Business Development Manager (DACH region)

Business Development Manager (DACH region)

Sales-orientated AVALON Business Development in the DACH region

The so-called DACH region in Europe comprises the countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. For completeness, the term ‘DACH’ is an acronym formed by the country codes for Germany (D), Austria (A), and Switzerland (CH).

The DACH countries are closely associated both in terms of their geography and culture, primarily through shared use of the German language.
The region hosts around 100 million inhabitants, with Germany, of course, being the biggest contributor, with 83.1 million people. Life expectancy at birth stands at around 82 years, so a decade more than global life expectancy.

The DACH countries enjoy a high standard of living, which is reflected in a large gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in each country.
In 2019, the combined GDP of all DACH countries amounted to approximately US $5.49 trillion of value.
Of this region, Germany contributed the largest amount of GDP, with about US $4.44 trillion.
The German economy is the largest in Europe. Most of the country’s GDP is generated in the service sector that encompasses namely financial services, real estate, tourism, and other industries. This reflects Germany’s standing as a central financial and political pillar of the European Union.

By these quick facts, the relevance of the German language and the business potential of the DACH region become already clear.

If at this point you probably wish to find out a bit more first about who we are, what we do, what shapes us, and our philosophy, you may check out this website.
In a nutshell, we believe it is critical to our own success in business to build loyal, long-term relationships, sustained by personal honesty and integrity. Our philosophy is simple: We believe in what we are doing, and we believe in doing it right, the idea of quality being the cornerstone of our concept.
In our understanding, successful companies do not just happen automatically, they are rather managed and run effectively, embracing the principles of quality and client care.

The role in a snapshot:
The new Business Development Manager will be responsible for targeting businesses, companies, organisations and individuals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, across all industry sectors with the aim of promoting, marketing and selling our comprehensive professional language services. This means helping grow the business by identifying new opportunities, researching leads, establishing relationships with potential clients, and arranging sales appointments.
The work will, with our support, often reach across all areas of the business with strategic planning and positioning in the appropriate markets, enhancing the operation and the position of the business, generating revenue and improving profitability.
To confirm, this is a 100% remote position. You will be able to work from home or from anywhere else you wish.
More on this subject you can read in our Blog article ‘ Work in the digital age: Remote is the future normal ‘.

Business Development Manager Job Responsibilities:

• Discover and systematically explore business opportunities,
  namely researching and identifying new opportunities – including new markets, growth areas, customers/clients, partnerships, trends and services – or new ways of reaching existing markets in your region
• Examine potentials and risks for business opportunities
• Screen potential business deals by analysing market strategies, deal requirements, and financials
• Develop the business sales and marketing strategy for your region
• Carry out sales forecasts and analysis and present your findings to head office
• Help to plan sales campaigns
• Build market position by locating, developing, defining, and closing business relationships
• Seek out the appropriate contact in an organisation
• Generate leads and cold-call prospective clients
• Meet with clients, mainly online or over the phone
• Foster and develop relationships with clients
• Understand the needs of your clients and be able to respond effectively with a plan of how to meet these
• Negotiate pricing with clients
• Close new business deals by coordinating requirements; develop and negotiate contracts; integrate contract requirements with business operations
• Think strategically – seeing the bigger picture and setting aims and objectives in order to develop and improve the business
• Work strategically – carrying out necessary planning in order to implement operational changes
• Develop a good understanding of the AVALON services and service products, and be able to advise others about them
• Keep abreast of trends and changes in the business world, especially in the language services sector
• Explore opportunities to add value to job accomplishments
• Protect AVALON’s value by keeping information confidential
• Enhance AVALON’s reputation by acquiring ownership for new and different requests

Compensation

• Remuneration is for the initial 3 months commission-based at a straight 30% of project revenue generated by your work.
• Upon successful completion of these first three months, we will hold a first review with you and offer you a permanent position on a sales compensation plan with a decent monthly base salary plus an attractive commission structure and rewarding bonus system.

As a realistic forecast, your monthly On-Target Earnings (OTE) should not be below €3,000 after your initial 3-month period.
The commission amount will always stay uncapped, so there is definitely no limit to your earning potential from the business that you develop and the deals you sell.

We will support you in all possible ways on the route to job satisfaction, adequate income, and career development.

An ongoing quarterly review schedule should ensure that we stay aligned and will be successful together.

Qualifications / Skills:

• Tenacity and drive to seek new business and meet or exceed targets
• Initiative and the confidence to start things from scratch
• Creative skills – whether it is seeing new ways existing opportunities could be developed, or finding completely new routes to market, creative thinking is essential for this role
• Motivation for sales
• Good written and verbal communication skills – needed for communicating with a range of people, both internally and externally
• Excellent telephone manner for making initial contact and for ongoing communication with customers and business associates
• Interpersonal skills for building and developing relationships with clients
• Negotiating and closing skills
• Basic IT skills, namely MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook); Google Drive; Email Clients; Skype; Social Media
• Analytical and decision-making skills
• Ability to multitask and prioritise your workload
• Organisational skills, particularly for project and territory management
• Market knowledge
• Teamworking skills and a collaborative approach to work
• Ability to motivate yourself and set your own goals
• Professionalism
• Language skills: native or bilingual German, plus at least proficient to fluent English

Education and Experience Requirements:

• In terms of education, you will need a high school diploma or equivalent.

A college degree is not essential for this role, while it could be beneficial, especially in a relevant subject such as business studies, economics, finance or marketing.

• You should have 2 to 3 years of sales experience.

Moving for the first time into a business development manager role is a bit easier coming from related jobs such as sales executive, sales manager, account manager, etc.

AVALON Linguistic is an equal opportunities employer , and we don’t discriminate against anybody on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race.

… and finally 

We look forward to hearing from you with a brief cover letter and your CV.
Please email to [email protected] , or fill in your details below.