Challenges
To continue to maintain and cultivate its large national accounts as well as to build new relationships in the Asian wholesale and third party label retail segments, SunFoods needed a Senior Sales and Marketing Manager with strong communication skills and extensive product supply chain knowledge. SunFoods needed someone with a keen understanding of the profitability of the sale, a solid track record of managing supply chain and distribution processes, and an ability to effectively conduct business relationships in the U.S., Asia, Australia, and elsewhere. With operations around the globe, this person needed to understand and have the capacity to manage the ups and downs of rice production considering the international scope. The unique need for the right combination of both skill and cultural fit for this sales position led SunFoods to engage Morrison to conduct the recruitment for this critical sales position, based on previous successful recruitments.
Solutions
Morrison worked closely with SunFoods to assess the skill and cultural fit must haves, evaluating the tangible and non-tangible requirements for success in this role. The Morrison team then worked to find candidates with global sourcing experience, deep understanding of commercial analysis and value proposition, import and export compliance, and raw material transportation. Critical to Morrison’s search was pursuing sales leaders adept at managing and developing people.
Successes
The search resulted in a new Senior Sales and Marketing Manager with more than 16 years’ experience in food sales. His prior career experience included developing Asian markets. He is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese and is experienced with large national accounts, international supply chain and global sourcing, and brings an understanding of Asian cultures and business practices and an ability to roll up his sleeves alongside his direct reports to successfully get the work done. Today, the recruited Senior Sales and Marketing Manager has been in his position for over a year and is excelling in his role.
I found the Morrison Team to be extremely professional, value added to our hiring effort and with a keen focus on customer service. A rare commodity in today’s transactional world. I would highly recommend Morrison for any company in need of quality professional recruitment.Matt Alonso | CEO SunFoods LLC
About the client
SunFoods, LLC is a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest branded rice companies, Australia’s SunRice Group. Based in Woodland, California, SunFoods produces and markets Hinode brand rice, which is sold predominately in Hawaii and the Western U.S. into both wholesale and retail distribution segments, including Walmart, Safeway, WinCo, and Kroger. SunFoods also handles, packages, and sells to wholesale customers in Asia. SunFoods plays a strategic role for their parent organization. It complements the company’s milling capacity in other countries with preferred and premium medium grain rice, provides an entry point to the U.S. market for branded rice products, as well as provides a source of drought contingency supply for the global brands and strategic customers around the world.
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