Sales Manager, Segment & National Accounts

Miller® is about building things that matter. We lead the welding industry in building advanced, solution-focused products and meeting crucial needs for welding safety and health.

We’re about the partnership and the work. Our products are designed with our users for manufacturing, fabrication, construction, aviation, motorsports, education, agriculture and marine applications.

Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, is headquartered in Appleton, Wisconsin, and wholly owned by Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW). The company maintains its industry leadership by setting the standard for reliability, quality and responsiveness. Our tagline, “The Power of Blue®,” is inspired by the blue color of Miller equipment.

The company began with an innovation that responded to customer needs, growing from a one-man operation in 1929, to the world’s largest manufacturer of arc welding products. Miller keeps the tradition alive by focusing on its top priority: people.

Summary:

This is a key leadership position within the Segment and National Account Sales team that is responsible for driving profitability and sales growth across the ITW Welding portfolio of products and brands through leading, coaching, and managing Corporate Account Managers by executing the sales strategy within their segments. This Sales Manager role will be responsible for the following segments: Rail & Infrastructure, Automotive, Heavy Equipment, Automation OEM.

As a key leader within the ITW Welding segment, this role will be expected to embrace and exhibit the competencies of a great leader within the organization and coach their leaders to these competencies: expert in the practice of the ITW business model, make great strategic choices, deliver great results, great talent manager, and provide strong leadership.

Work location: anywhere in the Central US

Duties and Responsibilities:

The “80”

· Leadership:  energize the regional sales team by reinforcing the North American sales strategy and vision to the team, driving clarity and conviction around “what” the vision is, “why” it matters and engage the team in “how” we execute linked to the ITW business model.  Give clarity of the mission through ownership, accountability and executing strategy in the field.  Demonstrate the ITW culture through influence and collaboration displayed with words and actions.

· Talent Development: create a high-performance sales team through regular coaching during consistent one on one discussions and observing in the field.   Leverage and support high potential individuals in the organizational talent pipeline; Be a champion to develop, hire, and retain a diverse pipeline of talent to drive a competitive advantage through the team.

· Channel Management: sustain strong relationships and active lines of strategic dialogue with key (“80”) channel partners to ensure ITW is the preferred partner.  Drive rigorous implementation of channel programs with 80 partners and ensure our partners receive consistent visibility to the overall value that ITW Welding brings to their business. Understand and make recommendations for existing channel enhancements and new channel considerations for the region.

· Divisional Alignment: collaborate with sales leadership giving them the visibility needed to gain divisional alignment for key target accounts based on the market and addressable potential. Coordinate with and leverage divisional resources as necessary to drive high levels of market engagement and exposure to our portfolio of solutions.

· Profitable Growth: leverage the ITW portfolio, a strong understanding of the competitive marketplace along with available sales and market data to ensure your team delivers consistent profitable growth in excess of prevailing market growth rates.

· 80/20 Execution: coach your team(s) on the application of the ITW toolbox and sales tools available to them that support the underlying concepts of focus, simplification and value based selling.  Ensure crisp focus for your team on those opportunities and activities that provide the greatest value for ITW and our customers and coach your team how to manage those activities that do not.

 · End User Engagement: drive a focused engagement process that ensures relationships are developed and maintained with the right decision makers to understand customer behaviors and influence preference for ITW solutions.  Drive consistent execution of ITW account management and sales processes to effectively pull end user sales thru our channel partners via knowledge sharing & active collaboration with distribution, ITW regional sales team, and internal ITW divisions.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent required. Master’s preferred

• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in a sales management at large, multi-location end-users; preferably in a hard-goods industrial, manufacturing, or technical products market with leadership experience

• Thorough understanding of the business dynamics of welding or like market and industry; preferably that sells primarily through a distribution channel

• Comfortable with ambiguity and ability to thrive within a matrix organizational structure

• Has a willingness to push against status quo and maintain convictions to drive needed change

• Demonstrated ability to analyze specific needs of markets and regions to implement a plan to grow business

• Ability to solve client challenges within a senior leadership setting through a strong business acumen and value proposition positioning

• Possess advanced consulting & advisory skills that have influenced action with leadership and decision makers

• Strong executive presence and comfortable leading at all levels of an organization

• Track record of strong credibility and influence within teams, organization, and industry

• A proven track record of exceptional organizational, planning and negotiating skills in addition to exceptional verbal and written communication

• Intermediate Proficiency in MS Office programs (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) and exposure to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems (Salesforce.com)

• Overnight travel up to 50%

As an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, ITW  does not discriminate in hiring or in the terms and conditions of employment because of an individual's race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, arrest record, citizenship or other categories protected by federal, state or local laws. EOE/M/F/Vet/Disability Information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.