Area Sales Manager (m/f/d)
- Responsible for selling Probat Inc. and Probat SE industrial coffee equipment; 60kg roasters and larger
- Advise customers on process improvement, regulatory compliance, maintenance practices and other required customer services
- Work with the Probat Inc and Probat SE teams to develop proposals
- Be the point of sale for the customer, including negotiation and closing the deal
- Kick off projects internally and advise internal Probat team members through the project
- Be a champion for the implementation of new systems at Probat Inc., including Salesforce, CPQ, global project management, etc.
- Travel up to 50% of the time to customers in the Central Part of the US, the Pacific North West US and Central and Western Canada
- Travel to Probat SE (Emmerich) and other Probat North American locations in expected
Job Description:
The Area Sales Manager will coordinate project scheduling with purchasing and manufacturing. Excellent organizational and communication skills are essential.
The Area Sales Manager will be the key point of contact between our company and all customers in the assigned region.
For the Self-starter and outstanding performer, we offer an excellent salary and benefit package.
Responsibilities:
- Maintain relationship customers in his area:
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- Working with leaders inside the organizations to facilitate customer goals through facility expansion or modification with our companies equipment and services
- Organize spare parts and services to maintain the key accounts operations
- Provide expertise, recommendations and troubleshooting for products and systems delivered from our company in the past
- Prepare proposals and bid documents in response to requests for proposals
- Lead contract negotiations for new business or issue resolution
- Develop and present product and system concepts to customers with varying levels of responsibility and competence; i.e. develop and present financial arguments to plant management and accountants
- Preparation of detail cost estimates based on internal developed costs or quotations from outside vendors. Cost estimates to facilitate proposal development and project budget management.
- Champion innovation and progression from the status quo inside our company, including development efforts with our German parent company, our international subsidiaries and our North American peer companies.
- Support company marketing activities, through sales development/ review, online document development, competitor analysis and related activities.
- Maintain internal documents such as customer database, proposal development software, document library, etc...
- Participate in industry conferences and expositions including international industry specific conferences; attend or lead seminars at these conferences, provide sales / technical support at our conference booth.
- Champion projects inside our company; explaining scope, timing, cost, and technology concerns. Transition projects from sales to project management.
- Generate the sale:
- Define project scope and price
- Define deliverables for the project
- Finalize contract documents, terms and conditions, delivery milestones, acceptance criteria, etc....
- Lead engineering effort as necessary to define "non-standard" deliverables.
- Lead project initiation inside Probat Burns
- Lead kick off meeting to transmit relevant information (scope, color, delivery dates...) to key PB Team members.
- Support development of the confirmation of order with the project manager and finance manager
- Support payment process with finance manager
- Work with PSE counterparts on multi-company parts of the project as necessary.
- Involve yourself as necessary during the project:
- Participate in project meetings when possible
- Review customer documents before transmission as applicable.
- Ensure customer requirements are clear within our copany
- Generate and transmit Change Orders when required. (Minor change orders may be transmitted by PM as appropriate.)
- Provide high level guidance to make sure key milestones are met at quality standard, i.e. FAT completed, equipment shipped on time, product quality correct...
- Support our Probat Service to assure installation and commissioning services are quoted and executed as required.
- Introduce spare parts manager with spare parts quote
- Negotiate and resolve any post project issues, i.e. acceptance criteria, back charges, penalties... Punch list will be managed by the PM.
Specific job responsibilities
North Central US, Pacific North West US and Central / West Canada. This region is subject to change as the workload in the US changes. Specific customers in other regions may be added if required.
Travel:
This position will be based in Lincolnshire, IL with travel up to 50% of the time. Routine travel to Probat in Germany or to other Probat Companies is expected.
Breakdown of work:
The following estimate is anticipated:
Sales - customer meetings, presentations, proposal review, negotiation - 25%
Proposal development - cost estimation, scope definition, quotation development - 35%
Internal customer project execution - project meetings, inspections, issue resolution - 10%
Probat process improvement projects - CRM implementation, ERP improvement, project execution improvement - 15%
Marketing / Market development - Trade shows, social media, presentation development, support of R&D/product development - 15%
