Distribution Sales Consultant

The purpose of the Distribution Sales Consultant position is to make Distributors successful in selling Festo in combination with the achievement of sales targets and the management of relationships with Distributors assigned to him/her. This comes together with the accountability for finding new Distributors and developing assigned existing Distributors according to the Distributor Development Program so that they can extend the value proposition of Festo in the market, support Festo in covering geographical areas and industry segments in which Festo has limited presence and develop the smart customer segment as well as selected End Users.

**Responsibilities**:

- To create an overall activity plan to ensure achievement of sales targets
- To create and execute both account plans and joint business plans with assigned Distributors with focus on mid-range sales planning, increasing market coverage (identify areas/industries to be covered, sales campaigns), increasing market presence (joint marketing activities) & enhancing of their value proposition (extension of service portfolio, competence development)
- To effectively execute review meetings with distributors to identify needs and gain distributor acceptance for proactively selling Festo products & solutions
- To represent brand, products, and competencies of Festo at assigned Distributors and customers ensuring their satisfaction with Festo
- To steer and control the performance of all assigned Official Partners & Appointed Distributors (incl. Yearly Review & Target Setting, Quarterly Review, DSI Reporting) and derive corrective measures if required
- To execute contracts of assigned Distributors ensuring that agreed terms & conditions are complied
- To regularly conduct geographical and industry segment-based market potential analysis to identify white spots and find new suitable Distributors which are able to sell products of all business units
- To execute the Distribution Sales Strategy (incl. Network Planning, Contracting, Product Sales Steering, Stock Mgmt., Pricing Guideline, Conflict Mgmt., and Competence Development)
- To drive product sales based on the dimensions of product lifecycle and product segmentation with focus on new product introduction, SP2020 and the locally defined focus product basket across all business units.
- To gradually reduce the share of business with non-certified Distributors
- To frequently visit Official Partners and Appointed Distributors as well as joint visits to their top customers in the respective area
- To proactively align with other Festo colleagues on channel collaboration or managing channel conflicts to create a seamless customer journey
- To arrange & lead quarterly Performance Review Meetings with all assigned Official Partners and Appointed Distributors
- To participate in exhibitions or customer events arranged by Festo or arranged in collaboration with Official Partners or Appointed Distributors
- To attend and to support the planning & host annual Distributor Conferences in the respective area

**Job Requirements**
- Successfully completed studies in the field of Engineering such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, mechatronics or automation technology, Business Administration, or comparable qualification
- Minimum 3 to 4 years of relevant business experiences
- Adaptive communication skills are crucial
- Experience in the field of operational Distribution Sales is important
- Fluent in spoken and written English is important
- Good understanding of business practices and behavioral styles of Distributors in the respective area
- Capability to build up successful and sustainable business relationships with Distributors on equal footing
- Knowledge of Festo as a company and its product range is beneficial
- MS Office (especially Excel) & CRM Software (e.g. SAP Cloud 4 Customer)