Business Development Manager

Summary/Objective

Responsible for leveraging strong relationships with customers, suppliers and partners to fulfill customer needs, provide solutions and create new business opportunities within the NAGASE Group. The BD Manager will work under the direction of the Senior Manager to manage existing and new accounts, find new sales leads, identify business opportunities, and investigate new market potentials.

Essential Functions

·      Actively identify and generate prospects through strategic sales activities focusing on customers in target markets.

·      Maintain strong relationships with existing clients to enhance retention and generate new sales through referrals and references. Grow and retain existing accounts by presenting new solutions and services to clients, requiring thorough market and competitor knowledge.

·      Plan persuasive approaches and pitches that will convince potential clients to do business with the company.

·      Identify potential clients and the decision makers within their organizations.

·      Stay current on NAM's product offerings, industry trends, competitor activity, and emerging technologies; leverage this industry knowledge to strengthen credibility and identify opportunities.

·      Keep Senior Manager updated on development activities as requested.

·      Handle objections by clarifying points, emphasizing agreements, and working through differences to a positive conclusion.

·      Cold call when appropriate to ensure a robust pipeline of opportunities. Meet potential clients by growing, maintaining, and leveraging your network.

·      Maintain strong working relationships and open communication with NAM employees across departments, and with Global Account Management (GAM) Teams to support smooth SOP and mass production.

·      Communicate information, issues, ideas and solutions to upper management in a timely manner. Participate in sales forecasts and planning; set and achieve sales goals and strategic objectives.

·      Work with Accounting to resolve A/R and A/P issues; ensure accuracy of contract pricing; manage pricing strategies to ensure profitability; lead quoting for engineering changes and new opportunities.

·      Take initiative to manage existing accounts and business effectively, minimizing profit loss related to avoidable issues, including quality issues.

·      Promote corporate project development initiatives such as IFC technology.

·      Deliver sales and business development results within established timelines, proactively addressing obstacles to ensure goals are met.

·      Apply strong technical understanding of materials, processes, and product requirements to support customer discussions and opportunity assessment.

·      Build and sustain strong relationships across customer organizations and industry networks; adjust communication style to different audiences and develop trust-based partnerships.

·      Develop strategic account and market plans informed by industry insight, customer needs and organizational capability; ensure actions align with long-term objectives.

·      Complete performance-review tasks in Halogen accurately and on time to support organizational processes.

·      Manage accounts with attention to customer needs, opportunity identification, business expansion and consistent engagement with decision makers.

This job description is intended to outline the primary responsibilities of the position. It is not an exhaustive list of all duties, and responsibilities may evolve over time based on business needs.

Education and Experience

·      Bachelor's Degree

·      Approximately 10 years of progressive experience in sales and business development.

·      Business or Technical education (Mechanical, Chemical or Manufacturing Engineering, Chemistry). Experience with plastics, automotive adhesives, or injection molding.

·      3–5 years of strategic business planning experience.

·      Active involvement in automotive industry–related groups or associations such as SAE, SPE, AIAG, and ACS.

Position Type and Expected Hours of Work

Full-time, Hybrid, Monday to Friday. May require early mornings, evenings or weekends as needed.  

Physical Demands

This position may require occasional standing, walking, and the ability to lift up to 10-15 pounds. The role involves frequent use of a computer and other office equipment, as well as sitting for extended periods of time. 

Travel