Sales Manager, Trade & Specialty

Capstone is seeking a driven and entrepreneurial individual for our Sales Manager Trade and Specialty role. This role is responsible for planning and directing trade sales activities of the company. This position works with the Senior Director of Business Development Chief Revenue Officer internal sales teams management and marketing in the planning and implementing of sales activities and programs that will meet or exceed the companys projected sales levels for assigned territories while operating within a framework of policies objectives and budgets that are agreed to with top management.

This position will identify aggressively seek out and prioritize trade opportunities. Also this role will set specific objectives and action plans to accomplish them and monitor all distributor sales activities to ensure that these objectives and opportunities are achieved.

Our preference is for this role to be hybrid based out of either our Edina MN or North Mankato MN locations. However fully remote work may also be considered.

Why Youll Want To Join Capstone

Have you ever read something that increased your understanding of the world around you An article a book a research paper a piece of local legislation even a poem or short story

Capstone is a mission-driven community of passionate creative people like you who believe in the power of literacy. Our mission is to make reading fun for kids so that they never experience literacy as the barrier that prevents them from understanding and engaging with the world around them.

For more than 30 years Capstone has led the way in K5 educational publishing creating award-winning books and digital learning experiences (PebbleGo). The information landscape has changed dramatically since we first started out in 1991 and competition for kids attention is at an all-time high. This changing landscape inspires our continued growth and innovation todays kids need trusted sources of content more than ever but their standards for whats considered engaging have never been higher! At Capstone were excited by that challenge are you

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

Trade & Sales

• Manage all channels and responsible for meeting annual sales budgets. Including bookstore (Amazon B&N and indie bookstores) book trade distributors trade mass market special sales toy and gift channel select trade rights and select e-book accounts.
• Responsible for maintaining/implementing competitive and consistent discount structures. This also includes negotiating special sales prices and approving P&Ls based on margin guidelines provided by the executive leadership team.
• Responsible for closeout and remainder sales of products/listings as provided by inventory control and finance.
• Coordinate all trade marketing activity with marketing including catalogs Edelweiss sell sheets Amazon marketing support and other as needed.
• Facilitate new title presentations with sales ops editorial and marketing as necessary.
• Coordinate and manage all trade shows deemed non-corporate.
• Manage trade expense budgets.
• Work closely with sales operations to help support above activity.
• Coordinate timely data feeds across all channels with the data team.
• Frequent travel for customer visits rep meetings and support.
• Responsible for all sales activity structure and strategy.
• Develop monthly forecasts manage and report sales throughout each month to ensure such objectives are met. This includes keeping track of pending returns and incorporating such data into the monthly forecasts and forecast updates.

Managerial

• Hire and manage all commissioned bookstore representatives. Hire manage and support commissioned channel managers (Amazon Toy/Gift Special Sales and Mass Market) and each channels network of commissioned sales representatives.

Collaboration & communication

• Work closely with editorial to develop the trade publishing strategy and provide seasonal trade list input and direction.
• Work with executive team and finance to set annual sales expense budgets and sales strategy.
• Work with various departments to ensure implementation of various sales initiatives and to resolve issues questions and internal processes. This includes project management purchasing book development operations finance and marketing.

Education Experience and Skills desired:

• 4-year college degree in Sales. Marketing Communications Business or related field preferred.
• 5 years of industry experience in trade publishing sales and sales management preferred.
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills (verbal and written).
• Desire to thrive learn and grow in a dynamic entrepreneurial environment.
• Expertise in industry concepts practices and procedures.
• Extensive experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals.
• Ability to lead and direct the work of others.
• Creative problem solving.
• Self-directed within the organizational goals.
• Experience balancing multiple priorities.
• Intermediate skills with Microsoft Office Suite Teams and Salesforce preferred. Biblio experience a plus.

Travel Requirements

This position requires travel around 15-30%.

Inclusion & Belonging

Capstone embraces equal opportunity and a culture of belonging for all employees and applicants. We are an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. All candidate information will be kept private according to EEO guidelines. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process please send a request to

The pay range for this role takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered surrounding compensation including but not limited to: skill sets experience and training work location and other business and organizational needs. At Capstone it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role. A reasonable estimate of the base range for this position is $80000 - $90000. This role is eligible for a sales commission plan with the annual total on-target earnings (OTE) range of $125000 - $145000.

Capstone strives to provide comprehensive and market-competitive benefits to meet the needs of our employees and their families. Click here to see our benefits.

Pre-Employment Background Check Required

California Applicants:

Applicants from California can access our California Privacy Notice here.

Employment Authorization:

At this time Capstone unfortunately cannot sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa. To be considered for one of our roles applicants must be authorized to work in the United States.