Business Development:
Create & nurture a strong industry network with customers, potential customers, and consultants.
Identify & pursue new business opportunities in the warehouse automation sector.
Develop & maintain a robust sales pipeline through prospecting, lead generation, and networking.
Identify & target potential clients through various channels, including direct contact, networking, referrals, and online research.
Strategy & Planning:
Develop & implement comprehensive strategies to identify & close new business deals.
Develop & execute a comprehensive BD plan that aligns with the company's growth objectives and strategic fit.
Stay informed about market trends, competitor activities, and industry developments to adjust sales approaches accordingly.
Collaborate with internal teams to ensure customer satisfaction.
Client Relationship Management:
Be the external face of the company with full customer ownership responsibilities.
Build and nurture strong relationships with key decision-makers and stakeholders in target industries.
Understand clients' operational challenges and goals to offer warehouse automation solutions.
Conduct regular client meetings and presentations to showcase Vanderlande's capabilities and product offerings.
Proposal Development:
Define win strategies to develop comprehensive, compelling, and competitive proposals.
Manage all stages of the bid process to ensure a winning submission.
Prepare and present compelling proposals, quotations, and presentations to potential clients.
Understand client requirements and tailor solutions to meet their specific needs.
Work closely with the teams to ensure proposed solutions align with client requirements.
Negotiation and Contract Closure:
Lead negotiations to reach mutually beneficial agreements and close sales deals.
Work with legal and finance teams to finalise contracts and ensure compliance with company policies.
Skills and Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, business, marketing, management or another related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
- 5+ years of combined experience in sales and/or sales engineering / solution consulting for warehouse automation, material handling or comparable technical solutions, with demonstrated results against personal sales targets.
- Proven ability to own the full sales cycle from start to finish: prospecting, qualification, solution development, proposal, negotiation and close.
- Strong technical acumen: able to understand customer processes and translate requirements into system concepts (e.g. process and material flow diagrams), supported by design tooling and internal experts.
- Strong commercial acumen: comfortable building budgets, business cases and ROI/labour/space models, and selling on value rather than price.
- Strong analytical thinker, able to solve abstract problems, maintain the big picture and zoom in on detail where needed.
- Energetic, entrepreneurial and proactive; able to run multiple pursuits in parallel, manage competing priorities and work independently with minimum supervision.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication, presentation, listening and negotiation skills; able to build rapport and apply influence at all levels of seniority.
- Advanced English proficiency (speaking, reading and writing).
- Ability to travel up to 40%, mostly within ANZ, and to work within an international, multicultural environment.
Highly Desirable Requirements
- 7+ years of experience across sales and solution consulting in the warehouse automation industry.
- Postgraduate master's degree in business, marketing, management, engineering or another related field.
- An established network of warehouse, supply chain and logistics industry contacts in ANZ.
- Experience with Vanderlande's targeted market segments, products and platforms.
- Experience with simulation, layout and design tooling (e.g. Visio, AutoCAD, Navisworks) and CRM systems.
Diversity & inclusion
Vanderlande is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status.
