Business Development Manager

Kardex•Cincinnati, OH

About The Position

Kardex Solutions is seeking a Business Development Manager to accelerate growth by converting inbound interest into qualified sales opportunities and proactively developing a portfolio of assigned target and existing accounts. This role serves as an important bridge between Marketing, Sales, and Solutions Engineering. The Business Development Manager will engage prospects early in their buying journey, understand their operational challenges and business objectives, determine whether an opportunity aligns with Kardex Solutions' capabilities, and develop qualified opportunities for transition to the appropriate sales and solution team. In addition to managing inbound opportunities, the role will own an assigned portfolio of accounts requiring structured, ongoing development. This includes identifying potential projects, expanding relationships across multiple stakeholders and facilities, uncovering future automation initiatives, and maintaining consistent engagement until opportunities are ready to enter the formal sales process. Success in this role is measured not simply by activity or number of leads contacted, but by the quality and value of opportunities created, progression of assigned accounts, and contribution to the overall sales pipeline.

Requirements

Experience in business development, sales, or a related field.
Proven ability to convert inbound interest into qualified sales opportunities.
Experience in proactively developing a portfolio of assigned target and existing accounts.
Ability to engage prospects early in their buying journey.
Skill in understanding operational challenges and business objectives.
Capability to determine if an opportunity aligns with company capabilities.
Experience in developing qualified opportunities for transition to sales teams.
Ability to own and develop an assigned portfolio of accounts.
Experience in identifying potential projects and expanding relationships.
Skill in uncovering future automation initiatives.
Ability to maintain consistent engagement until opportunities are ready for the sales process.
Focus on quality and value of opportunities created, progression of assigned accounts, and contribution to the sales pipeline.
Experience responding quickly and professionally to new inquiries.
Proficiency in conducting structured discovery conversations.
Ability to develop concise opportunity briefs.
Experience in creating and executing account development plans.
Skill in building relationships across multiple stakeholders and facilities.
Ability to develop structured nurturing strategies for prospects.
Experience maintaining meaningful engagement through relevant content.
Ability to establish clear next actions and follow-up dates.
Skill in continuously reassessing opportunity timing, business drivers, stakeholders, and qualification.
Experience re-engaging dormant opportunities.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary business development contact for assigned inbound opportunities generated through the Kardex website, marketing campaigns, trade shows, referrals, webinars, partner activity, and other demand-generation channels.
Respond quickly and professionally to new inquiries and establish an effective initial engagement with prospective customers.
Conduct structured discovery conversations to understand customer business objectives, current warehouse and fulfillment operations, operational pain points and constraints, order volumes and growth expectations, SKU profile and inventory characteristics, labor challenges and productivity requirements, space or facility limitations, existing automation and software environment, project timing and business drivers, available or anticipated investment, decision-making process and key stakeholders, and competitive solutions being considered.
Determine whether opportunities represent a strong potential fit for Kardex Solutions and its portfolio of warehouse automation, software, systems integration, lifecycle services, and related solutions.
Separate immediate sales opportunities from longer-term prospects requiring continued nurturing.
Develop a concise opportunity brief and ensure qualified opportunities are transitioned to the appropriate Sales Manager or Account Executive with sufficient context to continue the sales process effectively.
Own a defined portfolio of target, dormant, developing, and/or existing customer accounts that require proactive business development.
Develop an account-level understanding of company operations and distribution network, warehouse and manufacturing locations, current automation environment, growth initiatives, facility expansions, supply-chain transformation programs, labor and capacity challenges, and existing Kardex installations or relationships.
Create and execute account development plans designed to identify new projects and expand Kardex's relationships within each organization.
Build relationships beyond a single contact by identifying stakeholders across Operations, Supply Chain, Engineering, IT, Procurement, Finance, and Executive Leadership.
Identify opportunities to expand Kardex relationships across additional facilities, business units, geographies, and solution categories.
Maintain regular, relevant communication with accounts that may not have an immediate project but represent meaningful future potential.
Identify trigger events that may create opportunities, including new distribution centers, facility expansions, rapid business growth, labor shortages, capacity constraints, e-commerce growth, network consolidation, automation modernization, existing system performance issues, acquisition or organizational change, and capital planning cycles.
Develop structured nurturing strategies for prospects whose projects are not yet ready to enter the active sales pipeline.
Maintain meaningful engagement through relevant industry insights, Kardex solutions, case studies, events, system performance discussions, technology updates, and other content aligned with the customer's operational priorities.
Establish clear next actions and follow-up dates for every active prospect or assigned account.
Continuously reassess opportunity timing, business drivers, stakeholders, and qualification as customer circumstances evolve.
Re-engage dormant opportunities when new business conditions or customer initiatives create them.