Director of Retail Sales

🇺🇸In-Person - Chicago, IL$120K–$180K/yriJust now

K-12 Sales Retail Sales Sales Leadership Revenue Operations Business Development Institutional Sales

Role Snapshot

Lakeshore Learning Materials seeks a Director of Retail Sales to own total retail revenue for its store channel, setting sales strategy, selling programs, and recovery plans in partnership with the VP of Stores. The role drives conversion, basket growth, and institutional/educator sales across the chain.

Key Responsibilities: Build the annual sales plan and rolling forecast, lead chain-wide selling and loyalty programs, define recovery plans for at-risk stores via store visits and KPI tracking, lead retail B2B and educator outreach, evolve the selling model and training, and partner with Marketing and Merchandising on promotions and pricing tests.

Skills & Tools: Commercial acumen, data-driven decision-making, strategic planning, clear executive communication with evidence-backed recommendations, cross-functional collaboration, and strong field leadership through Territory Managers.

Qualifications: Proven senior retail sales leadership experience owning store revenue, with demonstrated success in multi-location sales strategy, B2B or institutional sales, and performance management; specific degree and years requirements not stated.

Location: In-Person - Chicago, IL

Compensation: $120K–$180K/yr (estimated)

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Job Description

We are seeking a Director of Retail Sales to own revenue production for Lakeshore’s retail channel. Working in close partnership with the Vice President of Stores, you’ll be accountable for total retail revenue, setting the sales strategy for assigned goals and driving the programs and selling behaviors that generate conversion, basket growth, institutional sales and outstanding customer engagement.

You’ll be the revenue leader for our stores. Together with the Vice President of Stores, you’ll set the selling strategies, priorities and recovery plans, and our Retail Territory Managers will lead the teams that bring them to life in every location. You’ll lead through the quality of your plan, the strength of your programs, the clarity of your insight and close partnership with the field.

You’ll translate company priorities into a clear, measurable sales plan for every store. We’re looking for a commercially sharp leader who brings a clear point of view and a recommendation backed by evidence. It’s meaningful work: every program you launch helps more teachers, families and schools find what they need in our stores.

A day on the job looks like this:

Driving total retail revenue with the Vice President of Stores, including the annual sales plan, the rolling forecast and executive updates that lead with a clear recommendation
Leading chain-wide selling programs, such as customer outreach, educator partnerships, community events, loyalty and four-wall conversion, and scaling what works
Defining recovery plans for at-risk stores with the Vice President of Stores and Territory Managers, using store visits to diagnose root causes and tracking results against KPIs
Leading the retail B2B and outreach strategy across educator, school, childcare and community segments, and connecting stores with Inside and Institutional Sales so no lead gets lost
Evolving the Lakeshore selling model and standards, along with the playbooks and training that help store leaders deliver it
Optimizing performance through data, setting the two or three highest priorities each period with the Vice President of Stores
Providing one of the retail channel’s voices with Marketing and Merchandising on promotions, pricing tests and launches, and measuring the sales lift