Outside Sales Director

BlueCotton

Outside Sales Director

BlueCotton is looking for an Outside Sales Director who is, first and foremost, a coach — someone who lives for building people up, sharpening their game, and pushing them past what they thought was possible. This is a pivotal leadership role with a seat on our executive team, working directly with ownership and our business coach to set the direction of the company every quarter.

You'll inherit a sales team of six that carries a large portion of total revenue. Your job is to set the tone, refine the process, coach relentlessly, and recruit the next wave of outside sales reps who take this team even further.

BlueCotton moves fast. Faster than any “fast-paced” environment you've worked in before. We're a private, founder-led company with no ceiling on how quickly we can move, and an urgent business: our customers have deadlines, and so do we. 

WHAT “FAST-PACED” MEANS AT BLUECOTTON

Almost every candidate tells us they thrive in a fast-paced environment. Here, that's not a line on a resume, it's the job. Before you apply, know what you're signing up for:

• If you take three days off, don't be surprised if we've rolled out a new process or launched a whole new project while you were gone. Priorities move that quickly.
• We're privately owned — the co-owners make the calls, and we move as fast as the business needs. No layers, no waiting on a committee.
• Every job here is urgent, because our customers' jobs are urgent. Custom apparel comes with a deadline attached, and that urgency runs through everything we do.
• Our executive team runs their department like their own business and is held to a high bar on performance.  They are also expected to keep pushing the whole company forward, not just their piece of it.
• We meet quarterly with a business coach to set our “rocks” — the handful of things that matter most over the next 90 days to move us toward our annual goals. Priorities sharpen four times a year, not once.

A few of our best people are corporate escapees.  You know, the ones whose eyes bled at the slow, snail's-pace grind of committee-driven business, and who were dying for the chance to take the bull by the horns, make real changes, and leave a mark instead of waiting for permission to leave a dent. Others come to us already fluent in this speed.  They spent years in private, entrepreneurial companies where they didn't wait for permission. Either path works. What we're looking for is the mindset, wherever it was built.

AREAS OF IMPACT

• Coach and Develop: Motivate, train, and develop our existing outside sales team into a sharper, more consistent version of itself. Set the pace, set the tone, and hold the bar high.
• Recruit Top Talent: Recruit, interview, and hire new outside sales representatives as the team scales. You're a magnet for talent, not just a manager of it.
• Own the Number: Obsess over sales revenue and pipeline health. Set ambitious targets, track them relentlessly, and refuse to accept a loss.
• Build Strategic Partnerships: Cultivate and grow relationships with key strategic partners and customers, traveling into the field regularly. Get creative about how we get in front of prospects and turn them into customers.
• Lead Through Change: In a private business things can change rapidly. This candidate must serve as a change agent that is willing to pivot and lead their team with thoughtful strategy and communication.
• Field Presence: Travel to be in-market with reps across Nashville, TN; Bowling Green, KY; Bentonville, AR; and Charlotte, NC, and wherever we expand next.
• Strategic Planning: Sit on the executive team and participate in quarterly strategic planning with ownership and our business coach, connecting big-picture goals to what has to happen on the ground with the sales team.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Learn how production, design, and web operations work so you can spot roadblocks and opportunities before they become problems.

THE SKILLS YOU'LL SHOWCASE

• Entrepreneurial Ownership – You treat this like it's your own business. You care, you hate to lose, and you'll do whatever it takes to get it right.
• Conviction – You've taken a contrarian stance before and been proven right. You trust your read on a situation even when it isn't the popular one.
• Resilience – You've walked away from something safe for something riskier, and you've pushed through situations that would have made most people quit.
• Self-Direction – When you hit a wall with no roadmap, no budget, and no permission, you find a way forward anyway. You go deep on problems without anyone pushing you to.
• Galvanizing – You're naturally good at rallying, inspiring, and organizing a team to take action.

THE EXPERIENCE YOU'LL BRING

• Several years of professional experience leading a team.  You must have the ability to connect with your team in such a way that they are willing to run through a wall for you. We want to see that you've led people, not just personally carried a number. 
• A track record of driving growth and leading change, ideally inside a private, entrepreneurial company rather than a purely corporate environment. We're looking for someone who's scaled something up, not someone bringing a corporate playbook that doesn't fit how we work.
• Demonstrated success building and maintaining strategic customer and partner relationships in a competitive market. Ability to bring prospective strategic partnerships to the table is a strong plus.
• Comfortable being hands-on with CRM and sales tools.
• Experience recruiting and building out a sales team.
• Knowledge of the apparel or custom products industry is a plus, not a requirement.
• A specific degree isn't what we're looking for.  What matters is what you've built, led, and driven.

BENEFITS

We offer benefits that let our team chase their own goals, not just ours:

• Paid Time Off
• 401(k) match
• Free Bitcoin after 5 years
• Health, Dental, and Vision insurance
• Paid Life Insurance Policy
• SmartDollar Program
• Participation in BlueCotton's Professional Development Group
• Dream Manager Incentive
• Family atmosphere throughout the company

JOB SPECIFICS

• Full-time; first 90 days fully on-site in Bowling Green, KY.
• After the first 90 days: hybrid, with a minimum of 2–3 days per week in the office — executive team members work in person with ownership and their cohorts.
• Regular travel to be in the field with reps across Nashville, TN; Bowling Green, KY; Bentonville, AR; and Charlotte, NC.
• Salary: $200,000 plus performance bonus

WHY BLUECOTTON?

Even though we've been in business for 35 years, BlueCotton is on the move. We've been named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America for two years running (8 times total), and we were just named one of the Best Places to Work in Kentucky. We are a $20M company looking for A players.  We have big goals about the impact we can make on our team members, customers, and community, and we know we'll get there by building a team that understands our goals, is passionate about our “why,” and is excited to build something significant.

We're in Bowling Green, KY, the fastest-growing city in the state and just one hour north of Nashville. Our team calls this area home and comes to work every day ready to serve customers all around the United States. We have a lot of production muscle and compete with the top screen printers in our industry, but we're still small enough to feel like a family business.  It's important to us to know the names and interests of everyone on the team.

The biggest reason BlueCotton is so special is because our work is meaningful and connects us with people during special moments of their lives. Our products help open businesses, raise money for worthy causes, celebrate milestones, commemorate special events, and honor the legacy of lives well lived.

T-shirts Mark the moment.

If you can help us reach our goal of $40M by 2030, we can hardly wait to speak with you!  

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to learn more about our company and culture. @BlueCotton