Strategic Account Manager

Hirose Electric USA•Downers Grove, IL

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Reporting into the Sr. Regional Sales Manager, this position is responsible for managing the sales activities at some of the most high-profile Hirose accounts within Illinois and Wisconsin to drive pipeline, increase sales, implement strategic corporate directives, and develop a junior account manager. This position is a hybrid position reporting to our Downers Grove, IL office.

Requirements

BS/A degree in Business or Technical field required.
7+ years sales experience.
7+ years sales experience in the electronic component industry required.
Must possess the technical knowledge to be able to fully comprehend the customer’s requirements and provide the appropriate Hirose product solution.
Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
Excellent project management skills.
Strong organizational skills. Ability to manage multiple assignments while meeting deadlines and quality standards.
Possess excellent communication skills (oral and written) to work with both external and internal customers. Able to clearly and concisely communicate across different cultures.
Excellent presentation skills including creating PowerPoint presentations.
Ability to resolve issues and escalate in a timely fashion and to the customer’s needs.
Computer literate and proficient in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
Self-motivated & positive attitude with great energy.
Must be able to travel up to 50% of time

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 and work together with Hirose’s customer support roles to optimize our service to our customers (Regional Sales Engineer/FAE, Regional Distribution Manager, Segment 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 our 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 customer and industry needs for the future.
Develop and implement strategic account plans to maximize Hirose revenue and 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 our customers.
Create, coordinate, and execute a global strategy for international accounts.
Comply with Hirose sales policies, pricing guidelines, and best practices.
Manage, educate, and develop a junior level Account Manager within the region.
Jointly set goals and expectations, metric, evaluate, provide feedback and open dialogue to the employee regularly throughout the year and in semi-yearly and yearly reviews.
Instill best sales strategy and professional practices ensuring that the employee meets sales and organization deliverables and responsibilities.
Demonstrate Hirose’s philosophy of “connecting wisdom;” take the lead, pursue the cutting edge, achieve differentiation, and be the first to 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 and regularly with the Segment Teams and Product Management to knowledge-share, determining product fits and opportunity targets.
Continually strive for and have conversations with management and team members on self-improvement and professional development.
Identify, evaluate, and coordinate the development of potential product lines with key accounts and (potential) customers.
Provide direction and closed loop feedback to implement New Product Introduction (NPIs) 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.
Responsible for recording and maintaining current and accurate data for customer meetings, projects, and opportunities within Salesforce.
Complete all required report outs (ex. monthly forecasting), reports, and presentations within their respective deadlines.
Interact with and support Hirose management for a multitude of organizational initiatives and deliverables.
Provide input and participate in discussions to establish yearly sales goals.
When applicable complete tasks per ISO9001-2008 requirements.