National Sales Head - General Trade

Head - General Trade (GT Sales)

Location: Pune/Mumbai

Reporting To: Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Direct Reports: Regional Sales Managers (25-30)

(Indirect: Area Sales Managers, Distributor Sales Teams)

Role Objective:

Lead and scale the General Trade business PAN-India to support the company's ambition of becoming the largest fruit-based packaged foods and confectionery brand. This is a builder role requiring strong strategic thinking, hands-on execution, and the ability to create scalable distribution, systems and teams while delivering profitable growth.

Key Responsibilities:

GT Strategy & Sales Performance

- Define and execute the General Trade strategy aligned with ABP and long-term vision

- Own sales planning, forecasting and delivery of volume and value targets

- Drive strong primary and secondary sales execution across regions

Distribution & Market Expansion

- Design and evolve the GTM model including town classification, coverage and beat planning

- Appoint, develop and manage distributors ensuring ROI, reach and execution excellence

- Expand numeric and weighted distribution with focus on availability, freshness and visibility

- Ensure distributor health, credit discipline, claims management and stock hygiene

Trade Marketing & Execution Excellence

- Partner with Marketing/Trade Marketing on ToT, trade schemes, visibility and BTL initiatives

- Ensure effective rollout and in-market execution of promotions and new launches

- Track ROI and effectiveness of trade spends

Systems, Analytics & Governance

- Build and institutionalize scalable sales systems, processes and SOPs

- Review performance through dashboards and analytics; drive timely course corrections

- Ensure reporting discipline, compliance and process adherence

People & Leadership

- Lead, coach and develop RSMs and their teams; build a strong leadership pipeline

- Create a performance-driven, entrepreneurial sales culture

- Attract, retain and develop high-quality sales talent

Cross-Functional Collaboration

- Work closely with Marketing, Supply Chain, Finance and HR for seamless execution

- Support leadership on market pilots, scale-ups and new product launches

Ideal Candidate Profile:

- 12-18 years of FMCG experience, preferably in Foods / Packaged Foods / Confectionery

- Strong General Trade and intensive distribution background

- Hands-on experience managing distributors and field sales teams

- Multi-regional exposure preferred