Sales Account Manager, South Africa & Africa at ProQuest

Job description

Position Summary:

The Account Manager leads and coordinates sales activity for an assigned territory, utilizing expertise and other resources such as product specialists, client relationship managers and field marketing teams to meet and exceed sales targets.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Owns the assigned territory and individual account plan coordination, working closely with product specialists, trainers, and renewal teams to develop an overall account plan to grow long term revenue.
• Influences and motivates others in a matrixed sales organization (particularly those who do not directly report to the Account Manager) to support and drive towards shared goals.
• Focuses on new and renewal business as part of expanding ProQuest's footprint within the account; typically serves as primary point to engage client.
• Leads RFP coordination and development as needed; seeking opportunities to unite multiple RFP or current investments and collaborating with product specialists as appropriate.
• Manages full portfolio forecast (renewals and new business) including specialty products and content; works closely with product specialist and support teams to ensure forecast accuracy.
• Maintains a good working knowledge of products especially in core content where there are no specialists.
• Leads content demonstrations, engaging product specialists as appropriate for product-specific demonstrations.
• Maintains awareness of all proposals, and as account plan warrants may lead discussion with client.
• Ensures account plan is making progress and is aligned to other objectives in the account.
• Manages the overall health of the account; coordinating routine checkpoints, handling business reviews, participating in new product roadmap discussions, and engaging in client meetings.
• Ensures client satisfaction and issues are resolved; relying on product specialists to drive specialty product issues and working with colleagues in customer services and technical support
• Enters leads and new activity into SalesForce.com in order to ensure collaboration and full communication.
• Qualifications:
• Bachelors' degree plus at least 5 years' related experience as a direct field sales professional or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Proven success in selling and closing customers, creating value, and managing a pipeline.
• Successful sales negotiation skills at every level within client organizations, with experience influencing and selling to the executive level decision-maker.
• Ability to develop a deep understanding of product line and client base.
• Capable of engaging in key probing questions for specialty products and can promote key value proposition and answer baseline questions about all specialty products.
• Able to clearly and compellingly articulate full ProQuest value proposition.
• Ability to assess the sales process and request participation from executive managers when required.
• Ability to analyze, compare, evaluate, reconcile and draw meaningful conclusions and action plans from data.
• Ability to accurately forecast and manage the sales funnel for assigned account territory.
• Focused team player with a collaborative approach.
• High level of enthusiasm, with strong influencing and negotiation skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with ability to professionally build and maintain strong relationships with a diverse blend of personalities and levels of authority to reach resolution.
• Capacity to learn and effectively utilize SalesForce.com as well as other software tools relevant to the role, and adhere to assigned sales methodology.
• Demonstrated proficiency in Microsoft Office suite of products including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and related software relevant to the role.

Ancillary Qualifications:

Qualifications listed below, while not necessarily a requirement for this position in each circumstance, provide additional depth and value to the role.

• Advanced degree in Library Science or related field.
• Certifications pertinent to the sales profession.

Other important information about this position:

• This position may be based in a corporate office or remote location.
• Frequent national and international travel is required.
• This position requires weekday (Monday - Friday) attendance with scheduling flexibility available around core working hours. Some weekend attendance is required, typically for travel and industry/trade events.
• Every position requires certain physical capabilities. ProQuest seeks to make reasonable accommodations that enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential duties when possible.

The preceding job description is not intended to describe in detail the multitude of tasks that may be assigned, but rather to provide a general overview of the expectations and responsibilities of this position. As the nature of business demands change, so may the functions of this position. Additional duties and responsibilities may be assigned.