Job Description
With Orffa’s commitment to putting customers at the heart of its strategy, the Account Manager is pivotal in implementing regional commercial plans, expanding the product portfolio, and boosting service quality for both existing and potential customers while maximizing sales & profitability for Orffa.
The Account Manager oversees a customer portfolio within a designated country or region and collaborates with colleagues from either the same or different areas to execute regional commercial strategies. Effective coordination among Account Managers is crucial to establishing a robust customer base and optimizing sales across the entire Orffa product range. This role requires striking a balance between customer-centric approaches and sales & margin enhancement, alongside managing risks associated with the customer portfolio. The Account Manager Belgium works closely with all relevant departments to resolve any contract-related issues, reporting directly to the Country Manager Belgium.
General Functions
- Develop and implement sales strategies to achieve regional commercial targets
- Identify and generate new business opportunities, expand market presence/share
- Reach and exceed the commercial budget of his/her region. Focus on maximizing net margins (pass on transport costs and other logistic costs to customer, manage payment terms and payment behaviour, etc)
- Proactively build and maintain strong relationships with customers (recurring and potential ones) in the assigned territory
- Focus on product placement and customer engagement to promote new concepts
- Answer customer’s enquiries quickly and accurately and ensure follow up activities
- Provide technical support to customers on Orffa’s products and solutions
- Conduct market research to understand customer needs, industry trends, and competitive landscape
- Responsible for the adequate use of the applicable CRM system
- Manage risks associated with the customers portfolio
- Contract negotiation and execution management (timely delivery, payments, overdues..)
- Work closely with the other commercials in the country/region toward a common country/regional strategy with high focus on customer centricity
- Work closely with internal teams, including Marketing & Innovation, Quality and Customer Service, to ensure alignment of product development and marketing strategies
- Collaborate with the Global Technical Managers (Marketing & Innovation) to translate commercial requests into actionable insights
- Gather and share relevant market and product information with the team
- Adhere to company, federal, state, and local business requirements, enforcing compliance and taking action when necessary
- Stay up-to-date with the latest developments in animal nutrition and feed additives
Competencies
- Initiating and Taking actions
- Relating and Networking
- Strong negotiation and influencing skills
- Results oriented with a strong commercial mindset
- Analytical and problem solving skills
- Self starter with Hands on mentality
- Ability to work in cross functional team environment
- Persuading and Influencing
- Adapting and Responding to Change, coping with pressure and setbacks
- Entrepreneurial and Commercial Thinking
Education / Experience Requirements
Education
- Bachelor or Master preferably in Commercial or Economics. A degree in Animal Sciences, Animal Nutrition or a related field is possible when combined with solid commercial experience and success
Professional experience
- > 5 years of experience in the animal feed industry combining technical and commercial roles
- Driven to work in a B2B environment, considering the family nature of the animal feed sector in Belgium/Flanders
- Strong understanding of animal nutrition and feed additives
- Excellent communication and presentation skills
- Results-oriented with a strong commercial mindset
- Analytical and problem-solving skills
- Self-starter with a hands-on mentality
- Ability to work in a cross-functional team environment
- Adaptability to changing market conditions
- Strong negotiation and influencing skills
Languages
- Fluent in Dutch, French and English; additional languages are a plus
Travel Requirements
Approximately
30%
Belgium
