Head of Commercial

Job Summary

Lead and deliver all sales & commercial activities in the sub region in close partnership with the country commercial teams to achieve revenue, sales, and profit targets in line with financial objectives while ensuring full compliance with Swissport’s governance, policies and procedures.

Job Responsibilities

Account Planning, Sales Forecasting & Management

Develop sales plans, budgets, forecasts and activities based on a deep understanding of customer priorities

Propose, develop and execute new sales pans to ensure the organisation sales volume and profitability objectives are met

Explore new business opportunities / protect existing business and build pipeline

Monitor sales volumes, revenue and costs against forecasts and build in contingencies

Use key sales tools and Salesforce to monitor metric performances and apply strong corrective actions where / if applicable

Adapt procedures or re-allocate commercial resources to improve performance

Customer Insights

Stay up to date and aligned with customer buying preferences and align your resources and solutions accordingly

Conduct client insight research to ensure Swissport’s current and future opportunities align with customers key imperatives

Apply industry and customer knowledge to improve relationships and create opportunities by aligning their needs and pain points with Swissport capabilities

Deal Shaping & Negotiations

Manage and process customer deals in ways that compliment the aspirations of Swissport regarding revenue, profit and general terms, whilst balancing this out with the needs of the customer

Effectively drive any deal that originates within your region & create strong alignment with other regions where applicable, allowing for high quality and timely delivery

Ensure new business is profitable by implementing appropriate control mechanisms

Use the best suited negotiation approach to close a deal

Lead client negotiation sessions that persuade stakeholders to resolve key contract issues, such as price increases

Manage and lead tender processes

Collaborate and coordinate input and approval from internal departments to ensure profitability development

Sales Fundamentals & Tools

Be aware of policies related to pricing, yield improvement, contract terms, conditions and negotiation

Maximise account potential by delivering the needs of our customer and continuously improve our competitive position on account opportunities

Use key sales tools and Sales force to monitor pipeline performance and manage new and existing business in line with Swissport compliance and governance policies

Sales Leadership

Regularly provide constructive feedback on sales approach, competences, win strategy, deal structure and guidance on internal processes

Coach sales teams on technical aspects of pricing, negotiation and customer service to achieve high customer retention, high business acquisitions, achieving sales targets

Advise on policies related to pricing, yield improvement, contract negotiation and pipeline development

Qualifications and Competencies

Business Acumen

Ability to interpret and apply knowledge of business financial drivers, practices, concepts that drive profitable growth

Can understand and solve business problems keeping a financial aswell as a customer perspective in the forefront when making decisions

Collaboration

Ability to create & foster internal & external relationships that enable the development of beneficial solutions

Works cooperatively with others across the organization to achieve shared objectives.

Credits others for their contributions and accomplishments.

Communication

Ability to communicate with internal partners and external organisations

Can communicate in a variety of formats, including formal presentations and required documentation

Develop and deliver communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences

Coaching and Developing Others

Providing feedback, instruction and development guidance to help others to excel planning and supporting the development of individual skills and abilities.

Developing people to meet both their career goals and the organization’s goals

Executing and Getting Results

Taking accountability to deliver results

Measuring progress and taking corrective actions if metrics are not achieved

Ensuring others contribute to organisational goals by focusing on them on the most critical priorities

Aviation Industry or Airport Services:

Cargo Services Ground Handling, GSA, Airline, Integrator and Logistics

Supply Chain experience

Prospecting:

Prior prospecting experience from similarly sized businesses

Deal Shaping:

Experienced in shaping multi-regional deals from start to finish

Sales Negotiations:

Mastery in successfully navigating complex negotiations

Contract Management:

Proven experience with contract negotiations with strong attention to detail, coordination and communication

Other must haves:

Fluent English & German including business writing skills required.

Track record and proven leadership skills in a multicultural environment.

Ability to travel between Swissport sites, with overnight stays when required.

Industry network and German market knowledge a must