District sales manager

The District Sales Manager (DSM), reporting to the designated regional sales leader, leads Sales Representatives to deliver district-level sales growth, customer retention, account penetration, and execution of Lipari’s commercial priorities. Depending on market structure, this leader may be the Zone Director or Regional Vice President. Regional sales leadership owns broader market or Zone performance; the DSM owns district-level execution through the sales team. The DSM translates regional and company strategy into daily sales activity, with disciplined focus on New, Loss, Penetration (NLP), CRM, eCommerce, sales enablement, and proactive account management.

This hands-on leader coaches reps, sets clear expectations, inspects activity, follows up on commitments, and helps move the team from transactional order-taking to consultative customer partnership that supports Lipari’s vision of becoming America’s leading provider and foremost authority on specialty and global foods.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead, coach, motivate, and develop Sales Representatives to achieve district sales, profitability, retention, and customer partnership goals.
• Drive year-over-year growth through disciplined execution of the New, Loss, Penetration (NLP) process, including new account development, account penetration, and loss mitigation.
• Translate regional and company priorities into clear daily, weekly, and period-based sales actions, ensuring each rep understands expectations and measures of success.
• Inspect daily sales execution, including planned customer contacts, prospecting, pipeline movement, follow-up, customer issue resolution, and progress against district priorities.
• Review customer and account plans with Sales Representatives to ensure the right actions are being taken to protect current business, expand penetration, pursue new opportunities, and recover or prevent lost business.
• Conduct structured huddles with each Sales Representative every four-week period to review NLP performance, account priorities, risks, commitments, next steps, and follow-through.
• Ensure sales technology is used consistently and accurately by the team, including CRM notes, pipeline updates, customer opportunities, eCommerce adoption, and reporting needed to manage the district effectively.
• Coach reps to deliver curated customer solutions, support discovery of global and specialty foods, and create value beyond the order.
• Hold team members accountable in a clear, consistent, and positive manner while building engagement, confidence, and ownership across the district.
• Partner with the designated regional sales leader to surface opportunities, risks, barriers, talent needs, and recommended solutions while reinforcing strategy, technology adoption, and disciplined execution across the district.

Position Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Sales, or related field preferred.
• 5+ years of sales experience, preferably in foodservice, retail, distribution, consumer packaged goods, or a related industry.
• 2+ years of sales leadership or people management experience, with demonstrated ability to coach, motivate, and hold teams accountable.
• Strong understanding of consultative selling, account planning, pipeline management, customer penetration, new business development, and loss mitigation.
• Experience using CRM, eCommerce, Microsoft Office, reporting, and sales enablement tools to manage activity, visibility, and performance.
• Proven ability to lead through change, communicate clearly, and connect strategy to field execution.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to analyze performance, identify trends, prioritize opportunities, and course correct quickly.
• Excellent communication and leadership presence; direct, transparent, engaging, and able to motivate others in a positive and productive way.
• Willingness and ability to travel extensively within the assigned district.

About Lipari: Headquartered in Warren, Michigan, Lipari Foods is a leading independent distributor built around global and specialty foods. With a customer-first mindset, they serve customers through 67 depots across 32 states and growing. Lipari brings the world’s most craveable flavors to shelf with an end-to-end approach that combines exclusive and owned brands, retail services, innovative tools, and dependable delivery across 10 categories including deli, bakery, frozen/dairy, specialty grocery, international specialty, meat/seafood, packaging, confections, foodservice/prepared foods, and convenience.