail, Food Service, ASI, and Gourmet specialty retailers. Astor, with our energetic team atmosphere, believes the success of our growth is our strong commitment to developing our employees' potential.

We are committed to building the company with talented and motivated individuals who will uphold our mission of being a market leader by innovating and servicing our customers with extreme dedication.

The Sales Associate/Representative is a "farmer and hunter" role responsible for ensuring the successful growth of all current Hospitality Sales products while actively growing a new account base. This role contributes to Astor Chocolate's continued market leadership within the hospitality channel by nurturing and expanding existing customer relationships and by prospecting, pursuing, and closing new business. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a genuine, relatable, and competitive sales approach, strong follow-through, and the drive to consistently meet monthly sales goals.

• Maintain and grow the existing customer account base (the "Farmer" role):
  • Build relationships and positive rapport through consistent, professional contact.
  • Call consistently to secure orders, introduce new items, and send out samples.
  • Conduct periodic personal visits to key accounts.
  • Provide full customer service, including troubleshooting, problem solving, and account maintenance.
  • Continuously review product mix, pricing, and charges to ensure both customer and company are well served.
  • Respond quickly and effectively to customer needs and requests, proactively improving selection and service.
• Prospect and secure new accounts to grow the business (the "Hunter" role):
  • Research leads and make cold calls.
  • Send samples and provide written quotes.
  • Follow up on all correspondence and do what is necessary to close the sale.
• Build and maintain corporate relationships with buyers within an established core group of target companies; continually rework product selection to the customer's satisfaction and expand account coverage.
• Identify and pursue new categories and sales opportunities; develop a business plan to cover these areas.
• Represent Astor Chocolate at trade shows and in-person sales presentations as required; travel for personal customer visits as needed.
• Meet a monthly sales goal (in dollars).
• Track seasonal sales, mailings, and other reporting as needed; provide information to help understand past performance and future opportunities.
• Support marketing needs by assisting with testing and reviewing website and brand collateral, and providing market input for trade show development.
• Partner effectively with the department Administrative Assistant on written quotes, clerical support, customer service items (credits, samples, orders), and order tracking - submitting requests as early as possible to avoid last-minute turnarounds.

• Bachelor's degree plus 2 years of relevant experience, OR 4 years of sales experience in lieu of a degree.
• Must be intelligent and well-spoken, with strong writing and communication skills.
• Comfortable with computers, email, Excel, and database programs.
• Strong time-management skills with the ability to juggle multiple tasks.
• Willingness and ability to travel occasionally for customer visits and industry trade shows.

We offer a competitive compensation package including:

• Base salary of $50,000-$70,000, plus commission (commission plan provided separately by the Hiring Manager).