Description
Allied Global Engineering is a parent company and owns a number of engineering businesses, including EGL Vaughan and Acrefine Engineering Services. Acrefine is the company where we need a Business Development Manager starting in April. Acrefine is a company with global presence, specialising in making and distributing products offering seismic protection, blast protection, vibration isolation and noise control. This business is based in Harlow, Essex but the right candidate can work from anywhere although they should expect a fair bit of national and international travel (especially to the Middle East) once covid restrictions are lifted.
Acrefine's products are manufactured in Turkey with the distribution being here in the UK.
Acrefine’s market is mainly the MEP industry. Products that Acrefine designs and manufactures are used for seismic protection and vibration isolation of mechanical, electrical and plumbing equipment and services such as piping, ventilation ducts, electrical cable trays etc. Acrefine also offer engineering services. In many cases, these products are sold as part of a complete service, rather than off-the-shelf fixings. There are also engineering only jobs where no products are involved at all, or engineering services are charged separately.
Acrefine is a small business located in Harlow. The Business Development Manager (BDM) will work closely with Acrefine’s General Manager (GM) based in Harlow and also our Allied Global Engineering sales team and leadership team.
As a company we are ambitious, creative, strategic, passionate about innovation and we highly value relationships. We look for team members who are also motivated by achievement, who enjoy working towards goals, who enjoy being creative and problem solving, who enjoy working as part of small team, who are motivated by fast career progression, who also highly value relationship building and who sees a long term future with Acrefine and Allied Global Engineering, taking a key role in helping us grow.
Business Development Manager Role
The focus of the business development manager, (BDM) is to grow Acrefines revenue by establishing and developing relationships with customers (buy from us direct) and distributors (buy our stock to sell to their own customers).
As a business development manager, you'll identify new business opportunities in order to generate revenue, improve profitability and help the business grow.
Your work can involve careful strategic planning and positioning in the appropriate markets, or enhancing the sales operations of the business, position or reputation in some way.
To begin with you will be the sole BDM within Acrefine but you will work closely with our leadership team who have broad sales experience and our GM who has a in depth understanding on Acrefines products and existing customer base. Your work will often reach across all areas of the business.
Responsibilities:
- Research and identify new business opportunities - including new markets, growth areas, trends, customers, partnerships, products and services - or new ways of reaching existing markets
- Seek out the appropriate contact in an organisation
- Generate leads and cold call prospective customers
- Meet with customers/clients face to face or over the phone
- Foster and develop relationships with customers/clients
- Understand the needs of your customers and be able to respond effectively with a plan of how to meet these
- Think strategically - seeing the bigger picture and setting aims and objectives in order to develop and improve the business
- Work strategically - carrying out necessary planning in order to implement operational changes
- Draw up quotes - with the assistance of Acrefines GM.
- Have a good understanding of the businesses' products or services and be able to advise others about them
- Be able to teach and train your methods to future sales and business development hires the company make.
- Document your daily method of operation, daily communications and sales pipeline into a CRM system (we use Hubspot)
- Discuss promotional strategy and activities with the marketing team
- Utilise your personal brand and network on Linkedin, being comfortable being visible online on a daily basis as per our content marketing plan
- Pursue opportunities to network and take responsibility for the building of your network which aligns with the goals of Acrefine and Allied Global Engineering.
- Liaise with the finance team, warehousing and logistics as appropriate
- Seek ways of improving the way the business operates
- Attend seminars, conferences and events where appropriate
- Take responsibility for your own personal development and seek opportunities to improve your knowledge, skillset and professional development.
- Keep abreast of trends and changes in the business world and Acrefines core markets.
- Help to plan sales campaigns
- Create a sales pipeline
- Negotiate pricing with customers, and suppliers in some cases
- Increase sales of the business
- Carry out sales forecasts and analysis and present your findings to the GM and Allied Global Engineering leadership team every quarter.
- Work closely with the marketing team to assess leads and hot prospects that come through our marketing efforts, following up with them and building relationships with them direct when appropriate.
Required Work Experience
- Experience in the MEP industry or other industries which could benefit from our product range. We are looking for the BDM to arrive with a network / knowledge of relevant contacts.
- Preferably the right candidate will have engineering sales experience.
- Preferably the right candidate will have experience working with distributors as a sales network.
Required Skills
- Tenacity and drive to seek new business and meet or exceed targets
- An excellent telephone manner for making initial contact and for ongoing communication with customers and business associates
- Interpersonal skills for building and developing relationships with prospects and clients
- Written and verbal communication skills - needed for communicating with a range of people, both internally and externally, as well as presentation skills
- IT skills, including the use of spreadsheets, CRM and social media.
- Teamworking skills and a collaborative approach to work
- The ability to make sound decisions in regards with your role, working with an appropriate level of autonomy.
- The self discipline to be productive at home and when travelling.
- The ability to multitask and prioritise your workload
- Project management and organisational skills
- The ability to motivate yourself and set your own goals
- Negotiating skills
- The ability to think strategically
- The ability to analyse sales figures and write reports
- The ability to identify leads through our marketing channels.
- A flexible approach to work with the ability to adapt to a fast-paced, ever-changing environment
- Initiative and the confidence to start things from scratch.
- ***As a global business, candidates who can speak a second language will be favoured.
- A full driving licence is also required.
Qualifications
- A degree is not required for this role. The relevant work experience and skills are what we are looking for.