General Manager & Head — Inside Sales & Key Account Management

Company Description

Our client is India's largest manufacturer of fittings and accessories in the Power Transmission and distribution Industry. They supply to transmission line utilities in key global markets. They have multiple manufacturing facilities and state-of-the-art testing laboratories.

Role Summary

The General Manager & Head — Inside Sales & Key Account Manager will lead the inside sales function and personally manage strategic key accounts to drive revenue, margin and customer loyalty. This senior, hands‑on commercial role combines team leadership, process optimization, CRM and digital selling, pricing & commercial negotiation, and end‑to‑end account management for large energy sector customers, EPCs, OEMs and distributors.

The role will ensure predictable sales pipelines, excellent service delivery, strong account penetration and cross‑sell of TAG’s fittings and accessories product portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Strategy

• Define and implement inside sales strategy aligned to corporate revenue targets, product launches and channel strategy.
• Build, coach and lead an inside sales team (tele‑sales, inside account managers, sales engineers, CRM & order processing), set KPIs, targets and enablement programs.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Product, Operations, Logistics and Finance to ensure alignment on campaigns, inventory, lead generation and order fulfilment.

Key Account Management

• Own and directly manage strategic/key accounts (EPCs, OEMs, large distributors, utilities, select export customers), acting as senior commercial & technical interface.
• Develop account plans: growth targets, product penetration, margin improvement, custom solutions, lifecycle / spares business and long‑term contractual relationships (frame agreements, MSA, rate schedules).
• Lead negotiations on pricing, terms, delivery schedules, service levels and dispute resolution for strategic accounts.

Sales Execution & Pipeline Management

• Drive inside sales operations — lead qualification, opportunity nurturing, quotations, order conversion, backlog management and renewal business.
• Implement structured sales processes (lead scoring, playbooks), forecast accuracy improvements and weekly/monthly pipeline reviews.
• Ensure CRM adoption and data hygiene; use analytics to prioritize accounts, upsell/cross‑sell and reduce sales cycle times.

Customer Experience & Service

• Own customer satisfaction for assigned accounts — ensure timely order fulfilment, coordination for FATs/pre‑commissioning support, technical clarifications, after‑sales and warranty coordination with Quality/Service teams.
• Resolve escalations in a timely manner in coordination with operations, logistics and quality teams.

Commercial & Pricing

• Set commercial guidelines for inside sales team; approve large quotations, concessions and credit terms within delegated authority.
• Drive margin protection initiatives, product bundling, value‑based selling and cost‑to-serve optimization.

Market Intelligence & New Business

• Capture market and competitor intelligence; feed product/market insights to Product Management and R&D.
• Drive channel development: nurture distributor networks, virtual sales partners and international sales leads for export markets.

Process, Tools & Analytics

• Implement and optimize CRM, quoting tools, pricing matrices and inside sales dashboards.
• Deliver MIS: weekly/monthly sales reports, conversion metrics, customer segmentation performance, AR & order ageing, and key account P&L where applicable.

People & Capability Building

• Recruit, train and retain high‑performing inside sales and account management teams; run competency programs on technical selling, negotiation and customer engagement.
• Set OKRs/KPIs, conduct regular performance reviews and succession planning.

Compliance & Governance

• Ensure strict adherence to internal sales policies, credit control, export compliance and contractual obligations.
• Coordinate with Legal & Finance for master agreements, NDAs and commercial terms.

Qualifications & Experience

• Degree in Engineering, Business (MBA preferred) or equivalent.
• 12–18+ years of relevant experience in B2B industrial sales, inside sales leadership and key account management — ideally in energy, oil & gas, valves/fittings, flow control, instrumentation or heavy engineering.
• Track record of managing strategic accounts (EPCs/OEMs/distributors), negotiating long‑term contracts and delivering revenue & margin growth.
• Experience with CRM platforms (Salesforce/MS Dynamics/Zoho) and sales analytics.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong commercial acumen, negotiation skills and customer‑facing credibility.
• Excellent leadership, coaching and team‑building skills; ability to lead matrixed teams.
• Data‑driven decision making; strong capability with sales metrics and forecasting.
• Technical aptitude to understand product specifications, FAT requirements and interface with engineering/quality teams.
• Strong communication, stakeholder management and problem‑solving skills.