Overview
Since 1973, CCOF has been widely recognized as one of the nation’s top organic certifiers. Today CCOF is the only full service organic certification and trade association supporting the growth of organic food and agriculture through its mission: certifying, educating, advocating and promoting organic. CCOF provides premier organic certification programs and trade association benefits to farms, processors, private labelers, retailers, restaurants, brokers, and supporting members including individuals, suppliers and service providers.
As a proponent of organic agriculture and food production, the Advertising Sales Specialist plays a key role in providing financial support to CCOF and its mission. The Advertising Sales Specialist solicits and secures sales while understanding and interpreting customer requirements and building relationships that result in sustained advertising revenue growth for CCOF. This position is responsible for selling to advertisers – print, online, and custom programs – to achieve marketing goals and sales quotas. The Specialist is also responsible for accurately reporting, qualifying and documenting all contacts, engaging in proper and timely follow-up with prospective clients, and for coordinating deadlines with the rest of the Marketing team. The Advertising Sales Specialist reports to the Director of Marketing and Sales.
Essential Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
CCOF is seeking a skilled and experienced individual with a successful track record in high volume sales, demonstrating excellent communications, organization and PC / Internet skills.
The ideal candidate will also have the following:
- Minimum 3 years successful sales experience with one or more years working in a commission sales environment
- Basic understanding of graphic design principles, sufficient to review advertisement art files to ensure they meet the required guidelines and specifications
- Experience using Salesforce a must
- Self motivated with a positive, enthusiastic winning attitude
- Excellent problem solving and organizational skills
- Self-directed, innovative and creative ability to consistently achieve daily/weekly/monthly sales goals
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
- Ability to influence/persuade others
- Strong Microsoft Office computer skills, plus understanding of social media
- Bachelor’s degree, preferably in business, marketing, advertising, communications, or public relations
- Experience in agricultural sector a plus
Hiring Process
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Interested applicants please submit the following:
- Cover letter summarizing your interest in CCOF and the position, qualifications and compensation requirements
- Current resume
- List of three professional references
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Submit all materials to employment@ccof.org
Compensation
Compensation includes base plus commission. Commission is based on ad sales for all print and online publications, and new supporting and business partner memberships.
Advertising Sales Specialist role:
- Interacts with an established customer base to identify marketing needs and opportunities.
- Generates revenue by identifying and qualifying new advertising opportunities through phone, inbound leads and referrals for both online and print media.
- Meets and exceeds challenging sales goals on a consistent basis.
- Secures new customers through market research, networking events, referrals, cold-calling, and other best-practices.
- Enters all advertising leads into Salesforce for tracking and reporting purposes.
- Generates reports from Salesforce of all closed, pending, and leads per sales cycle.
- Proactively works leads in Salesforce, regularly following up in a timely fashion.
- Manages incoming inquiries concerning advertising rates, production requirements, acceptance and space availabilities.
- Works closely with accounting to invoice applicable businesses and organizations. Initiates collection calls when necessary.
- Attends trade shows to identify potential advertisers and sponsors.
- Coordinates and supports the delivery of digital ad files to graphic designer for each project within stated deadlines.
- Stays current with CCOF offerings and programs.