Project & Client Development Manager

Smollan; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Smollan in Johannesburg is seeking a senior strategic sales leader to drive a solutions-based approach. You will develop plans that meet client and customer needs, strengthen relationships, and coordinate with key stakeholders to drive growth and profitability across the business.

You will establish and embed client engagement practices, deploy tools, present insights, and lead regional knowledge sharing to capture opportunities, increase market share and deliver measurable ROI for Smollan and

Qualifications

• Minimum 6–8 years in FMCG/Retail/Sales with at least 5 years in a senior role.
• Established retail networks are required.
• Experience leading client-facing strategic initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Create consistent, high quality engagement processes with Clients and Customers.
• Assess and embed client and customer ways aligned to the global program.
• Entrench client way as best practice across business units.
• Establish tools to deliver goals (contact matrix, presentation tools).
• Leverage knowledge to contribute ideas on opportunities and plans to increase value and drive thought leadership.
• Leverage best practice across clients, business units and functions to present a consistent and professional experience of Smollan.
• Assess and demonstrate Value, ROI and impact of investments and business-led initiatives.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Thought leadership

Interpersonal skills

Industry awareness

Customer needs analysis

Presentation skills

Job description

To support the business transition to a solutions-based approach by developing plans that meet

client and customer needs. Further, to support the business to ensure we strengthen relationships

and coordinate with key stakeholders to drive growth.

Key Responsibilities and Deliverables

• Create consistent, high quality engagement process to build advantaged working relationships with Clients and Customers.
• Assess, refresh and embed the client and customer way aligned to the global client program where relevant.
• Entrench client way as best practice across business units.
• Establish and implement tools in a consistent way to deliver business goals (contact matrix,
• presentation preparation and tools).
• Leverage knowledge to contribute ideas on opportunities and plans to increase value and drive thought leadership.
• Leverage best practice across clients, business units and functions to present a consistent and professional experience of Smollan.
• Assess and demonstrate Value, ROI and impact of investments and business-led initiatives.

Value Creation for Clients

• Align client and customer engagement practices across business units.
• Establish approach to cultivate effective personal relationships with influential stakeholders.
• Conduct sustainable and flexible client and customer reviews and develop actionable insights to direct ongoing improvement in relations.
• Analyse various insights, feedback and available data to guide thinking into new ways to unlock opportunities to grow client sales and market share, and drive profit for Smollan.
• Develop consistent frameworks and standards to guide key engagements with clients and customers (stakeholder engagement frameworks, calendar of engagements, etc.) by utilising the global Knowledge Office
• Establish a Regional- based knowledge office / hub to share best practice and log all insights
• Guide client and customer engagements through key stakeholders within the business and construct and lead the GTM forum across SA.
• Understand client requirements and retail industry trends, and provide advice and guidance to internal stakeholders to positively shape client and customer interactions and grow relationships and return on investment for all stakeholders.
• Update and implement the T2T contact matrix and support Business leaders to shape their Top to top agendas and share best practice.

Value Creation and Competitive Advantage

• Guided by analysis and insight into client strategy and retail execution trends, identify ways to strengthen the client and customer relationship by focusing on:

Approaches that will unlock further value to the client and customer (Play to Win)

Client and Customer analysis and insights

• Analyse client feedback reviews, retailer surveys, industry reports and NPS results to develop insights into gaps, commonalities and trends across the region and develop implementation plans to improve results.
• Utilise insights to identify opportunities for new sales strategies and approaches.
• Present feedback to relevant stakeholders and propose plans of action to address identified areas at country/regional level.
• Coach and support Client facing roles to become more client centric and commercially astute within Smollan (showcase value).

Strategic Support

• Manage and oversee the project leading the Global Sales & Merchandising operating model and playbooks workstream lead - 24 months.
• Support with competitor oversight and insight, including strategic response
• Provide PTW strategic development on annual basis

Requirements:

• Minimum Experience: 6 - 8 years' relevant experience in the FMCG/Retail/Sales environment with at least 5 years' experience as a senior resource. Established retail networks required

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Industry awareness and knowledge
• Thought leadership
• Strategic thinking
• Interpersonal skills
• Customer needs analysis
• Ability to compile compelling presentations