Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Valon Kone is a pioneer in rotor debarking technology, with a strong presence in North America. They are seeking a Business Development Manager to drive sales of aftermarket products and capital equipment, focusing on customer relationships and market opportunities in the sawmill industry.
Responsibilities
- Develops and executes aftermarket growth strategy (parts, service, upgrades)
- Owns sales forecasting, pipeline management, and performance tracking
- Identifies market opportunities and drives revenue growth
- Owns and manages strategic customer accounts
- Develops long-term customer relationships and retention strategies
- Conducts regular customer visits to identify needs and opportunities
- Leads upselling and cross-selling initiatives
- Defines pricing strategy and margin targets
- Benchmarks with competition
- Monitors profitability across customers and products
- Increases market presence through visits, trade shows, and networking
- Identifies new customers and develop new business opportunities
- Monitors market trends and competitive activity
- Identifies capital equipment opportunities through aftermarket interactions
- Detects upgrade, replacement, and expansion needs
- Supports capital sales with customer insight and installed base knowledge
- Aligns inside sales activities with commercial priorities
- Acts as escalation point for key customer issues
- Ensures alignment between sales and operations
- Maintains accurate customer and machine data (CRM)
- Tracks KPIs, pipelines, and sales performance
- Provides insights and reporting to management
Skills
- Excellent verbal and written communication, including professional presentation skills
- Strong interpersonal and customer service skills
- Outstanding sales and negotiation skills
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
- Ability to function well in a high-paced and at times stressful environment
- Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite or related software
- An associate degree, or equivalent work experience, is required, along with two years of higher-level outside sales experience in a manufacturing environment
- Must have personality traits which would enable employee to function appropriately with customers under adverse conditions
- This position requires the ability to occasionally lift approximately 50 pounds
- Must be able to work in typical office conditions, including sitting for long periods of time while doing computer work
- At customer sites, will be required to climb stairs and ladders, stoop, bend, and crawl into customer equipment (work in confined space) to assess and troubleshoot problems
- While at customer sites, may be required to negotiate ramps and uneven floor surfaces with exposure to a typical shop environment, i.e., extreme heat, cold, dust, noise, fumes, and other elements
- Capable of hearing or have an awareness of the operation of forklifts and cranes moving through customer facilities and must wear required personal protective equipment as needed
- Extensive travel is involved, requiring the ability to negotiate typical airport obstacles and the capability of tolerating long international flights on occasion, as well as drive long distances
- Position also requires good manual dexterity and hand/eye coordination to work with tools at customer sites
- Due to frequent visits at customer sites and mills, this position is safety sensitive
- In order to ensure a safe work environment for our employees and our customers, all Kadant employees in safety sensitive positions will be subject to random drug testing
- Must be able to handle prolonged and frequent travel. Approx. 50-70%
- Candidates with additional sales or marketing certifications are preferred
- Experience in the sawmill industry is also preferred
Company Overview