Sales Specialist

Bonus: 1–2% of annual salary, paid quarterly

Travel: Regional travel couple per week; primarily day trips with occasional overnight travel

• Goal of visiting key customers approximately once per month
  .

Our client, an established manufacturing organization serving the automotive and industrial markets, is seeking a Sales Specialist to join its team in Columbus, Indiana.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys building relationships, working directly with customers, and developing a strong understanding of a technical product and manufacturing environment.
Previous sales leadership experience is not required
, and the company is open to entry-level and early-career candidates who bring strong customer-facing experience, communication skills, and the desire to develop a career in account management and sales.

The Sales Specialist will be responsible for supporting assigned customer accounts, strengthening customer relationships, identifying growth opportunities, and coordinating internally to ensure customer expectations are met. The individual will regularly visit customer locations and serve as an important connection between customers and internal sales, engineering, quality, and operations teams.

A structured ramp-up period will be provided, including traveling alongside an experienced team member during the first several months until the individual is comfortable managing customer visits independently.

• Manage and develop relationships with assigned customer accounts, with the goal of visiting key customers approximately once per month
  .
• Support account growth and business development initiatives across assigned products and customers.
• Learn customer operations, priorities, challenges, and upcoming business needs to identify opportunities for additional support and growth.
• Develop account strategies and action plans that support company growth objectives.
• Serve as a primary customer contact while developing relationships across purchasing, engineering, quality, production, and other key functions.
• Communicate customer requirements internally and coordinate with cross-functional teams to ensure expectations are met.
• Partner closely with engineering, quality, operations, and other internal teams to resolve customer issues and support new and existing programs.
• Assist with pricing discussions, negotiations, and long-term customer agreements as experience develops.
• Provide sales forecasts and updates regarding new business, lost business, and project development activity.
• Gather competitive and market intelligence related to customer objectives, industry trends, and potential opportunities.
• Support customer continuous improvement and cost-reduction initiatives while balancing customer needs with company financial objectives.
• Develop a strong understanding of the company’s products, capabilities, and technical solutions to effectively represent the organization with customers.
• Maintain organized and timely customer communication, documentation, and follow-up.
• Participate in broader account and business strategy initiatives as needed.

• Customer-facing experience is strongly preferred. This may include sales, account management, customer service, business development, manufacturing customer support, or another relationship-focused role.
• Previous leadership or sales management experience is not required.
• Entry-level and early-career candidates with strong interpersonal skills and demonstrated customer-facing experience are encouraged to apply.
• Previous automotive, manufacturing, industrial, or technical sales experience is beneficial but not required.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent years of experience
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to develop relationships with customers and collaborate effectively with internal teams.
• Strong follow-up, organization, and time-management skills.
• Comfortable learning technical products and communicating with engineering and manufacturing stakeholders.
• Negotiation skills or an interest in developing negotiation capabilities.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Positive,…