Sales Consultant - Illinois

Sales Consultant, Supplemental

Illinois preferred home location

Department: Sales

Reports To: Regional Vice President, West

Zaner-Bloser is an educational solutions company specializing in delivering instruction focused on developing foundational skills for PreK-6 students in ELA & Math. Our programs include Superkids, Building Fact Fluency, Kickstart Number Sense, Spelling Connections, Zaner-Bloser Handwriting, and more. As a member of the Highlights Family of Companies, we strive to always do what's right for children and make a significant contribution to their education.

Position Summary:

Zaner Bloser is seeking a sales professional that has a passion for educational solutions and a mission of helping every student become their best selves. The Zaner-Bloser Sales Consultant will build strong relationships with educators to grow Superkids new business and achieve revenue targets in the priority state of Illinois (Chicago & northern Illinois) area with virtual lead follow up opportunities in additional midwestern states. The successful candidate will be self-motivated, ambitious, willing to engage within a team environment, and reside in Illinois region. Territory will be designed around the experience and network of the successful candidate.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Achieve annual revenue goals.
• Ability to manage complex sales cycles (3-9+ months) and multiple buying personas across an account.
• Manage all aspects of the new business sales cycle (lead generation, presentation, commitment, etc.)
• Utilize all forms of lead-generating practices (cold-calls, referrals, networking, etc.) and effectively qualify viable new business opportunities.
• Develop a strong knowledge of Zaner-Bloser products and their capabilities along with an understanding of competitive products.
• Uncover prospect needs and goals to deliver a solution that aligns with their needs.
• Create strong relationships with all stakeholders throughout strategic accounts.
• Collaborate frequently with colleagues throughout the organization.
• Develop and manage a sales pipeline that leads to closed revenue and quota attainment.
• Demonstrate a hunter-mentality while building strategic partnerships.
• Ability to travel 65% of the time.

• Knowledge and passion for PreK-5 literacy needs in the marketplace.
• A basic understanding of the science of reading and a structured literacy approach to reading instruction.
• Ability to nurture long-term relationships in strategic accounts, understanding needs and continuing to build business partnerships and having strong communication skills with both customers and colleagues.
• Develop and execute a strategic territory plan to achieve new business revenue targets (drive to win mentality)
• Demonstrate business acumen including lead generation, pipeline management, and forecasting.
• Lead with positive intent and curiosity.
• Superior presentation skills

• Learn how Zaner-Bloser's suite of Superkids reading and supplemental ELA solutions enables impactful, joyful learning.
• Develop a deep understanding of the major tenants of the science of reading and how that research translates to seamless instruction through the Superkids Suite of Products
• Build understanding of our sales cycle and pipeline accuracy using Salesforce.
• Identify educational market conditions, including competitive intelligence, and apply this knowledge to your territory sales strategy and tactics.
• Establish a cadence of communication with your sales and professional learning team members.
• Meet colleagues in cross-functional departments to build relationships.
• Begin prospecting and lead follow-up.

• Actively work towards achieving your territory new business revenue target for Superkids Reading and Professional Services
• Deepen your product knowledge to uncover customer need and deliver customer-centric presentations to win new business.
• Meet with current customers to establish relationships in strategic accounts.
• Gain referrals to strategic prospects.
• Develop and execute strategic and effective territory planning based on data and market conditions that bridge to financial goals.
• Work within a territory budget for samples, customer events, conferences, marketing requests, and travel for maximum effectiveness.
• Foster alignment by working collaboratively and cross-functionally to meet revenue and leadership goals.

Supervisory Responsibilities: None

Qualifications:

• Bachelors' Degree
• Minimum 5 years' experience selling educational solutions to K-12 schools and districts.
• Proven track record of consistently achieving new business revenue targets.
• A customer-centric, solution-selling mindset with demonstrated success in driving the highest levels of customer experience.
• Entrepreneurial spirit: Drive, Initiative, persistence, flexibility, and resilience
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills
• Experience with Customer Relationship Management Tools (Salesforce preferred)
• Experience with strategic territory planning
• Excellent time-management and organizational skills
• Preference for candidates with well established relationships

Physical Requirements:

• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must be able to lift including up to 15 pounds at times.

Highlights for Children provides reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job or to perform your job. Examples of reasonable accommodation include making a change to the application process or work procedures, providing documents in an alternate format, using a sign language interpreter, or using specialized equipment.