Sales Manager

SUMMARY:
Location: Midrand, Gauteng
Work Arrangement: On-site, with frequent regional and international travel (Valid Passport required) 
Salary: R100,000 – R130,000 per month, inclusive of benefits

1. Introduction

An exciting opportunity exists for an experienced Sales Manager to lead and develop a technical sales team responsible for driving revenue growth, expanding market share and strengthening customer relationships across multiple African markets and the Indian Ocean Islands.

The successful candidate will combine strong scientific and technical knowledge with proven sales leadership, commercial acumen and strategic business planning capabilities. This role requires an individual who can inspire, motivate and coach a high-performing team while ensuring consistent achievement of sales targets, accurate forecasting, effective pipeline management and exceptional customer service.

The Sales Manager will drive a generalist sales approach, ensuring that team members can identify opportunities across the full product portfolio, understand customer requirements and collaborate effectively with technical specialists to deliver appropriate solutions.

The role carries responsibility for developing and implementing territory business plans, managing key customer relationships, identifying new business opportunities, monitoring competitor activity and ensuring disciplined execution of the sales process. The successful candidate must be comfortable managing complex business-to-business sales cycles, high-value accounts and institutional tender processes across diverse markets.

 

POSITION INFO:
2. Duties & Responsibilities Sales Leadership and Performance Management Lead, motivate, inspire and coach the technical sales team, fostering high morale, professional development and accountability. Establish, monitor and manage individual key performance indicators (KPIs), sales targets and performance expectations. Manage poor work performance processes where required, ensuring fairness, consistency and accountability. Allocate human and technical resources strategically to meet business demands and commercial objectives. Ensure disciplined execution of sales fundamentals, including customer coverage, call planning, opportunity follow-up, CRM utilisation, forecast updates and pipeline de1velopment. Ensure all assigned territories receive appropriate coverage and customer engagement aligns with business priorities and growth objectives. Develop the team's ability to identify opportunities across multiple product lines and engage technical specialists when required. Monitor competitor activity, pricing strategies, product differentiation and technical advantages to strengthen competitive positioning. Ensure the sales team maintains a qualified pipeline with a probability of conversion above 50%, equivalent to at least three times the quarterly sales target. Monitor call scheduling, sales conversion rates and opportunity progression to improve overall sales effectiveness. Strategic Growth and Business Planning Develop and implement comprehensive territory business plans to achieve or exceed annual sales quotas, revenue targets and gross margin objectives. Identify new business opportunities, market trends, customer requirements and areas for portfolio expansion. Drive sales growth across all relevant product lines within the assigned territories. Prepare annual budgets, sales forecasts, business plans and commercial presentations. Monitor territory performance against budgets, revenue targets and profitability expectations. Provide clear and accurate reporting to executive management on sales performance, pipeline health, market developments and growth opportunities. Develop actionable commercial strategies and sales initiatives to improve market penetration, customer acquisition and revenue growth. Maintain an in-depth understanding of the markets served, including competitive activity and changing customer needs. Customer Relationship Management and Key Accounts Build and maintain strong professional relationships with customers at technical, commercial and executive levels. Manage high-value strategic accounts and ensure consistent engagement, customer retention and service excellence. Represent the business professionally and technically during customer meetings, product demonstrations, presentations and commercial negotiations. Deliver technical product presentations using appropriate multimedia tools and support team members with advanced presentations where necessary. Ensure customer requirements are properly understood and that appropriate technical and commercial solutions are proposed. Maintain regular contact with existing customers and provide direct customer support when specific business circumstances require it. Monitor customer satisfaction and retention, ensuring key accounts have clearly identified relationship owners. Tender, RFQ and Pipeline Management Maintain accurate visibility of tender and request-for-quotation (RFQ) pipelines, including anticipated deadlines, submission dates and adjudication timelines. Provide advance notice of upcoming tenders and RFQs to allow sufficient preparation time, particularly for opportunities with short turnaround times. Ensure forecasts and pipeline updates are accurate, timely and reliable to support effective tender planning and submission. Maintain a clean, current and well-managed CRM pipeline, ensuring every active opportunity has an updated stage, value, expected closing date and next action. Monitor quote follow-up, quote-to-order conversion and opportunity progression to improve sales outcomes. Work collaboratively with administration and tender submission teams to ensure efficient workflows and commercially sound submissions. Ensure quotation processes, product demonstration support and specialist engagement procedures are followed consistently. Commercial and Financial Management Manage sales forecasting, budgeting, pricing, discount requests and margin performance. Prepare commercial reviews, forecasts and discount submissions for internal management and relevant external business partners. Monitor revenue and gross margin performance against agreed targets and budgets. Ensure sales forecasts are reliable, with a target variance of less than 10% between monthly or quarterly forecasts and actual sales. Track individual and team sales performance, ensuring all direct reports work towards and achieve their agreed targets. Support sound commercial decision-making through accurate analysis, reporting and financial oversight. Marketing and Cross-Functional Collaboration Implement and manage marketing campaigns designed to generate demand, develop new business and increase sales. Work closely with marketing, product specialists, category specialists, training, service, finance, administration and executive management. Evaluate campaign effectiveness and ensure marketing initiatives are commercially relevant and properly executed by the sales team. Improve collaboration and handover processes between sales and internal support functions. Ensure customer opportunities are supported by the appropriate technical expertise, product knowledge and service capabilities. Represent the business and its product portfolio professionally across all assigned markets. Performance Monitoring and Business Outcomes Achieve 100% of the agreed annual sales quota and contribute to gross margin targets. Maintain a qualified sales pipeline of at least three times the quarterly target value. Ensure forecasting accuracy remains within agreed tolerances, with a target variance of less than 10%. Maintain a customer retention rate of at least 90% across existing key accounts. Ensure team members meet individual quotas and demonstrate the required product knowledge and proficiency. Drive cross-portfolio selling, ensuring salespeople generate opportunities across more than one product line. Maintain effective geographic coverage, strong CRM compliance and consistent customer engagement. Build a stable, engaged sales team with strong performance and employee retention. 3. Requirements Qualifications An Honours or Master's degree in Chemistry, Biochemistry, Analytical Science or a related scientific discipline is essential. A tertiary qualification in Business Management, Marketing or Sales is advantageous. Experience Typically 5-10 years of experience in technical sales involving analytical instrumentation. Proven experience with high-end technologies, including Liquid or Gas, mass spectrometry and spectroscopy. At least 3-5 years of formal sales management experience, with a demonstrated ability to lead, develop and motivate a sales team. A proven track record of achieving sales targets, developing customer relationships and delivering excellent customer service. Demonstrable experience in sales forecasting, budgeting and territory business planning against substantial sales quotas. Experience implementing and managing sales performance metrics and KPIs. Experience managing high-value strategic accounts and navigating complex B2B and institutional tender processes. Experience with donor-funded or development-funded projects would be advantageous. Experience working with major technology manufacturers or suppliers, particularly in commercial negotiations, discount requests and technical liaison, would be a significant advantage. Experience managing sales across multiple African markets, preferably East Africa and/or the Indian Ocean Islands. Advanced CRM capabilities, particularly Salesforce, with strong funnel management and pipeline reporting skills. Advanced Microsoft Office proficiency, especially Excel for data analysis and commercial reporting. Knowledge of Kiswahili would be advantageous. A valid driver's licence and passport are required. Must be able to travel regularly across assigned territories, including international and multi-day trips.