Sales Specialists & Consultants are product, services, software or solution specialists that are responsible for leading pursuit in their assigned focus areas. Collaborates with and supports Account Managers and provides specialist expertise within the sales team. Drives proactive campaigns to build the pipeline, uses specialized knowledge and skills to prospect, qualify, negotiate and close opportunities. May have named accounts allocated, cover a designated geography, or may be allocated to one high-potential, competitive attack account.
Responsibilities:
- Seek out new opportunities and expands and enhances existing opportunities to build and manage the pipeline in specialty area.
- Maintains knowledge of competitors in account to strategically position the company's products and services better.
- Develop pursuit plans and manage the pipeline to ensure alignment with account managers.
- Establish a professional, working, and consultative, relationship with the client, by developing a core understanding of the unique business needs of the client within their industry.
- Contributes to proposal development, negotiations and deal closings.
- Work closely with and supports account manager, providing technical expertise and support, and participating in client engagements up to C- level engagements for more complex solutions in smaller accounts.
- May focus on growing contractual renewals for mid-size accounts with some complexity, to higher-total contract- value renewals.
- Interface with both internal and external/industry experts to anticipate customer needs and facilitate solutions development.Build sales readiness and reduce client learning curve through effective knowledge transfer in area of specialization.
Education and Experience Required:
- University or bachelor's degree preferred.Directly related previous work experience.
- Demonstrated success in achieving progressively higher quota.
- Extensive vertical industry knowledge required.
- Typically, 4-8 years advanced sales experience required.
- Experience in storage sales, typically 1-2+years.
- Experience selling / Familiarity with storage software like Veeam, Scality, Weka, Commvault, Qumulo would be advantageous.
- Extensive vertical industry knowledge required.
Knowledge and Skills:
- Deep knowledge of products, solution or service offerings as well as competitor's offerings, to be able to sell expansive systems or services and attached products.
- Understands the industry and market segment in which key accounts are situated, and integrates this knowledge into consultative selling.
- Understands the role of IT within area of specialization and how the company's solutions differentially address specific vertical industry challenges as well as their cross-segment capabilities.
- Negotiates and drives deals to ensure successful closes and high win rate.
- Broad understanding of the customer needs; applies standard as well as creative solutions to meet those needs.
- Uses client engagement skills in collaboration with account leads to propose expansive systems or service solutions to client.
- Leadership and initiative in successfully driving specialty sales in accounts - prospecting, negotiating and closing deals.
- Translate product knowledge into customer's added business value.
- Uses specialty knowledge to actively prospects within accounts to discover or cultivate sales opportunities.
- Conceptualizes and articulates well-targeted solutions in area of technical specialty -- from proposal to contract sign-off
- Ability to take a deal through the sales cycle including closing or supporting the close of a deal.
- Demonstrates high service knowledge and professionalism in researching and sharing service- related information with account teams and customers.
- Understand the channel and work an effective plan to increase sales with our partners.
- Regular use of Siebel updating deal profile and forecasting accurately.
- Understands services as part of strategic product sales.
- Good prioritization and delegation skills in order to focus on the key client opportunities. Knowledge of industry trends associated solutions, and key partner/ISV solutions.
