BASIC FUNCTION:
This role will be responsible for establishing a new market for GLN throughout all North America. The role will handle all functions of new business development from creating market strategies and evaluating new opportunities to solicit orders and major quotes responding to, calling and visiting customers, input on production planning, inventory control and pricing in alignment with the Commercial business strategy. This job will be responsible for direct sales of all mill products throughout the global Gerdau network within an assigned territory consisting of roughly half of North America with target market capture of $100M in new revenue to GLN. This role will service existing customers and expand the sales territory by developing new customers to meet forecast volumes, share and price. As well, this job ensures organizational guidelines and policy compliance are adhered to regarding ethics and safety.
NATURE & SCOPE:
- This role reports directly to the Director, Strategic Marketing or similar
- Establish list of target companies within market segment and respective territory
- Contact companies as preliminary research on product requirements
- Arrange meetings to visit potential customers
- Determine pain points and opportunities for Gerdau to sell current products.
- Determine potential business development opportunities and provide Gerdau's Business Development Group with necessary information
- Make sales calls to determine Gerdau's role in the value chain and to solicit RFQ's, RFP's and establish customer rapport
- Attend and participate in various rail industry functions and events
- Responsible for all products being sold to the North American Railway Industry.
- Champion product development pertains to the rail industry with focus on brining profitable products to the market in a timely manner. Furnish internal product development teams with all needed commercial information on customers, products, and market intelligence
- Establish shipping forecasts aligned with monthly Demand Planning process.
- The tonnage portion of this forecast will be at the individual customer level with adjustments, when necessary, to determine the monthly Constrained Sales Plan (CSP). Monthly (or ad hoc) discussion with customers on upcoming steel needs for next 3 months, or in case of new products 6 months, getting as specific as possible on volume of steel needs. Communication of CSP to customers is required if more/less than original plan.
- Be aware of competitor's activities and customer status, making recommendations and/or changes to servicing requirements in order to meet sales objectives.
- Create, change, update Price Change Form - PCF:
- Attend planned training and development, process and tools: quarterly continuing education through independent or group development of process, system and tools such as Business Intelligence (BI), SAP, dashboards, etc. As required by Sales Director
- Participate in AAR committee meetings and potentially obtain a position on the association committees
- Act as the primary point of contact for customer relationships.
- Conduct formal presentations to customers when required.
- Attend Sales meetings as required by sales Director.
- Quote pricing and present Gerdau capabilities to customers
- Liaise with other Gerdau employees to provide industry expertise and direction where appropriate - to include but not limited to:
- Outside Sales representatives
- Inside Sales representatives
- Executive Management (as required)
- Follow up with customer concerns, complaints and/or requirements in a timely manner
- Prepare quotes within established quoting parameters
- Receive and enter initial orders into sales system as required. Transition order entry to customer service rep or account specialist as workload dictates.
- Provide regular call reports to Commercial Leadership
- Establish Accurate sales forecast around customer base
- Establish annual expense budget as a parameter for conducting sales functions.
- Submit expense reports as required by company guidelines
- Other functions as required by Sales Director.
PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:
The incumbent must be able to interact in a professional manner with all levels of customer personnel while promoting and selling Gerdau's products. Considerable tact and diplomacy are required.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor's degree in business administration, Finance, Marketing, or a related field from a four-year college/university or equivalent industry experience is required. MBA a plus.
- Minimum of 3-5 years related work history with significant increased sales volume responsibility and a proven track record combined with some post-secondary education is an asset.
- Background or experience in a metrics driven environment is important.
- Exposure to rail or steel industry sales preferred.
- Computer literate with an understanding of costing and margins. Experience in an ERP computer system environment is an asset.
- Thorough knowledge of steel products and their end use; - this would be ideal but can be learned on the job if needed.
- Strong understanding of how to execute the overall strategy and achieve success through daily activities
- Background or experience in a metrics driven environment is important.
ABILITIES AND SKILLS:
- Requires the ability to work in fast-paced, self-directed environment.
- Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, including excellent presentation skills.
- Excellent customer service skills.
- Requires decision making, problem resolution, and creative thinking skills.
- Ability to adapt to many varied situations, circumstances, and personalities at all levels within and outside the company.
- Excellent time management skills and ability to effectively plan and establish/maintain priorities.
- Excellent negotiation and influencing skills.
- Considerable travel is required.
- Proactive approach, self-disciplined in character while being a self-starter with the ability to effectively plan and establish/maintain priorities.
- The ability to get along with people while executing your leadership abilities and corroborative skills.
