Job summary
- We are the world's largest emblem manufacturer and embroidery services provider, with 8 strategic locations across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Europe. For over 30 years, customers have trusted us to deliver high-quality products and embroidery services that help them create a great look, memorable experiences, and a stronger brand — from traditional embroidered emblems to FlexStyle patches and everything in between. Our culture is defined by our Core Values: Stay Positive, Get the Job Done, Customer Centricity, and 100% Committed to the Team.
- Reporting to the Chief Sales Officer, the Director of Sales is a senior revenue-leadership role accountable for net-new and expansion revenue across both brands — World Emblem outside/enterprise sales & inside sales (account-based programs spanning uniform programs, custom embroidery, and 3PLs) and Hero's Pride inside sales (transactional, high-volume public-safety and uniform-reseller business). The Director owns the new-business engine end to end: market strategy, pipeline creation, coaching, standards, and execution across both motions.
- This is a true people-leadership role, not an individual contributor with a title. The Director builds and scales high-performance teams, enforces the Lean sales operating system, and converts executive strategy into rep-level execution that is predictable, inspectable, and repeatable. Success is measured not by individual heroics but by a sales system that produces consistent results and compounds over time directly advancing the company's path to long term goals.
Essential duties and responsibilities
- 1. New Business Growth & Market Expansion
- Own and deliver net-new and expansion revenue targets across both sales books through disciplined pipeline generation and conversion.
- Define and execute market-expansion strategies across priority verticals, geographies, and customer segments.
- Establish and enforce clear Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) and target-account strategies for each brand.
- Ensure consistent outbound activity that produces qualified pipeline at scale, while keeping each sales book distinct.
- 2. Dual-Book Sales Leadership (Outside + Inside)
- Provide direct line management of the combined World Emblem outside, inside and Hero's Pride inside sales representative pool.
- Enforce inbound SLA across both brands; stress-test the process to expose automation and routing gaps.
- Enforce lead taxonomy and Lead Scoring routing accuracy at the rep level, applying one standardized account-setup SOP uniformly across both brands.
- Own the daily activity (DxD) board — inflow/outflow, meetings, calls, and SLA per rep — with anomalies surfaced same-day.
- 3. Team Leadership, Coaching & Accountability
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of hunter-focused and account-based sales executives across both motions.
- Run regular ride-alongs, call reviews, deal-stage inspections, and deal-strategy sessions that raise the floor of the team, not just the ceiling.
- Set and inspect clear expectations for activity, pipeline health, conversion, and close rates; build a culture of accountability, urgency, and continuous improvement.
- Coach to the Commercial Enhanced Playbook and onboard new reps to the same doctrine; drive consistency without stifling top-performer creativity.
- 4. Lean Sales System — Standard Work & Problem Solving
- Enforce existing standard work for prospecting and outbound, pipeline management and forecasting, discovery, value positioning, and closing — holding the team to the defined sales cadence.
- Develop new standard work where gaps exist, then train, adopt, and audit it — continuously codifying what top performers do into a repeatable system the whole team can run.
- Run 8-step problem solving on execution breakdowns (missed SLAs, stalled stages, conversion drops): clarify the problem, break it down, set a target, analyze root cause, develop and implement countermeasures, confirm results, and standardize the fix.
- Build repeatable, scalable processes so the sales motion grows through discipline and visual management rather than headcount bloat — reducing sales-cycle time and eliminating waste in quoting, deals, and approvals.
- 5. Pipeline, Forecasting & KPI Ownership
- Own the health of the pipeline across both books — coverage sustained at 3-4x, plus velocity, aging, and stage conversion.
- Run weekly forecast reviews (rep T-1, CSO T-2) with Commit / Upside / Pipeline discipline; defend the commit, name the upside, and explain the gap to quota.
- Drive team forecast accuracy toward the ≥ 95% company standard, laddering from ±15% to ±10% to ±5% as the system matures.
- Track and coach to core KPIs: pipeline creation vs. target, win rate and deal size, sales-cycle length, and activity-to-opportunity conversion; use data to course-correct and scale.
- Ensure CRM accuracy and adoption (pipeline stages, next steps, probability, forecasting) as the single source of truth.
- 6. Recruiting, Hiring, Ramp & Bench
- Recruit, hire, and onboard high-caliber sales talent for both the hunter and account-based motions.
- Build structured onboarding and ramp plans that make new hires productive on a defined, repeatable timeline.
- Continuously assess team capacity against growth goals and plan headcount accordingly; own the BDR program and its scaling decisions as the motion grows.
- Build a bench of future leaders; upgrade or redeploy underperformers quickly to maintain a high A-player ratio.
- 7. Cross-Functional Leadership
- Partner with Marketing, RevOps, Operations, Production, and Customer Experience to secure strong lead flow and messaging alignment, smooth new-customer onboarding, and clean field-to-operations feedback loops.
