Strategic Account Manager

Reporting into the Sr. Regional Sales Manager, this position manages sales activities at high-profile Hirose accounts within Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin to drive pipeline, increase sales, and implement strategic corporate directives. This is a remote position based out of the metropolitan Minnesota area.

Responsibilities

• Exceed yearly sales goals with high visibility Hirose accounts.
• Grow the sales pipeline and increase conversion dollars surpassing year over year targets.
• Identify, build, and expand relationships within a targeted list of accounts.
• Develop strategies, implement meeting plans, and focus sales activities at these accounts.
• Utilize selling strategies based upon key value-add categories such as technology, risk, service, investment, timing, and pricing to achieve successful design wins.
• Collaborate with Hirose’s customer support roles to optimize service (Field Application Engineer, Segment Managers, Inside Sales Managers, Customer Service Specialists, Technical Support Engineering, Quality Engineering).
• Create and deliver customized and targeted product presentations.
• Provide support to customers throughout development and production, keeping both customers and the organization informed of progress.
• Actively manage and prioritize opportunities at all targeted accounts.
• Become the foremost Hirose expert on your customers and their industries, guiding Engineering, Product Management, and Marketing to meet future needs.
• Develop and implement strategic account plans to maximize Hirose revenue, profitability, account penetration, and customer satisfaction.
• Position Hirose as a key supplier for current and future business opportunities.
• Establish executive relationships for the given focus accounts.
• Act as the customer interface for two-way communication between Hirose and customers.
• Create, coordinate, and execute a global strategy for international accounts.
• Comply with Hirose sales policies, pricing guidelines, and best practices.
• Demonstrate Hirose’s philosophy of “connecting wisdom”; lead, pursue innovation, achieve differentiation, and obtain consumer approval.
• Build close relationships with Hirose Japan personnel; assist with periodic customer visits by Japanese engineers and other Hirose personnel.
• Create, encourage, and contribute to a collaborative team environment.
• Work closely with Segment Teams and Product Management to knowledge-share, determining product fits and opportunity targets.
• Continually strive for self-improvement and professional development through conversations with management and team members.
• Identify, evaluate, and coordinate the development of potential product lines with key accounts and customers.
• Provide direction and closed-loop feedback to implement New Product Introduction (NPI) plans with Marketing, including target account identification, promotion schedule, samples, and pricing.
• Monitor the product development process, driving the Hirose team to meet customer commitments and milestones.
• Maintain awareness and develop a point of view on industry trends to anticipate customer needs.
• Interface with industry groups and standards committees, as necessary.
• Record and maintain current and accurate data for customer meetings, projects, and opportunities within Salesforce.
• Complete all required report outs (e.g., monthly forecasting), reports, and presentations within deadlines.
• Interact with and support Hirose management for organizational initiatives and deliverables.
• Provide input and participate in discussions to establish yearly sales goals.
• Complete tasks per ISO9001-2008 requirements when applicable.

Requirements

• BS/A degree in Business or Technical field required.
• 5+ years of sales experience.
• 5+ years of sales experience in the electronic component industry required.
• Technical knowledge to fully comprehend customer requirements and provide appropriate Hirose product solutions.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong project management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple assignments while meeting deadlines and quality standards.
• Excellent communication skills (oral and written) to work with both external and internal customers across different cultures.
• Excellent presentation skills, including creating PowerPoint presentations.
• Ability to resolve issues and escalate in a timely fashion to meet customer needs.
• Proficient in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• Self-motivated with a positive attitude and great energy.
• Must be able to travel up to 30% of the time.

Physical Conditions

• Must be able to navigate the assigned territory for in-person meetings by driving or using available transportation, which may require long-distance travel.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear.
• The employee is frequently required to sit, stand, walk, use hands to finger, handle or feel, reach with hands and arms, climb or balance, and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
• Must occasionally lift and/or move up to 40 pounds.
• Travel to customer sites, tradeshows, and company events is required.

Work Environment

The employee is expected to adhere to normal business hours. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to outside weather conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.