Inside Sales ConsultantDepartment: Inside SalesReports To: Director, Inside Sales FLSA Status: Non-Exempt, HourlyPosition Summary:As an Inside Sales Consultant for Highlights Education Group (Zaner-Bloser), you will identify new prospects and interact with existing customers to increase sales and market penetration. You will represent our company's educational products and services, starting with a deep and comprehensive understanding coupled with target market research to reinforce how our solutions meet stakeholder needs.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:- Achieve annual revenue goals.
- Ability to manage complex sales cycles (3-9+ months) and multiple buying personas across an account.
- Manage all aspects of the new business sales cycle (lead generation, presentation, commitment, etc.)
- Utilize all forms of lead-generating practices (cold-calls, referrals, networking, etc.) and effectively qualify viable new business opportunities.
- Develop a strong knowledge of Zaner-Bloser products and their capabilities along with an understanding of competitive products.
- Uncover prospect needs and goals to deliver a solution that aligns with their needs.
- Create strong relationships with all stakeholders throughout strategic accounts.
- Collaborate frequently with colleagues throughout the organization.
- Develop and manage a sales pipeline that leads to closed revenue and quota attainment.
- Demonstrate a hunter-mentality while building strategic partnerships.
- Ability to travel 65% of the time.
What you should show up ready to teach anyone on your first day:- Knowledge about, and passion for, PK-5 needs in the marketplace.
- Ability to nurture long-term relationships in strategic accounts, understanding needs and continuing to build business partnerships and having strong communication skills with both customers and colleagues.
- Develop and execute a strategic territory plan to achieve new business revenue targets (drive to win mentality)
- Demonstrate business acumen including lead generation, pipeline management, and forecasting.
- Lead with positive intent and curiosity.
- Superior presentation skills
Within your three months, you'll:- Ensure you have a Territory Action Plan
- Learn how Zaner-Bloser's suite of supplemental solutions enables impactful, joyful learning.
- Build understanding of our sales cycle and pipeline accuracy using Salesforce
- Identify educational market conditions, including competitive intelligence, and apply this knowledge to your territory sales strategy and tactics.
- Establish a cadence of communication with your sales and professional learning team members.
- Meet colleagues in cross-functional departments to build relationships.
- Begin prospecting and lead follow-up
Within your first year, you'll:- Proactively assess customer needs to recommend items or alternatives to improve transaction profitability and increase customer satisfaction.
- Actively work towards achieving your territory new business revenue target
- Deepen your product knowledge to uncover customer need and deliver customer-centric presentations to win new business.
- Meet with current customers to establish relationships in strategic accounts.
- Gain referrals to strategic prospects.
- Develop and execute strategic and effective territory planning based on data and market conditions that bridge to financial goals.
- Foster alignment by working collaboratively and cross-functionally to meet revenue and leadership goals.
- Work within a territory budget for samples, customer events, conferences, marketing requests, and travel for maximum effectiveness.
Supervisory Responsibilities:None
Education and Experience:- Bachelors' Degree or equivalent experience in sales.
- Minimum 5 years' experience selling educational solutions to K-12 schools and districts.
Qualifications:- Demonstrated knowledge of K-12 sales cycle and market trends
- Proven track record of consistently achieving new business revenue targets.
- A customer-centric, solution-selling mindset with demonstrated success in driving the highest levels of customer experience.
- Entrepreneurial spirit: Drive, Initiative, persistence, flexibility, and resilience
- Excellent collaboration and communication skills
- Experience with Customer Relationship Management Tools (Salesforce preferred)
- Experience with strategic territory planning
- Excellent time-management and organizational skills
- Preference for candidates with well established relationships
Physical Requirements: - Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
- Must be able to lift including up to 15 pounds at times.
Highlights for Children provides reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job or to perform your job. Examples of reasonable accommodation include making a change to the application process or work procedures, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment.