Who is Acorn: the Influence Company?

Acorn is a leading influencer marketing company that creates genuine relationships between consumers, shoppers, influencers, and brands by generating and magnifying actionable content. Our “best in class” and diverse recruitment drives versatile and impactful storytelling that is full funnel for brand goals: equity and awareness, occasion and experience, intent, and conversion. Acorn is the pinnacle of content generation by providing agile, transparent, consistent and seamless execution, assuring brands of quality and their guidelines met through authentic content. We are an employer recognized for fostering a company culture that is diverse, service minded and passionate for career development.

The Role

As Acorn continues to grow both in and out of the CPG space and strives to solidify our stance as the leading industry expert for influencer marketing, your responsibility as the SVP, Sales and Business Strategy will extend beyond the day-to-day management of sales goals and objectives. You will report directly to the GM. You’ll lead and inspire an experienced, dedicated team of sellers as well as be charged with setting the standard for practices and solutions that meet the moment and challenge of today's market. This person will also be accountable for the business strategy team effectiveness and client planning strategies. Additionally, this SVP will be the ultimate custodian of pricing and gross margin management. You’ll have complete autonomy to lead the sales organization through the ever-shifting media/advertising landscape, and, discerning new opportunities, with the full confidence and support of leadership, proactively determine how Acorn should lead, respond, and react.

Typical clients consist of omni channel marketing experts at brands, brands themselves, retailers, and agencies. We are looking for someone with a passion for innovation, hustle, talent development, and thirst for learning and evolution. Ultimately, we are looking for someone who aligns with our company principles and values to help elevate our offering and the value we bring to the market.

Our Ideal Candidate

Expert - a proven track record of building and activating sales and strategy teams. Excellent presentation and management expertise. Robust experience leading national sales organizations. Can evaluate the opportunity to strengthen our existing talent and build the teams. Can identify and understand client needs and understand their business goals. You have experience overseeing sales and strategy teams across relevant marketing solution providers with solid project management skills, strategic leadership, attention to detail, and a firm understanding of revenue building strategies. Wide-range familiarity with influencer and digital tactics. Be knowledgeable about today’s social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok Etc.) and be able to think strategically about how they should apply to marketing programs.
Leader & Talent Manager – you can synthesize, maximize, and leverage cross functional teams to the benefit of the Acorn organization. You have a passion for mentorship, coaching and developing talent and teams. Culture and accountability are in equal balance to your management style. Ability to contribute and collaborate with the strategic leadership team for the ultimate good of all: employees, clients and company stakeholders. You lead by example, highlighting accountability and responsibility. You understand the need and balance to take calculated risks and learn from mistakes. Have a strong perspective on the marketing industry and feel confident to stand by your opinions while staying aligned to the mission and vision of Acorn.
Growth Driver - You have demonstrated success in previous sales leadership roles and have a strategic vision to scale a growing sales team in addition to incentive structures. You can strategize, remove hurdles and obstacles, build opportunities to the benefit of a sales team and the company’s book of business to meet forecasting goals.
Networker & Connector – you have an industry presence and are relationship driven to help power our sales and business strategy teams in a rapidly changing space. You have senior level relationships across industry verticals, agencies and brands.
Innovative – have a desire to learn and are energized by the influencer industry. You are active in the network of brands, agencies, and solution providers. You can articulate what is trending and impacting consumer and shopper behaviors. You can elevate Acorn as the thought and industry leader by contributing to and evaluating Acorn’s strategic ideas, planning, product offerings, execution, and analysis. Be able to prioritize in a fast-paced environment - We are a quickly growing start-up.
Collaborator – work positively and proactively across Acorn teams and stakeholders to drive business growth and business strategies to meet and exceed client needs. This role will work with multiple teams to achieve goals. Must be inquisitive, a self-starter and proactive in problem solving.
Presenter – you are an enthusiastic, authentic and creative storyteller with a deep understanding of client business goals across multiple KPIs – from thought leadership for business strategy to presenting to senior clients and agencies. You will work collaboratively with Acorn teams: Influencer Strategy and Client Success, Product, Business Insights & Analytics, Media and Operations to inform our differentiators, shaping our value proposition and the narrative of differentiators. You will provide thoughtful and discerning recommendations to the sales and strategy team and cross functional internal teams, creating best in class practices for business strategies and client growth.
Analytical - you are comfortable interpreting market trends and data points from various sources and platforms to provide revenue growth for Acorn. Can be held accountable to Acorn KPIs for revenue growth and gross margin while reporting achievement and obstacles towards goals. Comprehensive understanding of influencer data, benchmarks, and success metrics across multiple platforms and verticals. You have deep experience in paid and organic social media. Be as comfortable working with hard budgets and data as you are building creative materials that tell a story.
Professional & Custodian of Culture – have rigorous attention to detail, be well organized, project-manage, multi-task, and handle your own time effectively with the ability to work to deadlines. Understanding and effective use of critical business systems for financial reporting, goal achievement and vision alignment. Have a positive, team-player attitude and desire to take on new challenges. Create, maintain, and grow relationships with coworkers. Be adaptable to learning new tools and technology.
Communicator – effective communication with colleagues to ensure successful teamwork and collaboration. Able to articulate the mission and vision of Acorn across stakeholders. Communicate clearly and be assertive with internal and external parties, as needed. Will be articulate and succinct across all professional communications. Have the ability to effectively present and communicate with others

Expectations

Forecast revenue and set and exceed sales team goals and report across accountable metrics: client growth, client retention, client churn, win/loss rate, gross margin, and vertical and channel growth rates, etc.
Retain and grow existing business. Provide senior leadership resources for opening new business.
Lead the sales team in identifying and prioritizing effort against key decision makers across large holding companies, as well as their internal business partners and agencies.
Partner closely with other senior leadership team members across Influencer Strategy, Client Success, Business Insights & Analytics, Media and Operations to optimize and exceed client expectations.
Contribute to and build a culture of collaboration and spirit of service across the organization.
Custodian of business division’s budget and expenses.
Collaborate with sellers on a strategic blueprint for client account growth.
Successful team management: retention of talent and growth, define roles, methods and metrics for team member success, provide talent career mapping and development.
Weekly 1:1s with the sales team leads - reviewing and removing obstacles, leveraging opportunities, client needs, resources, and creating the prioritization of focused strategies. Weekly sales and strategy team meetings for mission and vision alignment, inclusive of goals, status towards goals, and training or development opportunities.
Introduce product /narrative opportunities. Define the client opportunities to introduce innovation and product evolutions. Identify and deliver resources needed. Contribute and bring leadership to cross department collaboration, shaping the product roadmap.
Articulate the competitive landscape and differentiators with SWOT analysis for the sales and business strategy team. Verbalize cross functionally.
Connect and network for industry leadership. Represent Acorn’s vision, brand, voice, and face of our company in community and across industry.
Collaborate and bring thought leadership towards go to market strategies. Work across teams to execute Acorn mission and vision while providing thought leadership and strategy for success.
Analyze and report client forecast to leadership for client success team: seasonal and quarterly expectations to contribute to execution team efficiencies and effectiveness.
Foster an inclusive, equitable, and safe workplace environment for your team and all with whom they interact internally and externally.
Travel as-needed: top tier client meetings and reviews, industry events.

Background & Experience

5+ years experience selling strategic digital marketing solutions and/or 5+ years of Shopper Marketing or Sales (within CPG or Retailer) experience.
3-4+ years of sales team management experience.
(Preferred) 5+ years of relevant working experience, preferably in: Shopper & E-Comm (Omni-Channel) Marketing, Digital Ad Tech, Content Development, Social Media, Digital Media, Advertising and Public Relations
Vertical expertise in CPG, Non-CPG categories (eg Auto, Entertainment, Financial Services, Pharma, Telecom, Travel, QSR, etc.
Bachelor’s degree in advertising, marketing, business administration, and communications; OR equivalent professional work experience.
Proven track record of sales goal achievement.
Strong and excellent references.
Robust and active network of contacts (especially senior level contacts): agencies, brands, and industry.
Proficient with Salesforce (strong expertise preferred), CRM software, MS Office and Google tools.
Experience in a startup environment including building collaborative relationships across internal departments, vendor partners, and clients.
Excellent client, team, and project management skills. Must be extremely detail-oriented, timeline sensitive, revenue driven and oriented for talent development.
Be community present.
Passion for sales growth strategies as well as social media/digital strategies across our solution provider industry. Robust understanding of marketing holistic tactics and digital analytics and reporting.
High level of initiative and proven ability to activate teams across multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
Capable problem solver and strong decision-making abilities.
Ability to think creatively on your feet and take initiative to improve or create effective processes.
Strong interpersonal, organizational, and written and oral communications skills. Excellent work ethic with the ability to deliver quality recommendations. Thrive in a fast-paced environment.
Impeccable presentation and public speaking skills.

What’s important to us:

Meaningful relationships - When everyone feels valued magic happens. Mutually beneficial relationships are built on respect, honest communication, fun, loyalty and commitment. We crave meaningful relationships between our clients, our contributors, and each other. We seek to enable meaningful relationships between our contributors and their audiences.
Listening to understand - We ask until we understand the goals of our team and our clients, which allows us to create the right opportunity at the right time for the right people.
Keep it real. Keep it simple. - Contributors are people, clients are people and we’re people. We seek to joyfully uncomplicate life for everyone.
Care. Really care. - What can we do to add value to a conversation, a campaign, or a life?
Keep moving. - Pivot, iterate, be agile and adaptable.

Acorn: the Influence Company is headquartered in Rogers, AR. This position is a remote role.

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Acorn: The Influence Company

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