Sales Representative, Sales Support & Admin

Yazaki is a global leader in the research, development, and delivery of vehicle power and data solutions.

Yazaki works with virtually every major auto manufacturer globally, and we've strived to maintain strategic and stable growth throughout our 84-year history. Today, we're looking for energetic people with the potential to perform and the ability to strengthen - and thrive in - the positive work environment we pride ourselves on.

Location: Columbus, OH, USA

Yazaki is looking for a Sales Representative to join our Honda team in Columbus, OH. The ideal candidate will enjoy working in a collaborative and action-driven environment making lasting impacts on the organization.

The ideal candidate will represent Yazaki North & Central America with OEM, Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 suppliers as assigned. The candidate will also work with commercial organizations to establish price strategies and technical organizations for competitive product levels. In addition, the candidate will serve as the assigned vehicle's subject matter expert with comprehensive knowledge of all aspects affecting profitability; communicate this with management and support commercial negotiations with the customer. Further, the candidate will support management in coordination and business planning meetings. Finally, the ideal candidate will work with Yazaki manufacturing and appropriate internal teams to develop material costs and profit improvement plans. Embody Yazaki's image to build trusting, positive customer relationships. Communicate extemporaneously if required and exhibit good judgment in difficult customer negotiations.

What you will be doing:

Customer Inquiries

Respond to customer or potential customer requests for information and/or problem solving

Coordinate and communicate customer inquiries internally

Customer Relationship Management

Administer customer complaints including responding to complaints and the associated reporting

Maintain professional relationships with customer contacts

Identify customer needs and act as the customer voice at internal meetings

Promote Yazaki business objectives clearly with the customer

Quotation Requests

Provide support necessary to Account Managers / Platform Management in the development and response to customer inquiries for product price quotations including but not limited to Sourcing, Engineering Changes, Cost Planning and Service

Use internal databases to develop and track quotation data

Pricing Strategy

Support the sales price development process

Elaborate or revise a pricing strategy on specific products

Maintain and track sales prices and profit improvement

Support customer contract negotiations

Respond to pricing issue inquiries from company and customer personnel

Negotiate Deliverables

Purchasing Analysis

Conduct Purchase Price analysis at each term and design change

Organize Yazaki Engineering and Manufacturing to support Purchase Price analysis

Analyze manufacturing Bills of Material

Profitability Analysis, Improvement and Execution

Prepare expense evaluations and comparisons of profitability by product or product line

Recommend costing and overall profit improvement ideas

Recommend profit improvement implementation plans

Manage Supplier relationships

Work with primary OEM customer to understand roles and responsibilities of tiered supplier structure

Manage customer interaction with Tier customers and OEM suppliers

Develop profit improvement plan for major Tier customers and OEM supplier base

Tooling

Manage the tooling costs associated with quote to customer for new business (production and prototype)

Recover tooling cost for engineering changes

Presentation Preparation

Collect and supply sales and purchase history

Coordinate collection of presentation data with support teams

Deliver speeches and/or presentations to internal and external groups

Provide supporting information for short and long-term forecasts

Act as a liaison between Sales and other non-Sales functions

Make business decisions that may affect day-to-day and financial operations of the division

Verify, plan, direct, and control the work of outside contractors or indirect reports i.e. associates who report elsewhere, but provide support to the objectives of your department

Attend organizational meetings (e.g. Staff, Departmental)

Contribute to processes standardization and promote awareness and understanding of ISO 16949 compliance

Attend workshops, seminars or conferences to enhance job-related skills

Complete and process applications or forms excluding documents required by law

Prepare for and participate in trade shows or technical meetings as requested to build business relationships

Participate in special assignments as requested (e.g. study and improve financial/ operational efficiency)

Support long-range and short-term group forecasts, goals, objectives, and priorities

Support other projects, tasks, and/or duties as assigned

What you will bring to the table:

Bachelor's in Sales, Business or related field or equivalent experience

5 years of experience in a customer-related capacity

1-3 years of experience in Automotive, Manufacturing or International Business preferred

Japanese and/or Spanish language skills preferred

Ability to travel both domestically and internationally up to 20%

Ability to be on call as required

What we can provide you:

A collaborative learning environment that will help you reach your maximum potential

A diverse team of experts

Supportive leadership and team members to help you do your best work

Opportunities to build your professional network

An engaging and supportive work culture

Competitive compensation and benefits package including incentive compensation, 401K match, tuition assistance and a generous holiday schedule

Hybrid work schedule

Yazaki North America is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all persons regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, marital status, national origin, disability, handicap, veteran status, or other legally protected status or characteristic. Equal opportunity extends to all aspects of the employment relationship. Yazaki North America complies with federal and state equal employment opportunity laws and strives to keep the workplace free from all forms of harassment.