While you may know Staples as the world’s leading office supply company, Staples Promotional Products – a division of Staples – is a national leader in the promotional products industry. At Staples Promotional Products, we help customers build love for their brands with customized merchandise solutions. Whatever story they want to tell, connection they want to make, or goal they need to deliver, Staples Promo makes it easy to design promo experiences that create lasting impact. Join our winning team! 

The Product Development Specialist supports Customers and Account Managers with tailored product sourcing and the creation of custom-quotes for branded promotional merchandise. The Product Development Specialist interacts directly with Customers, Account Managers and Vendors to source/select unique and fitting promotional merchandise items, and ensure that all items on the quote are within customer brand guidelines, sourced from preferred vendor channels, meet customer-compliance requirements, and are within margin/profitability guidelines. The Product Development Specialist is a promotional merchandise product and customer-brand expert, specializing in tailored/custom product solutions to meet and exceed customer requests. The Product Development Specialist also ensures that ideation and source/quote activities are executed in a timely fashion in order to meet/exceed customer event timelines

What you’ll be doing: 

• Interacts directly with Account Managers, Customers and Vendors

• Manages & expands Staples Promotional Product’s relationship with individual customers through source/quote activities

• Enable the Account Manager to meet/exceed assigned Company quarterly and annual top-line revenue and margin budget/goals through SPO source/quote activities that meet margin requirements and are sourced from preferred vendor channels

• Enable the Account Manager to achieve year-over-year growth in client revenue and margin sales through SPO source/quote activities that meet margin requirements and are sourced from preferred vendor channels

• Fields product questions from customers, specific to client's branded promotional merchandise and gift needs

• Fluent in key customer brand guidelines (for expedited and accurate source/quote activities)

• Generates quotes in key systems/formats including Bridge, Linc, SAGE, PPT, and email

• Sources promotional merchandise products directly from local or Over Seas preferred vendors

• Ensures that 80%+ of all source/quote opportunities remain with preferred/partner vendor item selections

• Ensures that all quotes maintain margin/profitability guidelines 

• Attends local and out-of-town product/vendor tradeshows as required

• Responds to Customer and Account Manager requests for promotional merchandise quotes

• Proactively provides creative product sourcing ideas in support of customer marketing objectives or sponsorships 

• Attends client calls as requested and establishes strong relationships within targeted accounts

• Directly handles incoming simple/transactional quote requests under $5,000 for all accounts 

• Directly handles incoming simple/quote requests over $5,000 for all accounts with approval from Account Manager

• Submits complete/clean order-requests to Special Order Team for order entry

• Maintains and increases margins within client and department guidelines

• Ensures customer satisfaction by working with members of the Sales Team as well as members of sales support teams across the business

• Responds promptly and within SLA to inquiries, issues and customer complaints

• Stays current with new products and trends in order to help maximize sales and improve customer experience

• Researches and prepares quotes to ensure maximum profit and market competitiveness

• Accountable for team margin metrics and preferred vendor usage metrics

• Maintains a record of quote activities and follow-up requirements in the designated system

• Adds value to the customer experience by developing a thorough understanding of their business, project and/or operational requirements.

• Advises the customer on the best product(s) to accomplish objectives and recommends custom solutions where warranted.

• Provides creative solutions to exceed the customer expectations.

• Contributes to the team effort by participating in the sales team calls/meetings, sharing of best practices, product ideas, and success stories, collaborating on proposal development and consultative selling techniques.

What’s needed- Basic Qualifications: 

• 2+ years of related experience 

What’s needed- Preferred Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s Degree or Equivalent Experience Required

We Offer:

• Inclusive culture with associate-led Business Resource Groups
• Vacation Allotment and Holiday Schedule
• Online and Retail Discounts, Company Match RRSP, Physical and Mental Health Wellness programs, and more!

Staples is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.