Sales Manager

2. Duties & Responsibilities

Sales Leadership and Performance Management

• Lead, motivate, inspire and coach the technical sales team, fostering high morale, professional development and accountability.
• Establish, monitor and manage individual key performance indicators (KPIs), sales targets and performance expectations.
• Manage poor work performance processes where required, ensuring fairness, consistency and accountability.
• Allocate human and technical resources strategically to meet business demands and commercial objectives.
• Ensure disciplined execution of sales fundamentals, including customer coverage, call planning, opportunity follow-up, CRM utilisation, forecast updates and pipeline de1velopment.
• Ensure all assigned territories receive appropriate coverage and customer engagement aligns with business priorities and growth objectives.
• Develop the team's ability to identify opportunities across multiple product lines and engage technical specialists when required.
• Monitor competitor activity, pricing strategies, product differentiation and technical advantages to strengthen competitive positioning.
• Ensure the sales team maintains a qualified pipeline with a probability of conversion above 50%, equivalent to at least three times the quarterly sales target.
• Monitor call scheduling, sales conversion rates and opportunity progression to improve overall sales effectiveness.

Strategic Growth and Business Planning

• Develop and implement comprehensive territory business plans to achieve or exceed annual sales quotas, revenue targets and gross margin objectives.
• Identify new business opportunities, market trends, customer requirements and areas for portfolio expansion.
• Drive sales growth across all relevant product lines within the assigned territories.
• Prepare annual budgets, sales forecasts, business plans and commercial presentations.
• Monitor territory performance against budgets, revenue targets and profitability expectations.
• Provide clear and accurate reporting to executive management on sales performance, pipeline health, market developments and growth opportunities.
• Develop actionable commercial strategies and sales initiatives to improve market penetration, customer acquisition and revenue growth.
• Maintain an in-depth understanding of the markets served, including competitive activity and changing customer needs.

Customer Relationship Management and Key Accounts

• Build and maintain strong professional relationships with customers at technical, commercial and executive levels.
• Manage high-value strategic accounts and ensure consistent engagement, customer retention and service excellence.
• Represent the business professionally and technically during customer meetings, product demonstrations, presentations and commercial negotiations.
• Deliver technical product presentations using appropriate multimedia tools and support team members with advanced presentations where necessary.
• Ensure customer requirements are properly understood and that appropriate technical and commercial solutions are proposed.
• Maintain regular contact with existing customers and provide direct customer support when specific business circumstances require it.
• Monitor customer satisfaction and retention, ensuring key accounts have clearly identified relationship owners.

Tender, RFQ and Pipeline Management

• Maintain accurate visibility of tender and request-for-quotation (RFQ) pipelines, including anticipated deadlines, submission dates and adjudication timelines.
• Provide advance notice of upcoming tenders and RFQs to allow sufficient preparation time, particularly for opportunities with short turnaround times.
• Ensure forecasts and pipeline updates are accurate, timely and reliable to support effective tender planning and submission.
• Maintain a clean, current and well-managed CRM pipeline, ensuring every active opportunity has an updated stage, value, expected closing date and next action.
• Monitor quote follow-up, quote-to-order conversion and opportunity progression to improve sales outcomes.
• Work collaboratively with administration and tender submission teams to ensure efficient workflows and commercially sound submissions.
• Ensure quotation processes, product demonstration support and specialist engagement procedures are followed consistently.

Commercial and Financial Management

• Manage sales forecasting, budgeting, pricing, discount requests and margin performance.
• Prepare commercial reviews, forecasts and discount submissions for internal management and relevant external business partners.
• Monitor revenue and gross margin performance against agreed targets and budgets.
• Ensure sales forecasts are reliable, with a target variance of less than 10% between monthly or quarterly forecasts and actual sales.
• Track individual and team sales performance, ensuring all direct reports work towards and achieve their agreed targets.
• Support sound commercial decision-making through accurate analysis, reporting and financial oversight.

Marketing and Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Implement and manage marketing campaigns designed to generate demand, develop new business and increase sales.
• Work closely with marketing, product specialists, category specialists, training, service, finance, administration and executive management.
• Evaluate campaign effectiveness and ensure marketing initiatives are commercially relevant and properly executed by the sales team.
• Improve collaboration and handover processes between sales and internal support functions.
• Ensure customer opportunities are supported by the appropriate technical expertise, product knowledge and service capabilities.
• Represent the business and its product portfolio professionally across all assigned markets.

Performance Monitoring and Business Outcomes

• Achieve 100% of the agreed annual sales quota and contribute to gross margin targets.
• Maintain a qualified sales pipeline of at least three times the quarterly target value.
• Ensure forecasting accuracy remains within agreed tolerances, with a target variance of less than 10%.
• Maintain a customer retention rate of at least 90% across existing key accounts.
• Ensure team members meet individual quotas and demonstrate the required product knowledge and proficiency.
• Drive cross-portfolio selling, ensuring salespeople generate opportunities across more than one product line.
• Maintain effective geographic coverage, strong CRM compliance and consistent customer engagement.
• Build a stable, engaged sales team with strong performance and employee retention.

3. Requirements

Qualifications

• An Honours or Master's degree in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Analytical Science or a related scientific discipline is essential.
• A tertiary qualification in Business Management, Marketing or Sales is advantageous.

Experience

• Typically 5-10 years of experience in technical sales involving analytical instrumentation.
• Proven experience with high-end technologies, including Liquid or Gas, mass spectrometry and spectroscopy.
• At least 3-5 years of formal sales management experience, with a demonstrated ability to lead, develop and motivate a sales team.
• A proven track record of achieving sales targets, developing customer relationships and delivering excellent customer service.
• Demonstrable experience in sales forecasting, budgeting and territory business planning against substantial sales quotas.
• Experience implementing and managing sales performance metrics and KPIs.
• Experience managing high-value strategic accounts and navigating complex B2B and institutional tender processes.
• Experience with donor-funded or development-funded projects would be advantageous.
• Experience working with major technology manufacturers or suppliers, particularly in commercial negotiations, discount requests and technical liaison, would be a significant advantage.
• Experience managing sales across multiple African markets, preferably East Africa and/or the Indian Ocean Islands.
• Advanced CRM capabilities, particularly Salesforce, with strong funnel management and pipeline reporting skills.
• Advanced Microsoft Office proficiency, especially Excel for data analysis and commercial reporting.
• Knowledge of Kiswahili would be advantageous.
• A valid driver's licence and passport are required.
• Must be able to travel regularly across assigned territories, including international and multi-day trips.