Inside Sales Reprentative at Sensient Technologies Corporation

Job Summary

• The Sensient Colors “Inside Sales Representative” (ISR), South Africa is responsible for creating demand generation with existing and potential customers. To this end, the ISR must initiate and maintain sales and service with customers. The Inside Sales Representative is an “inside” or “in-house” selling function whose primary duties includes direct telephone contact with customers and occasional, pre-approved, field visits to key accounts. Other key duties include qualifying customer information, maintaining a sales pipeline, implementing sales strategies, working on budget achievement plan, prospecting, price negotiations, communicating appropriate information to management, and maintaining related records and customer files. The position will be responsible for customers in the South Africa Business Unit and based in the Business Unit office in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Close sales, maintain customer records and complete required documentation.
• Answer inbound customer calls regarding products.
• Ensure optimum customer experience and satisfaction.
• Achieve revenue targets.
• Identify prospective customers.
• Identify upselling opportunities.
• Conduct initial and follow-up telephone calls to accounts to build a relationship required to secure and maintain repeat business.
• Qualify accounts as to type and frequency of contact required for selling and servicing customer needs.
• Maintain sales pipeline. Participate in pipeline meetings as required by the respective Commercial Director.
• Establish and maintain callback-frequency to sell and service customers.
• Coordinate with management on implementation plans and results, including special promotional campaigns and overall sales results.
• Qualify prospect calls as to type of account, needs, products used, and sales potential. As appropriate, transfer leads to “outside” field Sales Account Managers using the established procedures.
• Review all mail, e-mail, and phone orders from assigned accounts daily.
• Develop and present new ideas to build sales volume and new business opportunities to sales management.
• Follow-up with Sales Account Managers in other territories to secure business from multi-location or multi-functional accounts.
• File expense accounts promptly when they occur.
• Submit requests for needed samples for clients. Ensure that adequate information is on the request so that Product Management can make a business decision when lab time is needed to fulfill a client’s needs.
• Follow-up on samples submitted and technical assistance provided and communicate with management and Product Managers immediately when additional support is needed.
• Interface via telephone with customer and internal technical service lab as necessary to meet customer needs.
• Prepare for sales calls, report on sales calls using the above methods, as well as selling, negotiating, observing and influencing.
• Analyze and interpret information – including considerable sales data, planning of work, or refining of methods and techniques to be used.
• This list of essential duties is not exhaustive and may be supplemented as necessary.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.
• Previous sales experience.
• Working knowledge in fields of business, marketing or sales.
• Very good English and Afrikaans language skills

Skills & Abilities

• Effective interpersonal skills, especially for telephonic communication.
• Ability to operate telephone, personal computer, etc.
• Effective writing skills.
• Analytical ability to review existing sales programs and to recommend improvement.
• Exceptional organizational skills.