Area Sales Manager - Industrial Adhesives & Tapes

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Job Description:

Role Summary

The Sales Manager is responsible for driving profitable growth within an assigned territory by acquiring new customers, expanding wallet share with existing accounts, and delivering value through application-based solutions. The role requires strong customer engagement, solution-selling, and disciplined execution to meet sales, margin, and collection targets.

Key Responsibilities

Sales & Growth

• Achieve monthly/quarterly/annual revenue and product mix targets.
• Drive new business development (NBD) through prospecting, lead conversion, and pipeline management.
• Execute account plans and opportunity strategies in alignment with OP (Operating Plan) and OLCG goals.

Customer Engagement & Solution Selling

• Conduct regular customer visits, technical demos, trials, and joint application development.
• Identify customer needs and recommend adhesives/tapes solutions that improve process efficiency.
• Coordinate with technical service/application engineers to ensure successful trials and adoption.

Territory & Funnel Management

• Manage territory coverage, call cycles, and visit frequency to maximize reach and productivity.
• Maintain a healthy opportunity funnel with accurate stage definitions, value, and probability.
• Use the designated CRM for lead tracking, meeting notes, action plans, and forecasting.

Commercial Excellence

• Prepare and negotiate proposals within pricing and discount guardrails.
• Ensure on-time invoicing, collections, and DSO adherence; resolve billing and payment issues proactively.
• Monitor competitor activity, market trends, and customer risks; update counter-strategy plans.

 

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with marketing for Ad Merch programs, campaigns, and promotion-led demand generation.
• Collaborate with supply chain for stock allocations, backorder mitigation, and aged inventory liquidation.
• Align with finance on credit limits, CIR impacts, and budget adherence.

Compliance & Governance

• Adhere to company policies on ethics, safety, EHS, trade compliance, and documentation.
• Maintain accurate records of trials, approvals, contracts, and regulatory requirements.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Science, or Business (Mechanical/Chemical/Production preferred) or equivalent experience.
• 3–7 years of field sales experience in industrial/B2B (adhesives, tapes, industrial consumables, or related).
• Proven track record in solution selling, negotiation, and closing.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with OEMs, converters, fabricators, and key accounts in automotive, electronics, packaging, construction, or general manufacturing.
• Hands-on exposure to process lines (e.g., lamination, assembly, gasketing, bonding); understanding of substrates and surface prep.
• Proficiency with CRM (e.g., Salesforce), Excel, and data-driven forecasting.

Core Competencies

• Product & Application Knowledge – Understand bonding mechanisms, test methods, and ROI/TCO.
• Consultative Selling – Diagnose problems and build value-led proposals; handle objections.
• Territory Discipline – Plan visits, optimize routes, and maintain call cadence.
• Negotiation & Margin Protection – Balance price, value, and terms within guardrails.
• Data Literacy – Use CRM and reports for pipeline, forecast accuracy, and performance tracking.
• Resilience & Ownership – Target orientation, self-motivation, and bias for action.
• Collaboration – Work seamlessly with technical, marketing, supply chain and finance.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Revenue vs OP; OLCG contribution.
• NBD wins: number/value; conversion cycle time.
• Funnel health: coverage (≥3×), stage progression, forecast accuracy.
• DSO, collection efficiency, and overdue reduction.
• Ad Merch program effectiveness (leads, trials, conversions).
• Customer retention, expansion, and satisfaction
• Visit productivity: calls/week, qualified meetings, trial-to-adoption rate.

Travel & Work Conditions

• Field-intensive role; ~50–70% travel within territory.
• Customer site work may require PPE and adherence to plant safety norms.
• Early starts or late visits as per customer production schedules.

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