Director - Sales

Anixter - Glenview, IL

Full-time - Senior

Glenview, IL

Merchant Wholesalers, Durable Goods

About the position

We are seeking a highly experienced Director of Sales with a strong background in the security industry and technology product segments. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of growing product segments and transitioning strategic customers to our advanced solutions. This role offers a rare and exciting opportunity to lead and expand our North American business development team. The candidate should be familiar with both pre-sales and post-sales support, and possess excellent leadership skills, strategic vision, and a commitment to driving sales growth and customer satisfaction. This is an incredible opportunity to make a significant impact within a dynamic and innovative organization. The Director of Sales will develop and administer a comprehensive sales plan to ensure customer satisfaction, assigned quota attainment, and maintain a highly skilled and motivated staff. Achieving the annual sales and gross profit plan will be a key focus, which will involve implementing effective sales strategies and analyzing trends and results in conjunction with the regional and business unit management team. Establishing clear sales objectives and forecasting expected sales volume and profit for both existing and new product lines and customers will be essential. In this role, the Director will ensure the establishment and expansion of national, regional, and local supplier relationships. Maintaining sales volume, product mix, and selling price will require keeping current with market supply and demand, changing trends, economic indicators, and competitors. The Director will coordinate order service by directing account representatives on quotations, proposals, project order management techniques, and customer complaint resolution. Additionally, maintaining the sales staff through recruiting, selecting, orienting, and training employees will be a critical responsibility. The Director will also be responsible for counseling and disciplining employees, planning, monitoring, and appraising job results, and maintaining professional and technical knowledge by attending educational workshops, reviewing professional publications, and participating in professional societies. Finally, the Director will forecast and communicate intricate details to senior management.

Responsibilities

• Develops and administers sales plan to ensure customer satisfaction, assigned quota attainment, and highly skilled and motivated staff.
• Achieves annual sales and gross profit plan by implementing sales strategies and analyzing trends and results in conjunction with regional and business unit management team.
• Establishes sales objectives and forecasts expected sales volume and profit for existing and new product lines and customers.
• Ensures establishment and expansion of national, regional, and local supplier relationships.
• Maintains sales volume, product mix, and selling price by keeping current with market supply and demand, changing trends, economic indicators, and competitors.
• Coordinates order service by directing account representatives on quotations, proposals, project order management techniques, and customer complaint resolution.
• Maintains sales staff by recruiting, selecting, orienting, and training employees.
• Maintains sales staff results by counseling and disciplining employees, planning, monitoring, and appraising job results.
• Maintains professional and technical knowledge by attending educational workshops, reviewing professional publications, and participating in professional societies.
• Forecasts and communicates intricate details to senior management.

Requirements

• High School Degree or Equivalent required; Bachelor's Degree - Sales, Business Administration, Engineering, or relevant field preferred.
• 7 years of related industry professional sales experience leading and managing staff and programs at national, district or regional level.
• 5 years of working knowledge of business and management principles, including strategic planning, resource allocation, leadership techniques, and coordination of people and resources.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze, initiate and implement sales strategies to achieve forecasted goals.
• Understanding of competitive landscape, market insights and effective communication across key internal and external stakeholders.
• Proven success in providing customer and personal services, including customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Strong verbal, written, analytical, persuasion and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to exercise teamwork, leadership, and flexibility.
• Excellent time management and computer skills.
• 10 years of related industry professional sales experience.
• Ability to travel 25% - 50%.
• Extensive network of contacts within the North American security industry.
• Expertise in intrusion, access control, and video surveillance solutions.
• Proven ability to introduce new technologies to market and gain traction.
• Experience successfully transitioning customers from competitor products.
• Strong technical aptitude and understanding of security systems integration.