National Sales Manager - Solar Company at Talent Board

As part of the top management team and reporting to the CEO, the Sales Manager will lead a team of regional managers, open new partnership distribution channels.

The senior executive will further improve the existing processes, systems and structures on the ground for regional operations. Under the guidance and supervision of the CEO and the support of the rest of the team, your specific responsibilities will include:

Business Development and Sales

• Lead sales and business development activities in Kenya and new markets.
• Execute business plan with defined revenue targets
• Originate contacts for distribution partnerships and stakeholders
• Report regularly through companies systems on the status of the sales & development pipeline
• Establish a systematic business-scouting program with the purpose of identifying existing and new market opportunities.
• Able to leverage cross-functional and cross business resources in order to maximize market penetration.
• Work with presales engineering and executions teams to ensure high quality customer interaction and satisfaction Contribute to defining and implementing marketing strategies to increase orders volume and profitability
• Partner with product, sales and training teams to deliver marketing collaterals, campaigns and events as per road map and objectives and implement go-to-market strategy
• Develop with communication strategies to be used by the sales team in the field
• Design and implement sales campaigns and competitions for increasing market share, opening of new markets and motivating the sales team
• Identify new channels for promotion and sales
• Design and manage focused field-based research, trials and pilot projects following Lean Startup methodology to validate key product hypotheses, rapidly test features and product packages, and gather customer insights
• Drive execution of new product and pricing launches across the organization. Other roles
• Understanding the macro and micro economic forces pertaining to the customer’s market space as well as that of Pawame in order to feed into the overall strategy
• Represent the company to the market with customers, industry associations, consultants, competitors, regulators, at industry events
• Generating ideas for revenue generation or cost optimal deployment of solar kits
• Preparing regular reports for the management
• Collecting qualitative data around the impact of the activities
• Provide market feedback that can contribute to the overall product design improvement and change of sales strategies.
• Keep updated on product and industry knowledge through professional reading, training and attending relevant industry events
• Knowledge management
• Manage all appropriate internal approvals to support transactions
• Other tasks to be assigned by and agreed

Requirements

• Proven sales and distribution experience in either blue chip or startup company in Kenya.
• 8+ years of experience in a sales or business development role with at least 3 years in a management role. 3+ years’ experience in sales within the Power and Solar Industries would be most preferred
• Strong strategic thinking, reasoning and planning abilities.
• Proven business development experience and high-impact networking abilities leading to the generating of sales leads and/or contract closures.
• Exceptional interpersonal, collaboration and coaching abilities to foster high-impact team, client and partner relationships and results.
• Proven track record of high quality, timely and optimized project and service delivery to exceed client expectations.
• Ability to analyse relevant alternatives and create a rational recommendation to support business decision-making.
• Strong MS Office skills, with a focus on Excel and other database tools.
• A graduate degree in business preferably from an university abroad; an MBA is preferred.