National Sales Manager - Direct Channel at Astron Energy (Pty) Ltd.

Financial Planning and Implementation:

• Define & deploy volume & margin sales growth strategies by channel & sector.
• Manage volume in excess of a billion litres per annum or equivalent in proceeds.
• Identify levers and enablers to support business ambition for growth.
• Manage Capex and Opex in excess of USD $1million.
• Pursue opportunities for cost reduction for P&L improvements, annual savings in excess of 15%
• Develop and deploy tactics for profit margin maximization.
• Act as a strategic advisor to all appropriate stakeholders within the business & sales teams.

Business Development:

• Develop new business and design market development activities
• Manage multiple business channels and possibly a Segment (Industry) ‘expert’
• Identify strategic customers and convince key stakeholders on lifetime value of partnering with Astron Energy.
• Develop unique solutions based on a detailed needs analysis of customers in conjunction with internal support stakeholders
• Develop compelling Customer Value Propositions and present them to customers as solutions to their business need.
• Maintain a strong sales pipeline and generate strong leads for the business unit.
• Engage in continued research and detailed analysis to understand and anticipate future customer needs as well as to provide new perspectives and insights.

People Management:

• Document sales account Executive performance goals in annual scorecards
• Conduct weekly team reviews to manage, track and provide feedback on key sales activities (leading indicators) to ensure sales account executives meet agreed upon performance goals including:
• A minimum of 4 customer contact points per month for all strategic key accounts.
• Monthly performance reviews for each of the strategic accounts
• Per region a minimum of 4 new deals submitted for approval in each month.
• Track and report on sales KPIs (lagging indicators) to inform strategic planning including:
• Maintain 25% of opportunities in each stage of the sales cycle, from prospecting to closure, these clearly mapped against chosen sectors for growth.
• No more than 4 months average length of time opportunities in each stage of the sales cycle.
• Achieve a minimum of 20% customer conversion ratio
• Evaluate and refine sales account executive’s sales pipelines and forecasts individually
• Track and ensure correct implementation of CRM and reporting on sales efforts
• Support and assist sales account executives with customer engagements when required
• Drive business performance within team and act swiftly in resolving issues of poor performance within team.
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Hiring and Development

• Maintain up to date records of sales team skills profile
• Manage people development processes such as performance management, succession planning and talent management to meet performance standards
• Develop and implement, coaching plans for each individual team member and periodically review progress and improvements.
• Drive ongoing development by promoting continuous learning and research into business and industry trends as well as Astron Energy products and solutions
• Build a high-performance sales team based on staffing needs using scientific and objective recruitment practices
• Provide and support comprehensive onboarding of new sales team members
• Identify and forecast training needs and learning gaps in sales team
• Lead own personal development and seek regular feedback from peers to drive self-improvement.

Experience Required and Qualifications:-

• Snr Certificate and an Honors Degree (Sales, Marketing or related)
• 10 years of a demonstrated track record of experience in the following:
• Consistently meeting/ exceeding sales targets as sales manager or as an individual contributor
• Customer relationship management
• New business development
• B2B selling
• Knowledge of the Oil Industry, its products, and services.
• Team leadership & development
• Business acumen including knowledge of business sectors, current market, and industry status