Permanent - Business Development Executive - Tshwane (Pretoria) - South Africa

Reporting to Chief Commercial Officer

Job Purpose:

The main purpose of this position will be to drive revenue growth by identifying and securing business opportunities, fostering client relationships, and developing and implementing strategic plans to do so. This role involves a mix of sales, marketing and relationship management. Initially focused on growth market opportunities.

Thus, includes but is not limited to:

• Bolstering strong client acquisitions with new high-value, premium target accounts & current client relationships to achieve the overall commercial objectives.
• The expansion of our footprint across organizations in Africa to meet client demand.
• Building the reputation of our industry, as well as our company

Key Performance Areas:

Sales and Profitability:

Drive premium revenue growth in Africa by proactively sourcing, qualifying and closing new high-value, premium target institutional and corporate accounts while building scalable pipelines and achieving new sales and earned revenue targets as set by the business.

Work within commercial parameters of pipelines (on sectors, timelines & products) and targets to support the goals of the organization

Client Portfolio Management:

Drive retention, adoption and expansion across assigned clients by acting as the strategic commercial partner — maximizing lifetime value through proactive account planning, cross-sell/upsell, renewal management and client success.

• To develop a well-defined and actionable portfolio roadmap for each existing and new client by conducting a thorough SWOT analysis and determining action plans accordingly.
• To effectively act on each client roadmap according to the agreed plan thereby ensuring client growth and overall profitability.
• To constantly keep abreast of all media and industry trends to identify business opportunities to increase sales and profitability for the business on an ongoing basis.
• To identify potential clients and opportunities in the market and make contact in line with agreed targets and plans

Marketing and Branding:

• To identify marketing opportunities at clients and provide feedback to the marketing team to action, in support of continuous growth and visibility of the company in the industry.
• To act as a brand ambassador for the company in all client engagements thereby enhancing the company’s reputation and being “top of mind” for all future cross selling opportunities

Key Account Management:

• To build and manage working relationships with various stakeholders at Key Accounts (new & existing) to extrapolate additional business through growth, retention or cross-selling initiatives thereby ensuring the achievement of sales targets and overall sustainability of the business partnership.
• To effectively understand and define the client’s business problem to identify opportunities and sell premium client solutions or products to achieve the set sales and profitability targets

Solution Design:

Together with various internal stakeholders take accountability to conceptualize the most effective and value-added solution to solve the business problem thereby providing a premium service and ensuring overall profitability for each project

Proposals and Administration:

To take overall accountability for the accurate and timely delivery of client proposals by coordinating and collaborating with others in the business to ensure the proposal meets the client’s needs and achieves the required profitability margin. To effectively negotiate deals with prospective clients and achieve the agreed conversion rates as agreed with the leadership team on a quarterly basis.

To ensure that all contracts and signed orders are received before any work takes place to minimize the risk and ensure overall legal compliance.

To ensure that all admin, timesheets, and reports associated to the role are accurately captured, stored, and submitted within the agreed deadline

Team Integration and Project Success:

• To take accountability for the Premium Client Experience through the effective and efficient handover of project briefs and final delivery of client outputs together with the delivery team. Which includes:
• To effectively coordinate the internal and external briefing of clients, to ensure that the needs are well understood by the business for them to deliver a premium experience.
• To liaise and provide ongoing expert advice, information, and feedback to all stakeholders (internally & externally), thereby ensuring the effective flow of information to support the achievement of clients’ projects in line with budget and timeframes, resulting in project profitability and client growth. (e.g., statisticians, clients, field, and KAM)

Client Delivery:

• To take full accountability for achieving the clients’ objectives by reviewing and co-presenting the final research reports and outputs (i.e., Researcher and/or Statistician) to the client in a professional manner within the agreed deadline. This includes:
• receiving and reviewing the final report
• review recommendations and define next steps and cross selling opportunities

People Leadership:

• To manage any assigned team by coordinating and directing activities, monitoring performance, and developing staff to ensure that the objectives of the department are achieved on an ongoing basis.

To drive the company's culture throughout the department to ensure that all employees and associated agencies/contractors live according to the company's values and uphold the professional reputation of the business at all times

Finance:  

• Together with finance, compile an accurate budget to enable the department to achieve its strategic objectives.
• To manage the allocated budget by monitoring and evaluating expenditure to mitigate risk, minimize overspend and maximize profitability for the business.
• To identify and implement cost reduction opportunities within the department to improve the financial profitability of the business

Formal Qualification:

BCom Degree in Research, Psychology, Economics equivalent (required)

Certificate in Sales, Key Account Management or equivalent (required)

Master’s in Research or Psychology or relatable field of study, MBA (desirable)

Experience:

At least 10 years’ experience in a similar role (e.g., Business Development, KAM, Sales, Management Consulting)

Proven experience in achieving sales targets and growing client base (required)

2-3 years managing large scale projects preferably in research (required)

2-3 years people management experience (desirable)

2-3 years working experience in data management or solution development (desirable)

Job Related Knowledge:

Knowledge of Research Principles (required)

Knowledge of sales methodologies and principles (required)

Desirable:

Technical expertise in sampling & research methodology

Working knowledge of SPSS or equivalent statistical software

Have a portfolio of clients

Job Related Skills:

Selling & Negotiation skills

Communication & Presentation skills

Relationship Management

Computer skills MS Office (Intermediate Excel, PowerPoint & Word)

Analytical & Problem-solving skills

Project Management skills

Perform well under pressure and tight deadlines

Excellent communication skills (written and verbal)

Client management skills

Business acumen

Willingness to travel and work overtime if needed

Proficiency in CRM Software