Hooman Behnia
Istanbul
Summary
Team Player and result-oriented manager with an exceptional record of achievement over a 13-year career in FMCG industries and proven leadership abilities. Expert in increasing productivity and customer satisfaction while driving revenue and sales.
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Category and Channel Development Manager
Unilever
11.2021 - Current
- In November 2021 appointed as Senior Category and Channel strategy manager for 8 countries of Central Asia and Caucus.
- During the last 2 years, tried to control budgets and prices between these countries besides cultivating and developing new strategies and processes to improve the operation quality and find opportunities to touch the white spaces of the region.
- At the beginning of March 2022 faced plenty of supply issues due to the Russia war and my team succeeded in changing our pricing and budgeting strategies dynamically and finding alternative sourcing units to keep the business alive for the rest of the year.
- Successfully changed RTM and price change structure which delivered us more profitability and affordable prices after changing the sourcing units.
- Crafted yearly promotion plans and significantly Improved Customer marketing activities and in-store campaigns and 6P planning and execution quality.
- As a result, maximized coverage within the regions managed to have healthy growth in the MT and TT channels and control our price levels in the WS channel.
Customer Development department lead
Unilever
01.2021 - 11.2021
- In 2021 appointed as the whole Customer Development team lead, and I managed to deliver all forecasted targets successfully on both the top and bottom line besides keeping the team motivated and more connected than ever.
Modern Trade Manager
Unilever
05.2020 - 03.2021
- During passed 10 months have been working on the development of the MT team (11 Direct Report and 17 indirect report people) on structural strategies of sales and creating a winning and growing sprit in the team, which has lead to have below results:
- Also worth mentioning is that during this 10 months I was double hatting by managing Customer and shopper marketing- Weekly and healthy sales trends in almost all of the customers, which helps to have better planning on annual and monthly targets
- Negotiating with customers on contracts and building win-win strategy and relationship in a very logical way which has helped to extend supply and visibility contracts aligned with company goals and generating savings in budgets and TTS
- Mitigated financial risks in tricky and uncertain customers almost to ZERO by holding weekly and daily meeting with team and customers and using tactical levers
- Designed YTG promotion and in-store plans for each account and forecasted ambitious targets which has helped to increase sell-out of shelves and shipments to customers and subsequently increase of MT channel contribution in company
- Controlled and improved sales performance in Local modern Trade channel (a channel with financial risks) and deployed Unilever sales strategy and culture in the channel
- Designed and implemented a new business model for local modern trade channel which impacted sales growth up to 134% - structured a future fit organization, and developed successors for key roles.
Category Operation & Channel Development Manager
Unilever
01.2017 - 05.2020
- During last 3 years I was responsible of total IRAN sales targets and achievements for all channels (24 Distributor - 5 Direct Distribution and Modern trade channel) and I succeed to deliver all targets that CD department was expected, and this happened by below responsibilities: - Alongside the development and execution of strategic initiatives, established sales objectives through projecting expected sales volume and profits for existing and new products
- In charge of developing strategy, direction, and tactics at a national level and delivered an average of 35% turnover growth yearly and achieved monthly targets of company almost with 110%-120% beside monitoring CD budgets to achieve Turnover , USG, UVG, COM, GM of total of company
- Prepare and lead channel & customer base Trade /Consumer promotion strategy/plan, dynamically considering market needs and monitor execution of promotions effectiveness (RIO)
- Also designed multipurpose promotion and SFI plan which caused to improve brand penetration level and boost sales
- Forecasting and planning of innovations and designing comprehensive trade stories for each innovation considering company goals, market situations and competition
- Devised welcome plan for main competitors which helped us to keep our strong position in the market and save Unilever products SOS and avoid-sales loss in that period
- Design and monitor yearly/monthly brand and channel-wise sales budgets (TTS) and analyze effectiveness of activities, which led to have very cost-effective sales plan (0.4% decrease in TTS) and control profitability of products
- As a talent catalyst reorganized CCD team, improved people skills, and created one team spirit of working within the team and other departments
- Being in a very challenging country, was successful in change management and adjust forecasts dynamically to have consistent and fare distribution plan in channels and customers
- Point of contact of CD department with Marketing, Supply Chain, and Finance departments in which managed to decrease complexities and expedite processes
Customer Marketing Assistant Manager
Unilever
10.2014 - 12.2016
- Estimate and set monthly city wise targets and following up achievements
- Monitor closely competitor activities and provide feedback to Marketing & CD - Prepare, communicate and follow monthly and yearly sales targets of Vol and TO per channel and customer - Lead and prepare channel & customer base promotion strategy and develop and monitor execution of promotional plan (both Trade and Consumer) - Following up Sales Force Incentives (SFI) and ensuring achievements - Regular market visits to insure accuracy of inputs - Sales input into S&OP meeting - Check and follow stocks of company closely working with supply chain and prepare plans for times of out of stock and/or over stock
- Check and follow stocks of customers and prepare plans for times of out of stock and/or over stock
- Prepare and propose pricing and volume forecast for innovations and existing portfolio
Modern Trade Customer Executive
Unilever
06.2013 - 06.2014
- After One year experience in GT channel as a Filed Executive and increasing penetration and sales in Tehran 1st and 16th districts, I got promoted to be responsible for discounters which was a new channel in Iran market
- In this new position I succeed to manage the customers to control costs and increase Unilever brands listing in this customers which was a though job on that time.
General Trade Field Executive
Unilever
06.2012 - 06.2013
Education
Language/Literature - Master (MSc/MA) -
Tabriz, Iran, Azerbaijan, East01.2011
Language/Literature - Bachelor(BSc/BA) -
Tabriz, Iran, Azerbaijan, East01.2007
Skills
- Microsoft Office Advanced
- Performance Metrics
- Training and Development
- Problem-Solving
- Strategic Planning
- Time Management
- Team Leadership
- Sales Forecasting
Languages
Turkish
Proficient
C2
English
Proficient
C2
Persian
Proficient
C2
Personal Information
- Profile: Male
- Expected Salary: Not Specified/ Negotiable
- Title: Senior Category and Channel Development Manager (CIS)
Timeline
Senior Category and Channel Development Manager
Unilever
11.2021 - Current
Customer Development department lead
Unilever
01.2021 - 11.2021
Modern Trade Manager
Unilever
05.2020 - 03.2021
Category Operation & Channel Development Manager
Unilever
01.2017 - 05.2020
Customer Marketing Assistant Manager
Unilever
10.2014 - 12.2016
Modern Trade Customer Executive
Unilever
06.2013 - 06.2014
General Trade Field Executive
Unilever
06.2012 - 06.2013
Language/Literature - Master (MSc/MA) -
Language/Literature - Bachelor(BSc/BA) -
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