Sales & Distributor Development Lead

About Coffee Elf

Coffee Elf is a circular materials company transforming spent coffee grounds into sustainable products and materials. Our merchandise line offers organizations customized products made with coffee-derived materials, including bags, notebooks, accessories, and promotional items.

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We have developed relationships with universities, coffee companies, promotional-product distributors, and corporate sustainability teams. We are now looking for an experienced sales operator to convert existing opportunities into orders and build a repeatable distributor-led sales pipeline.

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Check out our product catalog: https://www.thecoffeeelf.com/catalog/

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The Role

We are seeking a hands-on Fractional Sales & Distributor Development Lead to grow Coffee Elf’s sustainable merchandise business.

​This is not a high-volume cold-email role. We need someone who can work directly with distributors, institutional buyers, corporate gifting teams, universities, and warm leads to generate qualified opportunities and close orders.

​The right person understands how to move a deal from initial interest through qualification, quotation, follow-up, negotiation, and purchase order. You should also be able to help us identify which sales channels and customer segments are worth scaling.

​You will work closely with the founder, but you will be expected to independently own follow-up, pipeline management, and deal progression.

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Key Responsibilities

• Generate merchandise orders from existing relationships, inbound opportunities, warm leads, and targeted outreach.
• Build and manage a pipeline of promotional-product distributors, corporate gifting partners, universities, coffee companies, and institutional buyers.
• Develop relationships with distributors who can resell Coffee Elf products to their existing clients.
• Qualify opportunities based on order size, timing, budget, customization requirements, and likelihood of closing.
• Lead follow-ups, product presentations, pricing discussions, and commercial negotiations.
• Coordinate with the founder and operations team to prepare quotations, samples, and production timelines.
• Maintain an accurate CRM or sales pipeline with clear next steps and expected close dates.
• Identify repeatable customer segments, sales messages, and channel strategies.
• Create a practical sales playbook that can eventually be handed to a larger commercial team.
• Provide weekly reporting on pipeline activity, qualified opportunities, orders, revenue, and blockers.

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What Success Looks Like

During the initial engagement, success will include:

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• Building a qualified distributor and institutional customer pipeline.
• Converting warm leads and channel relationships into purchase orders.
• Demonstrating that orders can be generated without the founder managing every interaction.
• Identifying the customer segments and distributor profiles with the strongest conversion potential.
• Establishing a documented and repeatable sales process.
• Producing measurable booked revenue and a credible pipeline of future orders.

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Specific performance goals will be agreed upon at the beginning of the engagement and may include qualified opportunities, distributor conversations, booked revenue, average order value, and pipeline value.

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Ideal Background

• Five or more years of B2B sales, business development, channel sales, or distributor development experience.
• Demonstrated ability to independently close commercial orders.
• Existing experience in at least one of the following areas:
• promotional products;
• corporate gifting;
• branded merchandise;
• university or institutional sales;
• sustainable consumer products;
• distributor or reseller partnerships.
• Strong experience managing a complete sales cycle, not only lead generation.
• Comfortable selling into small and mid-sized organizations as well as larger institutional accounts.
• Able to evaluate whether an opportunity is commercially attractive before investing significant time.
• Organized, responsive, and disciplined about follow-up.
• Comfortable working in an early-stage company where processes are still being developed.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

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Preferred Qualifications

• Existing relationships with promotional-product distributors, university buyers, corporate gifting agencies, or sustainability-focused brands.
• Familiarity with ASI or similar promotional-product networks.
• Experience selling customized or made-to-order products.
• Experience developing distributor, reseller, or channel partnerships.
• Understanding of product margins, commissions, production lead times, and minimum order quantities.
• Experience working directly with a founder or early-stage startup team.

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Who This Role Is Not For

This role is not a fit for someone whose experience is primarily limited to mass cold outreach, appointment setting, or junior sales development.

​We are looking for an experienced commercial operator who can assess opportunities, build trusted relationships, move deals forward, and close business.

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Compensation

This is a fractional contract position with a compensation structure that may include:

• a monthly retainer or hourly consulting rate;
• performance-based commission on closed orders;
• milestone-based incentives for building high-value distributor relationships.

The final structure will depend on experience, availability, existing industry relationships, and expected scope.

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How to Apply

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