Area Business Development Manager

We are building a row crop sales team across the corn belt of the Midwest. The location of the Area Sales Manager is flexible so long as the location allows for efficient travel throughout the assigned area. The position will be located within a home office with a sales territory of 2-6 hours from home. A company-provided F-150 will be provided along with a laptop, office set-up allowance, and expense account cleared every 15 days. This role has a strong base salary and uncapped bonus potential.

We are seeking passionate & enthusiastic Area Business Development Sales Managers to leverage your current grower, dealer, retail, coop relationships. You will be educating and gaining trial of two biological patent-protected products by Locus Ag:

Area BDM will develop long-term relationships with current and prospective customers through effective account management practices and hands-on field support. Area BDM is the customer's primary point of contact for all product and service-related inquires and accountable for developing a trusted advisor relationship with key accounts, customer stakeholders, and internal leadership. The right candidate brings 5+ years of successful Ag sales or account management experience and a minimum of 3 years experience in an agronomy role.

Responsibilities:

?? Serve as the customer's primary contact for all product and service-related questions. Ensure a complete understanding of the customer's needs and recommend and execute solutions that satisfy the customer.

?? Develop in-depth relationships with decision-makers at key accounts that result in long-term favorable relationships.

?? Provide agronomy expertise to decision-makers through demonstrating an understanding of customers' unique challenges and recommending solutions that integrate Locus's product offerings into grower programs.

?? Collaborate with various departments to anticipate obstacles and proactively communicate to resolve foreseeable challenges. Make recommendations to improve processes.

?? Support sales efforts including direct corporate farm sales as well as distribution support.

?? Perform in-field product testing, including taking soil samples for evaluation. Formalize and present the findings to the customer to show positive product results.

?? Travel to conduct on-site visits regularly with current and prospective customer accounts.

?? Conduct product application and product application demonstrations as needed.

?? Maintain detailed records of customer interactions through the approved method of CRM (Netsuite).

?? Stay current with knowledge and understanding of the industry and crops business in the assigned region's market.

?? Attend sales training, sales meetings, events, and seminars.

?? Maintain timely communications with sales personnel, management, and internal and external stakeholders.

?? Contribute to building an effective account management process with established expectations for contacting customers, visiting customers, requesting referrals, and introducing new product offerings.

Qualifications:

?? Current CCA preferred.

?? Bachelor's degree in an agricultural or related field preferred.

?? Minimum of 3 years experience in an agronomy role, ideally pertaining to soil health, seeds, ag chemical, crop protection, required.

?? Strong understanding of regional row crop market. Agronomic understanding of other specialty crops grown in the region preferred. Interest in regenerative agriculture practices and the future of carbon farming.

?? Focus on soil enhancement.

?? Minimum of 5 years proven success in an Ag Sales or Account Management position preferred.

?? Ability to travel including overnight.

Sales/ Business Skills:

?? Excellent communication, negotiation, and leadership skills.

?? Ability to identify and analyze sales opportunities.

?? Ability to build favorable, long-term, relationships with customers.

?? Ability to understand and follow the sales process.

General Skills:

?? Strong interpersonal skills to interact with Locus team and customers.

?? Strong organizational and time management skills with the ability to plan and prioritize tasks to meet required deadlines with little to no supervision.

?? Adept at working within a distributed work environment and utilization of required collaboration tools to function as a high-performance work team.

?? Ability to adapt to change of schedule and fast-paced, changing business environment.

?? Proven written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.

?? Proficient in Microsoft Email, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams, and collaboration tools.