Sales Relationship Manager

Job Overview

This position plays a key role in managing relationships and business strategies for less complex accounts, including regional, single business unit, and internal clients. As an Account Management Specialist, you will be responsible for selling the organization's products to assigned business customers to achieve sales goals, expanding existing customer relationships, and executing account sales plans in support of business strategy.

Key Responsibilities:

• Create and maintain strong business relationships with assigned accounts, supporting the organization's sales strategy.
• Drive revenue growth by identifying new business opportunities and participating in cost reduction initiatives.
• Expand the sale of products and services to existing clients, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Manage communication and interfaces with customers at all levels, ensuring effective collaboration and issue resolution.
• Negotiate and implement contracts with accounts as authorized, meeting business objectives and customer needs.
• Manage production and distribution issues associated with accounts, providing timely solutions and minimizing disruptions.
• Foster positive customer relations, acting as a champion for the voice of the customer within the business.
• Support account strategy and work with key stakeholders to achieve optimum results, driving business growth and customer satisfaction.
• Evaluate customer satisfaction and create action plans to improve satisfaction based on data, driving continuous improvement.
• Manage accounts receivable deliverables, including discussing and negotiating payment terms, ensuring timely collections and reduced bad debt.
• Drive Customer Focus Six Sigma initiatives to strengthen relationships with customers, improving service quality and customer experience.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop and execute account development strategies, driving business growth and customer satisfaction.

Responsibilities also include maintaining sales forecasts, tracking progress against forecasts, and working with internal stakeholders and customers to balance inventory, service, and delivery capabilities with customer expectations.

Requirements

To succeed in this role, you will need:

• A significant level of relevant work experience, including previous customer and/or product experience.
• Purchasing/commercial contract negotiation experience is preferred.

Competencies Required

This role requires the following competencies:

• Values Differences: Recognizing the value that different perspectives and cultures bring to an organization.
• Communicates Effectively: Developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences.
• Customer Focus: Building strong customer relationships and delivering customer-centric solutions.
• Ensures Accountability: Holding self and others accountable to meet commitments.
• Instills Trust: Gaining the confidence and trust of others through honesty, integrity, and authenticity.
• Articulating Value Proposition: Interprets internal and external customer needs based on relevant application; explains and demonstrates products, solutions, and services to distinguish strengths and weaknesses to meet customers' specific needs.
• Channel Awareness: Explains and contextualizes industry structure, dynamics, and path to market in order to advance organizational goals.
• Pricing Strategy: Develops prices by aligning and building consensus with key stakeholders across functions to achieve business targets.
• Account Planning: Identifies objectives to drive execution of business and/or account strategy by reviewing the status relative to where it needs to be and tracking progress against targets.
• Adapts to Target Audience: Explains complex topics in a way that different audiences (sales professionals, customers, training vendors, etc.) can understand and use effectively.
• Developing Account Strategy: Determines the current status of an account and defines desired future states by balancing customer requirements and business capabilities.
• Integrates Customer Perspective: Incorporates an understanding of customers' perspectives on products and sales efforts to develop sales content that improves customer engagement and increases revenue.
• Sales Forecasting: Collects and assesses customer data from internal and external sources; compares against historical data to create forecasts of future consumption patterns.
• Sales Pipeline Management: Plans proactively for successful execution of account/territory-level sales strategies, evaluates pipeline health, and adjusts sales strategy and plans accordingly.
• Sense Making: Uses diagnostic and probing questions and research to develop an intimate understanding of customer needs, behaviors, and their buying journey. Synthesizes complex information to deliver tailored solutions for customers.

Education, Licenses, and Certifications

The ideal candidate will have a college, university, or equivalent degree in marketing, sales, technical, or a related subject, or equivalent industry experience.