10+ years in sales, sales management, or sales readiness.
Strong commercial acumen linking capability investment to revenue.
Proven coaching ability for sales managers and individual contributors.
Established credibility with field sales organizations.
Strong facilitation and presentation skills for diverse audiences.
Proficiency in sales enablement tools and CRM systems.
Responsibilities
Accountable for commercial outcomes and performance reporting.
Analyze sales data to identify capability gaps and direct resources.
Develop business cases for readiness investments and quantify returns.
Evaluate existing content and programming for performance impact.
Provide direct coaching to district sales managers in live settings.
Advise regional sales directors on leadership standards and assessments.
Govern a consolidated North American sales readiness calendar.
Benefits
401k plan with company match.
Comprehensive vision, dental, and medical benefits.
Paid holidays and a generous PTO package.
Full Job Description
Director, Sales Readiness
City: Chicago
State/Province: IL
Country: United States
Division: Corporate
Job ID: 14275
We're looking for a Director of Sales Readiness who will lead the sales readiness function for the Lawson MRO and Kent Automotive businesses in North America, ensuring that field sales representatives and district sales managers are prepared to apply their knowledge in live selling situations. This role: establishes and maintains a single leadership standard for district sales managers; leads a team of region-aligned readiness partners who provide coaching in the field; governs a consolidated North American readiness calendar that manages demands on field selling time; and directs departmental effort based on analysis of sales performance data.
This role will work from a home office. We offer 401k plus vision, dental and medical benefits, as well as a paid holiday and PTO package.
Responsibilities:
Assumes accountability for defined commercial outcomes and reports performance against them to sales leadership on a defined cadence.
Analyzes sales performance data to diagnose capability gaps and direct departmental resources toward the districts and regions of greatest need.
Develops the commercial case for readiness investment and quantifies the anticipated return in revenue and productivity terms.
Evaluates existing content, programming, and recurring activity against demonstrated performance impact.
Provides direct coaching to district sales managers in live settings, in addition to scheduled development sessions.
Advises regional sales directors on the inspection and reinforcement of the leadership standard, providing assessment of district-level capability within their regions.
Establishes and maintains the sales leadership standards, maintaining a consistent standard across all regions.
Owns and governs a consolidated North American sales readiness calendar, publishing the readiness sufficiently in advance to permit regional planning and hold functional partners accountable to the published schedule.
Evaluates and prioritizes competing requests from Segment Marketing, Product Management, and sales leadership, managing field selling capacity as a limited commercial resource.
Designs and facilitates readiness content and live sessions personally.
Partners with the CRM and systems function to determine which readiness resources have surfaced within the CRM and the field sales application.
Evolves the sales readiness function beyond traditional learning platforms and approaches, designing and building a digital just-in-time readiness program that equips sales representatives with relevant and timely selling resources at the point of need.
Curates product and technical content from supplier partners and maintains it to a consistent standard, in place of in-house authoring.
Identifies qualified and interested product subject matter experts, partnering with field sales leaders, in order to build a deep learning network that drives category growth.
Establishes territory optimization, coverage planning, and book rebalancing, partnering with Sales Operations, as a standard management practice rather than periodic initiatives.
Leads a team of region-aligned readiness partners assigned to sales regions, maintaining direct relationships with regional sales directors and district sales managers and holding accountability for readiness outcomes within those territories.
Onboards, trains, and develops the team of readiness partners, building organizational bench strength for future roles within the sales organization.
Demonstrates a commitment to Lawson Products Vision, Mission, and Values (integrity, progressive, results driven, and team oriented.)
Assists with other projects as directed by management. (Other duties, responsibilities, and qualifications may be required and/or assigned as necessary.)
Qualifications & Requirements:
Bachelor's degree required, master's degree preferred, with ten or more years of experience in sales, sales management, sales enablement, or sales readiness, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Strong commercial acumen, with an understanding of the economics of sales productivity, able to articulate the relationship between capability investment and revenue, margin, or ramp performance in terms recognized by sales leadership and Finance
Strong analytical capability, with the ability to work directly within CRM and business intelligence systems to develop an independent point of view
Demonstrated ability to coach sales managers as well as individual contributors, with experience coaching and delivering a defined sales methodology or value-selling program
Established credibility with a distribution field-sales organization, including the ability to coach in live settings without undermining the manager present
Strong facilitation and presentation skills with audiences of varying size and seniority, delivered both in person and virtually
Working knowledge of adult learning principles, with emphasis upon application and reinforcement rather than classroom instruction
Ability to develop content on compressed timelines and to prioritize effectively when demand exceeds available capacity
Demonstrated ability to develop strong cross-functional relationships and achieve results through influence within a matrixed environment
Proficiency with sales enablement and learning platforms, CRM, and sales analytics tools
Proactive and self-directed with the ability to anticipate field requirements rather than simply responding to requests
Demonstrated history of accountability for commercial outcomes rather than for activity or program delivery
Direct field sales or field sales management experience, or demonstrated equivalent credibility with a distributed sales organization
Prior experience in sales readiness, sales enablement, or a full-cycle sales role with emphasis upon onboarding and skills development
Experience within distribution, MRO, industrial, or another field-intensive sales model preferred
Willingness to travel at varying intensity depending upon business needs, with an overall average expectation of 35% travel annually
About Lawson Products
Lawson Products, Inc. is a distributor of products and services to the industrial, commercial, institutional, and governmental maintenance, repair, and operations marketplace (MRO). The company's product categories include fasteners, chemicals, abrasives, hydraulics, cutting tools and machinery, electrical, automotive, and other products. Lawson Products serves customers through a network of sales representatives and distributors across the United States and Canada. The company was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
