Area Sales Manager

The purpose of this position is to coach and develop a team to success, enabling Sales Representatives to achieve their goals, deliver strong business results, and grow professionally - while supporting profitable growth within the General Industrial division. This is a high-impact leadership opportunity for a builder: someone who enjoys developing talent, shaping culture, and achieving
meaningful results through others.

The candidate can reside anywhere within the geography of the sales area

Job duties include contact with other employees and access confidential and proprietary information and/or other items of value, and such access may be supervised or unsupervised. The Company therefore has determined that a review of criminal history is necessary to protect the business and its operations and reputation and is necessary to protect the safety of the Company's staff, employees, and business relationships.

• Lead and develop a team of General Industrial Sales Representatives as the primary responsibility of the role, enabling achievement of sales, margin, and gallon growth goals through effective coaching, talent development, and disciplined execution.
• Support the achievement of General Industrial sales, margin, and gallon growth goals by leading, coaching, and enabling a team of Sales Representatives - balancing territory performance, expenses, and profitable execution in support of business objectives.
• Enable effective sales execution by guiding Sales Representatives in building healthy pipelines, practicing disciplined opportunity management, and developing high-quality value plans while ensuring consistent follow-through and progress against those plans to promote sustained growth and protection of the business.
• Attract, develop, and retain a high-performing Sales Representative team through thoughtful hiring, onboarding, coaching, and performance feedback - setting clear expectations around teamwork, respect, and accountability, and fostering an environment where individuals are supported to grow and succeed.
• Engage across multiple General Industrial segments, helping Sales Representatives navigate diverse customer needs, applications, and value drivers - bringing energy, curiosity, and enjoyment to the selling process while supporting consistent and disciplined execution.
• Create clarity and alignment around expectations and goals by maintaining visibility to pipeline health, reviewing progress collaboratively, supporting progress against value plans, and partnering with Sales Representatives to remove obstacles and support successful outcomes.
• Support a culture of value-based selling by sharing best practices, reinforcing execution discipline, and encouraging continuous improvement in selling capability.
• Promote strong forecast accuracy and a healthy operating rhythm by facilitating regular pipeline reviews, performance discussions, and business cadence activities that enable transparency, shared accountability, and informed decision-making.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with Marketing, Operations, Supply, Technical Service, Regional Facility leadership, as well as Lab and Enterprise partners, to align resources, support effective customer execution across both transactional and enterprise opportunities, and enable the sales team's success.
• Engage with customers alongside Sales Representatives through joint calls and travel within the area of responsibility to support key opportunities, reinforce value-selling behaviors, and strengthen customer relationships.

Required:

• Minimum high school education or GED.

Preferred:

• Bachelor's Degree in a business-related field.

KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE:

Required:

• Previous sales experience in the paints and coatings industry.
• Industrial Painting segment knowledge and/or experience, including manufacturing environments and customer buying processes.
• Strong working knowledge of value propositions and familiarity with structured sales processes or valueselling methodologies.
• Effective communication skills and a demonstrated ability to influence, coach, and collaborate with peers and internal partners.
• Experience partnering crossfunctionally with marketing, operations, or technical service teams to support sales execution.
• Exposure to disciplined pipeline management and forecasting practices in a B2B sales environment.
• Demonstrated readiness for people leadership, including selfawareness, receptiveness to feedback, and flexibility in leadership approach across diverse situations and individuals.
• Ability to create clarity and consistency through communication, operating rhythm, and followup.
• Experience using CRM or sales tools to support pipeline management, forecasting, or performance visibility

Preferred:

• Prior experience leading, coaching, or mentoring sales representatives, including informal leadership, team lead roles, or project leadership.
• Experience managing sales execution through others, including goal setting, pipeline review, performance feedback, and accountability.
• Experience managing change, adopting new sales tools or processes, or stepping into increased leadership scope.
• Demonstrated ability to coach, influence, and develop others through feedback, structure, and example.
• Ability to identify specific metal and plastic coatings users, including knowledge of liquid and powder coatings used in this marketplace and their applications.
• Working knowledge of surface preparation and pretreatment methods used on metal and plastic substrates.

TECHNICAL/SKILL REQUIREMENTS:

Required:

• Ability to operate within the company's standard CRM and reporting systems for opportunity tracking, pipeline visibility, and forecast submission.
• Ability to use standard sales reports and dashboards to monitor execution, identify risks, and support management reviews.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications for reporting, analysis, communication, and business reviews.
• Ability to maintain required business cadence activities, including forecast submissions, pipeline updates, and performance reporting.

Preferred:

• Experience reinforcing consistent use of sales tools and systems across a sales team.
• Comfort leading teams in disciplined use of standard sales systems and workflows.

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS: (TIME SPENT AWAY FROM HOME OR OTHER TYPICAL OFFICE LOCATION) 50%