Surfachem Group, a major distributor of speciality chemicals and surfactants to the cosmetics and personal care, household, industrial and institutional cleaning, pharmaceutical and industrial chemicals markets, is delighted to be recruiting for a position of an Export Sales Manager (MENA), due to expansion. The core responsibility of the role will be to attract, build and maintain business through effective promotion of the company, products and services and be responsible for sales activity and maximising performance across new and existing partner account portfolios in key international developing markets.
An attractive salary and bonus structure will be offered based on individual candidate’s profile and previous experience.
Duties and responsibilities
Sales performance
- Comprehensively promote the Surfachem product range and services to all current and prospective distributors/agents/customers within designated geographic/account responsibility or as directed by International Sales Manager.
- Lead all price and service negotiations.
- Establish and maintain a visit schedule to market in line with specific project requirements.
- Be fully conversant with the product portfolio available to commercialise in the markets you are responsible for and be fully aware of any sensitivities.
- Accurately document customer meetings and establish rigorous follow up mechanisms to maintain momentum and close sales deals.
- Fully support specific sales campaigns as required to satisfy new or existing supplier requirements and /or alleviate surplus stock scenarios creating clear and concise report where necessary.
- Meet/exceed agreed monthly, quarterly, annual sales and any other performance targets.
Relationship management
- Develop intimate knowledge of partner / customer business activity and supply opportunities to inform sales activity and supply needs.
- Build partner / customer loyalty to ensure Surfachem are always given an opportunity to quote across our available product portfolio.
- Actively identify opportunities to utilise Surfachem technical sales support to develop new business potential and projects.
- Ensure customer relations are prioritised when attending any corporate event, ensuring a professional image is maintained at all times.
- Establish and build effective working relationships with key internal departments such as Technical, Purchasing, Business Management, Shipping and Technical Speciality Departments.
- Identify and facilitate supplier joint visits to further strengthen inter-relationships.
- Project a professional, competent and efficient image of the Company at all times.
Planning and analysis
- Prepare Annual budget.
- Analyse sales performance trends to inform sales activity, retention and recovery strategies.
- Produce monthly performance reports to include financial data with emphasis upon sales performance, the sales pipeline, sales recovery activity and competitor information.
- Instigate, conduct and produce concise reports for market research purposes.
Customer service & insight
- Act as primary point of contact for customer communications.
- Monitor customer satisfaction with Surfachem products/service and share findings with interested internal parties. Communicate any service level deficiencies to the appropriate departments and ensure corrective action is taken.
- Seek and report any competitive insight to inform strategy and purchasing/pricing tactics.
Personal & colleague development
- Build, maintain and update personal knowledge of product portfolio and services.
- Use personal expertise to support and develop colleagues.
- Support internal sales to ensure customer expectations are met and share knowledge to enable effective internal sales activity.
Experience and skills
Experience:
- Sales Account Management - Essential
- Chemical industry/products/services - Essential
- International/Export Experience - Middle East and North Africa - Desirable
Skills:
- Chemistry Degree or Equivalent - Essential
- Communication - Essential
- Fluent in English - Essential
- Fluent in 2nd language/Arabic - Desirable
- Other Language skills - Desirable
- Negotiation - Essential
- Organisation & Planning - Essential
- Commercial Acumen - Essential
- Strategic Planning - Desirable
- Computer literacy (basic Word, Excel and Powerpoint) - Essential
- Numeric agility (GCSE Maths grade C or equivalent) - Essential
- Full UK Driving Licence - Essential
Details of employment
- Full time permanent position
- Office based/home based – flexible depending on location
- International travel will be essential for this role
Should you feel that you fulfil the requirements of the role, please send a covering letter, a copy of your CV and salary expectations to Rosina Green, HR Manager at Surfachem, rgreen@surfachem.com
Closing date 7 July 2015
Interviews will be held at the Leeds head office on the 20 and 21 July 2015.
Strictly no agencies.
