The ideal candidate will be located near Jasper, IN and work primarily from our headquarters.High Level Statement of the Role: The Strategic Sales Manager is responsible for supporting the efforts of the selling organization in relation to Distribution Partners, A&D Firms and End Users with a focus on securing project business and large standards accounts. This role leads multi-functional collaboration in pursuing the award of strategic sales opportunities while partnering with the Sales Team to achieve the growth & margin goals set for each Region. The Strategic Sales Manager possesses a thorough understanding of strategic sales growth objectives and provides leadership & sales experience to enable Kimball International's success in achieving its performance targets.
Roles and Responsibilities: - Coordinates cross-functional areas to pursue strategic opportunities with dealers and designers by engaging with By Design, Finance, Legal, HR, Demand Management, Operations, Service, & Corporate per the needs of each Opportunity, driving actions, & coordinating timelines
- Leads pre-sale negotiations with field sales team to secure contract and project business
- Estimates margin on Opportunities requiring discounting and recommends product pricing strategies
- Ensures GSA & Vertical Market GPO compliance for competitive pricing scenarios.
- Responsible for the accuracy, creation and maintenance of Competitive Discount Authorizations (CDA)
- Develop a strong financial understanding/knowledge of the impact of decision making in reference to product selections and discount decisions
- Assists field sales and Bid Proposal manager in the completion of bid responses.
- Facilitate product application discussions with Design Strategists & Sales Team to help drive effective competitive position.
- Validates and approves mock-up needs based upon each opportunity
- Assesses & negotiates commercial sales contracts to ensure alignment with Kimball International's corporate and legal business objectives, including administration of changes, renewals, & extensions
- Responsible for use of for project information and accuracy of the data submitted
- Fosters an environment of trust and respect, acting with integrity
- Establishes a good initial impression, projects confidence.
- Possesses in-depth knowledge of Kimball International product portfolio
- Gain a high-level knowledge of competitive product insight with a stronger focus on the key competitors within the Regions you support
- Travel in assigned markets is required
- Works with Sales team to understand market conditions and sales trends to aid decision-making to achieve targeted sales results.
- Participates in territory strategy sessions to assist in effectively implementing initiatives and meeting goals
- Serves as an internal liaison for the selling organization, effectively communicating concerns and challenges across departments to uncover opportunities for Kimball International to operate with an emphasis more effectively on being easy to do business with
- Interacts directly with customers, dealers, & designers on Opportunities & engages in relationship management
- Support the Vision and Guiding Principles and Corporate Goals of Kimball International.
- Support safety and environmental efforts to better serve our members and community.
Skills to Perform This Role:Interpersonal Skills: - Proactive; anticipates and prevents conflicts when possible
- Energetic, self-starter who is creative, passionate, dedicated, insightful, reliable, and genuine
Business Skills: - Understanding of the complex furniture sales process
- Competitive knowledge of products, market, position
- Drive sales growth & margin improvement
- Ability to lead peers & excels at building creative solutions
Negotiation Skills: - Effective in leading negotiations
- Can get positive results in adverse situations
- Effectively presents ideas & persuades others to accept
- Positions information and communicates effectively while also having the ability to be firm, convincing, flexible, and able to operate amidst ambiguity
- Must be comfortable with decision making
- Takes the big picture into consideration while making decisions
Communication Skills: - Ability to articulate ideas and opinions in a clear, concise manner
- Fosters an atmosphere of open, non-defensive, two-way communication
- Engaged in listening to other people's viewpoints
- Strong presentation, written and verbal communication skills
- Understands sense of urgency and importance of follow up
- Able to leverage relationships across departments to work together toward a common goal
Leadership Skills: - Acts as a spokesperson for the company/department vision and goals
- Gives positive and negative feedback when necessary
- Possesses the ability to coach and mentor
- Prioritizes activities, decides upon a course of action, sets, and meets deadlines while attending to record keeping and detail
- Possesses strong relationship building, interpersonal skills
- Self-motivated; accepts responsibility for own actions
- Embraces continuous improvement; facilitates change
- Exceptional multi-tasking and organizational skills to achieve short & long-term objectives
- Proactive in creating new ideas to improve results
- Decisions based on stated logic & articulated facts
Technical Skills: - Proficient in Microsoft Office, SAP, etools
- Financial acuity with exceptional negotiation skills
- Ability to review contractual language & propose solutions
- Embraces discovery & use of technology to improve results
- Uses business statistics & trends to aid in decision making
Qualifications: Educational:
- High School education
- Bachelor's degree or comparable work experience; preferably in Sales or Marketing fields
- Strong performance in Sales, Marketing, or Service
- Significant experience in a complex highly variable work environment
- Travel to customer for presentation & engagements
The ideal candidate will be located near Jasper, IN and work primarily from our headquarters.