Business Consultant-Lifecycle Services

Van-Meter; Langdon (MN); On-site; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Van Meter is seeking a Business Consultant - Lifecycle Services to act as a trusted advisor for the company's lifecycle offerings. You will identify client challenges, develop strategies, and drive measurable outcomes with lifecycle programs and service agreements.

You will collaborate with Account Managers, Customer Success Specialists, supplier partners, and customer stakeholders to build a robust lifecycle services pipeline, create business cases, and oversee opportunities from discovery

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent industry experience required.
• Minimum of 2 years of experience in industrial manufacturing, maintenance, reliability, operations, technical services, or related field preferred.
• Experience working directly with industrial end-user customers preferred.
• Strong commercial acumen with the ability to connect customer needs to value across financial and operational dimensions.

Responsibilities

• Serve as lifecycle services expert across service agreements, maintenance and reliability programs, workforce offerings, and recurring revenue.
• Lead customer discussions to identify challenges, risks, and improvement opportunities and translate into recommendations.
• Develop and deliver business cases, value propositions, and roadmaps with measurable outcomes.
• Build a qualified pipeline of lifecycle services opportunities through proactive client engagement and consultative selling.
• Collaborate with Account Managers to grow customer relationships and expand recurring service adoption.
• Partner with Customer Success for adoption handoffs and clear success measures.
• Educate internal teams on lifecycle services, qualification, and value positioning for effective engagement.
• Monitor market needs and support commercialization of new lifecycle offerings.

Skills

Lifecycle expertise

Consultative selling

CRM proficiency

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Job description

Description

The Business Consultant - Lifecycle Services serves as a trusted advisor and subject matter expert for Van Meter’s lifecycle services portfolio. This role helps industrial customers identify operational challenges, reliability risks, workforce gaps, and improvement opportunities while developing strategies that drive measurable business outcomes.

Working closely with Account Managers, Customer Success Specialists, supplier partners, and customer stakeholders, the Business Consultant leads lifecycle services opportunity development, business case creation, and customer planning activities. The Business Consultant is accountable for growth of lifecycle services, recurring revenue programs, and service agreement opportunities and owns customer opportunities from initial discovery through adoption handoff to Customer Success.

Key Responsibilities & Essential Functions:

• Lifecycle Services Expertise
  • Serve as the primary subject matter expert for Van Meter’s lifecycle services portfolio, including service agreements, maintenance and reliability programs, workforce development offerings, assessments, digital services, recurring revenue programs, and related offerings.
  • Maintain knowledge of customer challenges, industry practices, supplier capabilities, competitive alternatives, and the operational, financial, and strategic value of lifecycle services.
• Customer Discovery & Advisory
  • Lead customer discussions to identify operational challenges, reliability risks, workforce gaps, improvement opportunities, and strategic business priorities.
  • Develop trusted advisor relationships with customer stakeholders and translate business needs into practical lifecycle service recommendations.
• Investment Strategy & Business Case Development
  • Help customers identify and prioritize where and why to invest by evaluating alternatives, risks, expected value, and sequencing considerations.
  • Develop and deliver customer recommendations, value propositions, presentations, proposals, business cases, and lifecycle improvement roadmaps aligned with measurable outcomes.
• Commercial Growth & Opportunity Ownership
  • Build and advance a qualified pipeline of lifecycle services, recurring revenue programs, and service agreement opportunities through proactive customer engagement and consultative selling.
  • Own lifecycle services opportunities from initial discovery through adoption handoff, including qualification, pursuit planning, value positioning, proposal support, commercial coordination, and next-step management.
• Account Manager Partnership
  • Partner with Account Managers to develop customer growth strategies, identify lifecycle improvement opportunities, strengthen customer relationships, and expand recurring service adoption.
  • Support account planning and customer engagement while maintaining clear ownership of lifecycle services expertise and opportunity advancement.
• Customer Success Handoff
  • Partner with Customer Success Specialists to establish customer goals, success measures, adoption plans, and transition requirements for recurring revenue programs and service agreements.
  • Ensure a clear adoption handoff by communicating customer expectations, commitments, desired outcomes, and relevant opportunity context.
• Sales Enablement & Cross-Functional Alignment
  • Educate and coach Account Managers and internal stakeholders on lifecycle services, customer business challenges, qualification, value positioning, and when to engage the Business Consultant.
  • Coordinate with supplier partners, Customer Success, operations, delivery teams, and other internal resources to support customer opportunities and effective execution.
• Market & Offering Development
  • Monitor customer needs, industry trends, supplier capabilities, competitive offerings, and service gaps, and provide feedback that supports lifecycle services strategy and portfolio development.
  • Support commercialization of new lifecycle services, recurring revenue programs, and service agreement offerings.
• Sales Process Excellence
  • Maintain accurate CRM activity, opportunity updates, forecasts, customer context, and next steps throughout the commercial process.
  • Follow established sales and adoption handoff processes while contributing to continuous improvement of customer discovery, opportunity advancement, and transition practices.

Critical Success Factors

• Strong lifecycle services expertise with the ability to connect offerings to customer operational and business priorities
• Consultative selling mindset and strong customer discovery skills
• Strong business and commercial acumen with the ability to develop value propositions and business cases
• Ability to develop and communicate lifecycle improvement roadmaps that align customer business priorities with lifecycle service investments
• Ability to drive growth of recurring revenue programs and service agreements through disciplined opportunity ownership
• Ability to build trusted relationships with customer leadership, Account Managers, supplier partners, and internal teams
• Strong presentation, facilitation, communication, and influence skills
• Ability to translate maintenance, reliability, workforce, and lifecycle challenges into practical recommendations
• Ability to influence customer decisions without serving as the technical solution design authority
• Collaborative approach with clear ownership through the commercial process and effective adoption handoff to Customer Success
• Self-motivated, organized, and accountable with the ability to manage multiple opportunities and priorities
• Curious, adaptable, and continuous-improvement oriented with a commitment to customer value and profitable growth

Requirements

Job Requirements / Specifications

• Bachelor’s degree, technical degree, business degree, or equivalent industry experience required
• Minimum of 2 years of experience in industrial manufacturing, maintenance, reliability, operations, technical services, industrial sales, workforce development, or a related field preferred

• Experience working directly with industrial end-user customers preferred
• Demonstrated knowledge of lifecycle services, maintenance and reliability practices, workforce development, operational improvement, or related industrial service offerings preferred
• Experience supporting service agreements, recurring revenue programs, maintenance and reliability initiatives, workforce development programs, or other value-added industrial services preferred
• Experience developing customer recommendations, business cases, account strategies, proposals, or commercial opportunities preferred
• Strong commercial acumen with the ability to connect customer needs to operational, financial, and strategic value

• Excellent communication, presentation, facilitation, relationship-building, and influence skills
• Strong analytical, organizational, problem-solving, and opportunity management capabilities
• Proficiency with CRM tools, Microsoft Office, and related business systems preferred
• Ability to travel throughout the assigned territory and to customer facilities, supplier meetings, and industry events as required

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by an incumbent. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of activities, duties or responsibilities. Incumbent may be asked to perform other duties as required. Equal Opportunity Employer, including Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities