Area Sales Manager (Metropolitan Area)

About the role

The Area Sales Manager will achieve or exceed assigned sales and profitability goals by maintaining and growing sales of Castrol Industrial products and services in the N. IL and NW. IN area through distribution and direct channels in a Business to Business (B2B) environment.

Responsibilities

• Build and execute a territory plan (segmentation, target list, coverage model) to deliver volume, margin, and share growth.
• Identify, qualify, and convert new business opportunities; expand into new sites, plants, and applications within the territory.
• Maintain an accurate pipeline in Salesforce (stage, value, close date, next steps, etc.) and manage forecast cadence with the demand team.
• Protect and grow gross margin through value-based pricing, mix optimization, and disciplined discount governance.
• Utilize value and consultative selling skills to enhance customer offers, unlock customer pain points, and drive value to close new business.
• Develop and grow relationships at all levels of customer and distributor organizations to ensure alignment and collaboration.
• Ensure distributor strategy execution (coverage mapping, inventory, demand generation, training, investment) and hold partners accountable to joint business plans and performance.
• Plan and prioritize territory activities to maximize time in front of customers and high-value opportunities.
• Collaborate with key internal functions (e.g., finance, demand planning) to achieve organizational goals and increase overall effectiveness in serving customers.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in Business, Engineering, or a Technical/Field discipline.
• Minimum of 5 years of industrial sales experience.
• Expertise in Metalworking products and applications and/or Industrial Lubrication products and applications strongly preferred.
• Prospecting experience with a Hunter mindset and ability to manage pipelines (Salesforce).
• Business partnering, consultative selling, and negotiation skills.
• Digitally savvy with experience using Microsoft Office Suite, Salesforce, and other digital tools (e.g., Power BI, SharePoint, Adobe, Workday, LinkedIn).
• Skilled at data manipulation and insight generation via Microsoft Excel.
• Valid driver’s license.
• Travel up to 75% of the time in the territory, including some overnights.
• At least 18 years of age; legally authorized to work in the United States without requiring sponsorship for employment visa status now or in the future.
• Conduct oneself in a manner that is safe, ethical, and consistent with applicable laws, regulations, BP requirements, values, and behaviors, with emphasis on Safety, Courage, One-Team, Respect, and Excellence.

Skills & Competencies

• Products and Services Knowledge: Mastery
• Prospect and Pipeline Management (Business Development): Mastery
• Consulting and Selling Skills: Mastery
• Measuring and Demonstrating Customer Value: Skilful
• Distributor Management: Skilful
• Account strategy and business planning
• Business Acumen
• Channel marketing activation
• Commercial Acumen
• Customer and competitor understanding
• Customer Profitability
• Customer promise execution
• Customer Segmentation
• Customer Training
• Customer Value Proposition
• Digital Fluency
• Internal alignment
• Managing strategic partnerships
• Market and Marketing strategy and programmes
• Negotiating value
• Negotiation planning and preparation
• Offer and product knowledge
• Partner relationship management
• Sales forecasting/demand planning
• Sector and Territory Management

Benefits

• Flexible working options.
• Generous paid parental leave policy (up to 8 weeks for birth or adoption of a child).
• Paid vacation ranging from 120–240 hours per year for full-time employees, depending on relevant industry experience.
• 9 paid holidays per year plus 2 personal choice holidays.
• Discretionary annual bonus program.
• Long-term incentive program.
• Generous retirement benefits, including a 401k matching program and pension for eligible employees.
• Health, vision, and dental insurance.
• Life and Short-Term Disability and Long-Term Disability insurance.

Pay

Base pay range: $120,000 - $170,000

Schedule

• Travel up to 75% of the time in the territory, including some overnights.
• This position is fully remote.