Job Description

The Strategic Account Manager is responsible for supporting the Strategic Accounts Sales Team by maintaining and optimizing value for their assigned strategic customer accounts. This role is responsible for ensuring an excellent customer experience and year-over-year growth. Key competencies of the role are robust communication skills, product knowledge, customer service expertise, account and relationship management.

Responsibilities and Duties

Account Management

• Responsible for supporting, sustaining and growing existing strategic customer accounts.
• Develop new customer relationships and accounts, and develop a business plan to sustain year-over-year growth.
• Participate in and/or lead internal and customer projects (ex. onboarding new customer).
• Maximize sales within assigned customer locations and ensure sales goals are met.  
• Identify opportunities of customer’s future needs to drive sales.   
• Serve as a back-up for other Strategic Account Sales team members as needed.

Customer Service

• Strive to meet all customer demands, requests, and inquiries efficiently and effectively, collaborating with other teams as necessary.
• Maintain consistent and clear communication with customers both in-person and electronically (phone and email).  
• Advise customers and answer questions about products, product features, prices, and availability.  
• Resolve problems for customers and internal teams by trouble shooting, then researching and implementing solutions. Escalate unresolved problems to management.

Order Management

• Responsible for managing backorders, regional service level expectations and customer key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Process orders placed by phone or email in a timely and accurate manner within the company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
• Verify order details such as product availability, pricing, customer information and shipping details to prevent errors.
• Acknowledge, enter, and send confirmations for customer orders for shipping and local deliveries.
• Coordinate product deliveries to customers with warehouse personnel daily.
• Schedule, coordinate and follow-up on shipments to guarantee timely and accurate deliveries.
• Identify and resolve issues regarding orders and shipments.
• Collaborate with the Sales Operations Coordinator on orders and delegate order management to them as needed.

Inventory Planning Support

• Responsible for integrated parts labels, physical inventory, parts room organization and parts management.
• Assist in the inventory planning function by providing accurate and timely input on sales trends.
• Provide input to Operations for inventory planning of the location ensuring availability of product while assisting to realize supply efficiencies.
• Identify where sales trends caused demand change and explore reasoning to implement corrective action or other adjustments to account for the trend.  
• Monitor inventory levels, warehouse stock and product flows.  
• Ensure data accuracy and integrity within ERP system.  

Market and Product Expertise

• Grow technical knowledge of parts essential to the heavy-duty vehicle aftermarket to answer customer questions, suggest options and support achieving sales.
• Suggest sale of related parts when identical replacements are not available.  
• Effectively communicate features, benefits, and warranty policy information to customers. 
• Use catalogs and parts manuals to identify and sell heavy-duty truck and trailer parts.
• Keep Sales and Operations aware of changes in the market, customers, and potential opportunities.

Skills and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in sales, business or a related field OR 3-5 years of experience in sales is required.
• Experience in heavy-duty transportation industry preferred.
• Proven ability to make sales and maintain customer accounts.  
• Intermediate understanding and use of Microsoft Office Suite products.
• Experience using an ERP system is preferred.
• Ability to type 50+ words per minute.
• Shown professionalism through clear and concise communication (written and verbal) with internal teams, external customers and key stakeholders.
• Strong active listening and strategic influencing skills. 
• Demonstrated ability to build strong relationships with all levels of internal and external personnel.  
• Ability to stay adaptable to changing environments and tasks. 
• Ability to self-motivate and work with minimal oversight.
• Ability to manage priorities and meet multiple deadlines simultaneously.
• Critical thinking skills and solution-oriented mindset.
• Strong data entry skills (alphanumeric) required.
• Team-oriented mindset and strong work ethic.

Physical Requirements

• Must be able to lift/carry 50 lbs. infrequently.   
• Location varies between, in-office, remote office and on the road/traveling.
• Travel required: 50% minimum – on the road or multi-state. Weekends possible.

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