Designer Account Executive

Job duties include contact with other employees and access confidential and proprietary information and/or other items of value, and such access may be supervised or unsupervised. The Company therefore has determined that a review of criminal history is necessary to protect the business and its operations and reputation and is necessary to protect the safety of the Company's staff, employees, and business relationships.

Core Responsibilities

Convert residential designers to Sherwin-Williams colors and products by meeting, influencing, and building relationships with Residential Designers and Architects.

• Conduct face-to-face scheduled appointments, phone prospecting and email communications with Residential Designers and Architects to educate them on the features and benefits of Sherwin-Williams' premium paint products.
• Guide the Residential Designers and Architects on the benefits of specifying a specific Sherwin-Williams' product that will meet the needs of their clients
• With the Residential Repaint Sales Rep, conduct sales calls on painting contractors and designers to gain Sherwin-Williams' specifications on current and future projects.
• Handle customer complaints within lines of authority and manage the process resolution.
• Maintain a discipline in pre-call planning daily and monthly activity to ensure time is maximized and the territory plan is being executed.
• Conduct sales calls following this plan.
• Ensure that the Contact Resource Management System (CRM) is maintained in an accurate and up-to-date manner, documenting all customer contacts and activities.
• Complete the monthly call report and expense reports on a biweekly basis.

• Develop a comprehensive strategy to enhance paint and color specifications to key, opportunity and focus accounts by identifying and selling Sherwin-Williams' competitive advantage (e.g. customer service, field support, premium products, ColorSnap tools, online resources, etc.)

o Identify Residential Designer and Architectural firms and collect reliable territory information including preferred paint brand, project portfolio and preferred painter, and document in the Contact Resource Management System (CRM).

o Identify current competitor strengths and weaknesses and use this information to drive the specification of S-W products.

o Provide management with competitive information relating to the Residential Designer and Architect market.

• Plan and make formal presentations including continuing education unit (CEU) seminars for Residential Designers and Architects, as well as local public relations functions within the design community/organizations to increase brand presence and sales and to reinforce Sherwin-Williams as the color authority.

o Perform public relations functions, such as speaking engagements, to professional design organizations like ASID.

o Maintain memberships in professional design organizations and actively in their meetings and activities.

o Participate in trade shows.

• Develop and foster relationships with Interior Design Schools, including local faculty and students, to influence the color and product specifications of the next generation of interior designers.

o Identify Interior Design Schools and build relationships with faculty and students.

o Conduct classroom training and provide tools to promote colors, paint products and online tools to influence future specifications.

• Distribute ColorSnap tools and product information as well as other marketing tools to support Residential Designers and Architects.
• Promote Residential Repaint sales by identifying painter sales leads and coordinating sales call activity with the District's Residential Repaint sales representatives to increase gallon sales based on residential designer and architect color and paint specifications.

o Train store personnel and Residential Repaint Reps to identify potential opportunities to gather designer leads from their Key and Opportunity account painters and facilitate those leads to the DAE.

• Interface with store personnel, product/technical staff, and color resources to support customers' specification requirements.

EDUCATION:

Required:

• High School Diploma or GED

Preferred:

• Bachelor's Degree in Business or Interior Design

KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE:

Required:

• Prior experience as an S-W Assistant Store Manager

Preferred:

• Prior experience as an S-W Store Manager or Sales Representative
• Prior experience in the Interior Design field

TECHNICAL/SKILL REQUIREMENTS:

Required:

• Valid driver's license

Preferred:

• Ability to efficiently use Microsoft Office Suite tools (e.g. Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams, and apps etc.)