You enjoy winning new customers, but you are ready for more than simply hitting your own sales targets. You want to build. Relationships, commercial growth and eventually the commercial direction of a business.

On behalf of a specialised technical company active in control panel manufacturing for the yacht building and maritime industry, WGROW is looking for a Commercial Manager.

And when we say Commercial Manager, we are not looking for someone who manages sales from the sidelines. We are looking for someone who picks up the phone. Someone who books meetings, visits customers, opens new doors, develops relationships and ultimately wins business. A commercially driven professional who is also curious enough about technology to truly understand the market.

What will you be doing?

You will play an important role in the further commercial growth of the organisation. And it starts with something very straightforward: selling. You will get to know the market, customers and technology, identify commercial opportunities and actively develop both new and existing relationships. Yacht building is a specialist industry. Quality, trust, technical expertise and reputation matter. This is not a market where you succeed by sending hundreds of emails and hoping someone responds. You need to understand who you are speaking to, know what is happening in the market and make sure you are at the table when new opportunities arise.

Your responsibilities will include:

• proactively approaching new customers and prospects;

• making direct commercial contact by phone;

• visiting customers and potential clients;

• developing and expanding existing customer relationships;

• identifying new projects and commercial opportunities;

• understanding technical customer requirements and translating them internally;

• working closely with technical and operational colleagues;

• further developing and professionalising the commercial approach;

• identifying new markets and growth opportunities;

• gradually contributing to the broader commercial strategy of the organisation.

Who are we looking for?

We are not looking for a manager who happens to know how to sell. We are looking for a sales professional with the ambition and potential to grow into commercial leadership. Someone who would rather call an interesting prospect than send fifty generic emails and wait for a reply. You also understand that in a niche market, winning the first order is only the beginning. Long-term success comes from building trust, delivering on promises and ensuring customers think of you again when their next project starts.

We are therefore looking for someone who:

• has proven experience in B2B sales;

• is comfortable actively developing new business;

• has experience in a technical, industrial or other specialist niche market;

• is strong in relationship-driven sales;

• has technical affinity or can quickly understand technical products and solutions;

• is comfortable with cold and warm acquisition and actively picks up the phone;

• independently identifies and pursues commercial opportunities;

• can develop both new and existing customer relationships;

• is fluent in Dutch and English;

• is comfortable communicating at different levels within organisations;

• has the seniority to engage with directors, customers and technical specialists;

• has the ambition to develop towards a broader commercial leadership role.

Experience within yacht building, shipbuilding, maritime technology, control panel manufacturing, electrical engineering, industrial automation or a comparable technical environment would obviously be valuable. However, it is not an absolute requirement. If you have strong technical aptitude, curiosity and experience selling complex products or solutions, you can learn the industry.

Your next career step

Perhaps you are currently a Senior Account Manager, Key Account Manager, Business Development Manager, Area Sales Manager or Sales Manager. You still enjoy selling, but you are ready to take on more responsibility. This could be exactly that next step. Initially, your focus will be on understanding the market and organisation and personally delivering commercial growth. Over time, your responsibilities will broaden.

The ambition is for you to be comfortable joining the Management Team within approximately one year, helping shape the commercial development and direction of the organisation. So this is not simply another sales position. It is an opportunity to develop relatively quickly into one of the people helping determine where the business goes next.

The organisation

You will join a specialised technical company operating within the international yacht building and maritime industry. The organisation develops and delivers high-quality technical solutions in an environment where reliability, quality and craftsmanship are essential. It is a specialist and relationship-driven market. People know each other, reputations matter and customer relationships are often built across multiple projects and many years.

It is about understanding the business, delivering on promises, building relationships and being present when new projects arise. The organisation has clear ambitions to grow and further professionalise its commercial activities, creating significant room for an entrepreneurial commercial professional who wants to make a visible impact.

Interested?

WGROW is exclusively supporting our client in the search for their new Commercial Manager. Do you recognise yourself in this profile and enjoy working in a specialist technical market where relationships genuinely matter? We would be happy to speak with you.

And if you do not tick every single box but think, this is exactly the kind of commercial role I want to grow into, we would still encourage you to get in touch.