Sales, Business Development and Account Management Specialist

Our client is seeking a key account manager with a strong sales and business development focus and an active, current network in the Financial Services industry, (including central banks) in South Africa and throughout Africa to drive new client engagements and manage existing client relationships, to aggressively increase the share of wallet and growing market share throughout Africa (key focus on South African clients).

This is a permanent role, but our client will consider a long-term fixed-term contract employment arrangement.

What You Will Do

Your mission, leveraging your strong current networks in the financial services industry, is to identify new business opportunities and potential clients in the banking and financial industry domain in South Africa and Africa, as well as new/enhanced product/revenue opportunities, establishing, nurturing and expanding long term business relationships as a trusted and strategic advisor and provider of technology (and business) solutions in the treasury and capital markets space.

Acting as an account manager, partner, advisor, and main point of contact in all matters relating to client concerns and needs, you will leverage your personal networks, industry knowledge, and technical expertise to provide valuable insights, drive client satisfaction, and contribute to business growth through cross- and up-selling as well as new account establishment.

This is not a customer success management role! You will bring your structured and strategic approach and strong business development/sales competence to the role, creating, managing, and delivering on a strong sales pipeline, and designing and applying strategic account-specific approaches to meet client needs in a planned and deliberate manner.

Reporting directly to the Business Development Executive, you will engage internally with relevant functions, and externally with client leadership and project management functions in a methodical manner designed to meet agreed sales- and business development targets.

The client has solid, established relationships with various large South African banks as well as banks and central banks throughout Africa, which require strategic account management, and which will form the base from which you will actively work to expand and grow and further entrench our clients footprint.

The role is based in Johannesburg, working on a hybrid basis, and you will be expected to engage in person with South African clients. There is a possibility of travel to African countries, should agreement be reached that you will be responsible for clients in other African countries.

Our client intends to implement a basic salary plus commission structure based on the achievement of quarterly pipeline- and sales targets.

You Will Be Responsible For

• Sales, new business development, key account management and expanding relationships with existing clients
• Maintaining current business- and technical knowledge of the landscape, competitive products and emerging innovations in the treasury and capital markets space
• Identifying and qualifying leads that fit the target market profile and assigned territory
• Establishing initial contact and building a relationship with prospects. This involves understanding their business environment and establishing trust
• Conducting detailed needs analysis to uncover prospects problems, needs, and potential solutions
• Presenting products and services as solutions to prospects problems, customizing pitches to address client-specific needs and concerns
• Addressing and overcoming any objections or concerns prospects may have about the product, service, or terms
• Successfully converting opportunities to sales, followed by handling contracts and terms negotiations
• Overseeing implementation processes and ensuring customer satisfaction, including follow-up to address post-sale issues and identify additional sales opportunities
• Production of a full, measurable sales pipeline with supporting client strategies/plans and associated projections, in line with targets

Qualifications

What you will need:

• Suitable tertiary qualifications or certifications, which may lend themselves to the role of trusted advisor to large financial services organisations.

Knowledge and Experience

• 3+ years demonstrated experience in in sales and account management, client satisfaction management, and maintaining solid relationships with key clients within the Capital Markets and Treasury Banking technology domain, or Banking services.
• Solid, active and credible networks in the banking industry.
• Proficiency in business development and methodical sales approaches.
• Familiarity within the Capital Markets and Treasury Banking technology is desirable.
• Good understanding of legal and commercial agreements and engaging with legal departments to ensure timeous closure of legal processes.
• Eagerness to learn complex solutions to enable successful development of sales opportunities.
• Experience in compiling proposals, pitching to and negotiating with clients.
• PC literacy - Microsoft - specifically PowerPoint and Excel.
• Experience with CRM software and automation.

Skills

• Business acumen and strategic mindset
• Customer service excellence focus
• Stakeholder engagement and stakeholder relations management at leadership level, able to easily establish and build relationships
• Ability to work in unpredictable business development environment, in a team and/or independently
• Strong interpersonal skills
• High attention to detail
• Problem solving
• Ability to conduct research and analyse data
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills
• Superior oral and written communication skills
• Able to maintain clarity of outcomes on potentially complex client engagements, and provide meaningful strategic guidance and direction to project and operational teams, overseeing client outcome delivery and leveraging internal and external relationships to ensure the best outcomes are achieved