Regional Business Development Manager - Distribution Business at KONE

Reporting directly to the Managing Director for the Distribution Business, we are looking for an energetic and enthusiastic Business Development Manager. The successful candidate will work closely with Area Sales Managers across Middle East, Africa & CIS countries to create sales strategies and distributor road maps.

The position is based in Africa with a strong focus on Central & Western Africa. The strategic location gives the Business Development Manager access to the African Market while also linking into the Middle East and CIS Countries.

We are looking for somebody with a proven track record of being a go-getter and understands how to partner and collaborate with the business. We need someone who has the ability to influence, with an analytical mindset,  result driven and a strong commercial acumen skills.

What will you do?

• Define, drive and support changes to improve distributor business competitiveness and customer value for Installation, Service and Modernization;
• Understand KONE Distributors customer needs holistically;
• Lead and develop programs for strategizing sales and ensure the progress and execution of development plan and roadmaps together with sales;
• Responsible for development, segmentation and pricing plan that support the distributor positioning and sales;
• Review customer profile and update account grouping;
• Accountable for driving opportunity pipeline in early stages of the customer journey and throughout the decision-making process to grow the sales funnel, maximize profitability and share of market;
• Focus on identifying and driving up selling opportunities and sales of KONE digital offerings and new services and solutions;
• Responsible for co-creating and implementing an actionable sales ramp-up plan for the solutions in focus as well as for timely and accurate reporting together with sales;
• Collaborate with both distributor sales and regional development teams to ensure product development is meeting market demands and pricing strategies are tailored to capture KONE value propositions;
• Responsible for gathering and documenting (e.g. to CRM) relevant information about the market and competitors;
• Ensure data visibility, accuracy, and reporting for periodic business review meetings;
• Lead meetings and negotiations with stakeholders and business partners to pursue business opportunities and protect the organization’s business interests.

Are you the one?

• 7+ years of relevant working experience in business development in a similar B2B industry;
• Working closely within a distribution environment managing distributor business in related industries across Middle East and Africa with a focus on growth;
• Experience in souring and onboarding new distributors in both current and new markets;
• Excellent understanding of value selling techniques;
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to build strong relationships and influence customers and colleagues;
• Hands on with the ability to work independently and propose alternatives and solutions;
• Excellent English language skills. French language will be an asset;
• Willingness to travel up to 50% across the region.