- Represent the voice of the customer and the field in leadership discussions, and translate executive strategy into clear, inspectable sales motions.
- Activate and run the surge protocol during trade-show season and major lead-list events, coordinating temporary SLA adjustments with CX.
Qualifications
- 8+ years of sales experience, including 5+ years in sales leadership with direct management of both inside (transactional) and outside (enterprise) sales teams.
- Proven success building and leading hunter sales teams and running multi-brand, multi-motion teams while keeping each sales book distinct.
- Demonstrated ability to build repeatable sales systems and standards, and to scale a team through process rather than headcount alone.
- Direct experience in apparel, apparel decoration, or branded merchandise (embroidery, patches, heat transfer, embellishments) strongly preferred; B2B uniform, public safety, corporate apparel, or promotional products a strong plus.
- Forecast discipline and KPI-driven coaching; history of hitting and exceeding new-business revenue targets.
- Familiarity with Lean / continuous-improvement methods — standard work, visual management, and structured (8-step / A3) problem solving — strongly preferred.
- Strong executive presence with customers and internal stakeholders; willingness to travel approximately 25–40% for trade shows (Licensing Expo, Girl Scouts, vertical events) and key accounts.
Skills
- Builder mindset — designs repeatable systems for market expansion; thrives in growth and scale environments.
- Coach first — recruits, develops, and scales high-performing sales teams across motions.
- Lean operator — enforces and authors standard work and runs structured problem solving to drive out waste.
- Data-driven — manages pipeline coverage, conversion, and forecasts with discipline and precision.
- High accountability — sets clear standards, enforces KPIs, and drives consistent execution.
- Strategic but hands-on — defines go-to-market strategy while actively coaching and closing in the field.
- Operating fluency — HubSpot Sales Hub (CRM, Sequences, Forecasting; admin-level a plus), Aircall + HubSpot Calling, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, and Microsoft 365.
Education / experience
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, or a related field required; MBA or advanced degree preferred.
- Minimum 8 years of progressive sales experience with 5+ years leading both inside and outside sales teams; experience in apparel decoration, branded merchandise, wholesale, or distribution strongly preferred.
Language ability
English required; Spanish strongly preferred (reading, writing, and speaking) to support communication across all locations. Must be able to write professional correspondence and effectively present information in one-on-one and group settings.
Supervisory responsibilities
Direct supervision of the combined World Emblem outside and Hero's Pride inside sales representative pool (final headcount confirmed at hire), including the BDR program and ownership of its scaling decisions as the motion grows.
Work environment
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The noise level is usually moderate. This position is based at the Fort Lauderdale, FL headquarters on a hybrid schedule; remote arrangements may be considered for the right candidate. Travel of approximately 25–40% is required.
Physical demands
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit for extended periods, talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and telephone.
Key Performance Milestones
- Performance is measured against defined outcomes at each horizon.
- Day 90: Both sales books fully inspected; a single pipeline-hygiene and account-setup standard in force across World Emblem and Hero's Pride.
- Day 90: Weekly forecast cadence live (rep T-1, CSO T-2) with Commit / Upside / Pipeline discipline.
- Day 90: Inbound SLA at 80% on-target; unified daily activity (DxD) board live with same-day anomaly flags.
- Day 90: First 8-step problem-solving cycle opened on the largest execution gap identified.
- 6 Months: Team quota attainment ≥ 85%; forecast accuracy within ±10% (≥ 90%).
- 6 Months: Pipeline coverage sustained at 4–5x across both books.
- 6 Months: At least two new standard works authored, trained, and adopted; measurable cycle-time or win-rate gain documented.
- 6 Months: New-hire ramp plan producing productive reps on a defined, repeatable timeline.
- 12 Months: Team quota attainment ≥ 100%; forecast accuracy within ±5% (≥ 95%), rolling up to the CSO standard.
- 12 Months: Repeatable new-business engine producing qualified pipeline at scale, independent of individual heroics.
- 12 Months: A-player bench depth sufficient to promote from within; underperformers upgraded or redeployed.
- 12 Months: Standard-work library and 8-step problem-solving operating as the team's continuous-improvement system.
Language Ability
Bilingual in English and Spanish is preferred (reading, writing, and speaking). Ability to write professional correspondence. Ability to effectively present information in one-on-one and group settings, including agency buyers, procurement officials, distributor partners, and senior internal leadership. Strong verbal and written communication skills required.
Supervisory Responsibilities
This role has direct supervisory responsibility for the World Emblem and Hero’s Pride sales team, consisting of up to 6 inside sales representatives and up to 6 outside sales representatives across North America — up to 12 direct reports in total. The Sales Manager is responsible for hiring, onboarding, coaching, performance management, and professional development of all team members. This includes setting individual and team revenue targets, managing territory assignments, conducting regular one-on-ones and performance reviews, and building a high-performance, accountable sales culture across both inside and outside sales functions.