Champagne Specialist - New York - SoHo Experiential

Description

The Champagne Specialist is a full-time position dedicated to brand building, education and selling activities for the ultra-premium Campari Wine & Champagne portfolio - Lallier and Fleur de Miraval (with some potential overlap to Miraval Provence). A natural at public speaking and the art of selling, the Champagne Specialist is passionate and deeply knowledgeable about the ultra-premium Champagne category and will serve as key point-of-contact for the brands amongst trade. The Champagne Specialist is ideally based out of the NY Metro area and needs to be able to travel up to 70% of the year throughout 4-focus markets: California, Florida, New York (Metro), Texas.
The ideal candidate is experienced in the commercial side of the business (account segmentation, influencing decision makers, effective selling stories that drive profit, product benefits, etc.) as well as hospitality. Holds credibility within the fine wine/champagne space as they will need to thrive in trade interfacing (mainly sommeliers) to build value with accounts in the Premium Bar, Fine Dining, Fine Wine Retail and Luxury Hotel segments.
The Champagne Specialist reports to the President.
Core Job Duties & Skills:

• Serve as product knowledge expert for the Campari Champagne brands, including Lallier and Fleur de Miraval, as well as the category as a whole
• In a very crowded category, educate trade and distributor partners on key points of differentiation
• Support sales division teams with distributor meetings, sommelier tastings, staff trainings, commercial work withs and trade events / private client events, in-store tastings as needed
• Business development: call on a specific subset of Target Accounts per market to drive distribution, velocity and visibility
• Collaborate with local Sales/Distributor teams to ensure proper Forecasting, Pricing and to ensure orders generated are placed/fulfilled
• Aim to convert key trade (i.e., sommeliers and account decision makers) and distributor partners into Lallier and Fleur de Miraval Champagne advocates
• Be the face of the brand for select consumer tastings and events

Trade Outreach & Engagement & WoW:

• Build relationships, goodwill, and business in core set of influential target accounts - especially with lead wine/beverage buyer(s), floor sommeliers/staff, GMs, bar staff
• Captivate and educate accounts through engaging and interactive storytelling and presentations
• Build a CRM database with wine professionals to optimize trade outreach for events and overall engagement
• Develop and maintain highly collaborative relationships with On Premise & Off Premise Distributor Sales Consultants, and Campari Sales Team - funneling all opportunities and sales-leads through Campari's channel managers; Campari channel managers to liaise with wholesale partners directly for orders/pricing/merchandising follow-ups
• Participate in the creation of unique brand experiences to motivate trade, connect them to the brand, and drive consideration as applicable

Events:

• Attend all high-level events and support the brand as needed
• Assist in planning and/or execution of select consumer and trade events
• Identify & execute critical trade events for building trade awareness/advocacy

Reporting & Admin:

• Formal meetings with Campari HQ, Local Sales, and Distributors to track status of annual KPIs (quarterly)
• Report market intelligence & trends in on/off-premise community to inform planning (ongoing, monthly)
• Status meetings with line manager (est. bi-weekly)
• Maintain timely T&E reporting schedule (ongoing)

Measurable Goals (KPIs):

• Market Visits
• Distributor trainings
• Distributor & Campari Work Withs / Blitzes
• Account Visits (70/30 On/Off Premise Split)
• Staff trainings
• New Points-of-Distribution (PODs)
• Menu Placements (BTG List, Bottle List, Features, etc.)
• Retail Distribution & Promotion
• Events (Trade, Consumer, Private Client)

Brand Support:

• Support Brand programs with promotion/recruiting and hosting as needed.
• Identify Industry trends and how to leverage them in the on/off-premise.
• Support new product and innovation projects.
• Help develop, audit and manage Brand training tool kits and materials.
• Liaise with Global Ambassadors for brand consistency and knowledge sharing

Experience & Qualifications:

• High School Diploma, Bachelor's preferred
• Proven category and brand expertise
• Previous Brand Ambassador and/or wine/spirits sales experience is mandatory
• Sommelier certification (CSS, WSET or similar certifications are highly preferred)
• Embody the essence of the brand in behavior and delivery of key brand messages
• Experience working with ultra-premium brand(s) and their clientele
• Cross-channel familiarity and experience is required
• Socially connected, holding strong relationships with Wine Industry/Influencer communities in key markets
• Basic experience with Microsoft Office and Microsoft Teams required
• French speaking, a plus

Required Competencies:

• Ability to build and maintain relationships with key internal stakeholders
• Proactively communicate and follow standardized Ways of Working
• Excellent presentation skills / Ability to retain key product information / Dynamic storyteller
• Strong communication skills, both oral and written
• Strong initiative, self-starter
• Experience in budget management
• Respects deadlines and commitments
• Clean driving record
• Willingness to travel when needed/requested (non-traditional days/hours, significant amounts of time on the road)
• Willingness to work FT, nontraditional, late-night & weekend hours as required
• Great Public Speaker
• Experience engaging with the trade in the educational context - training on brand
• Ability to create and plan events that bring brand priorities to life in a captivating, innovative way

What We Offer: *

• Competitive pay.
• Comprehensive benefits including medical, vision, dental, and access to a suite of wellness programs.
• A generous PTO policy including company holidays, vacation days, wellness days.
• Opportunities to learn and grow while making an impact.
• A group of people who value each other as much as the work we create.

*Certain employee benefits are only applicable to full-time employees.
We love our diverse workplace SoHo Experiential is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, color, gender, religion, age, sexual orientation, nationality or ethnic origin, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other occupationally irrelevant criteria.
Pay Range