Industrial Automation Sales Representative

Remote-sales, within 75-mile radius of Indianapolis, IN

INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION
SALES REPRESENTATIVE (SMC)

Position Summary
The Industrial Automation Sales Representative (SMC) drives territory growth by winning new customers, expanding existing accounts, reactivating dormant business, and converting competitive applications. This experienced technical sales professional will leverage expertise in pneumatics, motion control, fluid control, electrical automation, and engineered solutions to build pipeline, solve customer challenges, and deliver profitable revenue growth.

Essential Functions

Territory and Revenue Growth

• Develop and execute a territory sales plan that achieves assigned revenue, gross-margin, product-growth, and account-development objectives.
• Build and maintain a qualified pipeline through consistent outbound prospecting, customer visits, proactive calls, referrals, networking, and targeted account-development activity.
• Win new customers and expand SMC product penetration within existing accounts by identifying additional machines, plants, departments, applications, and decision-makers.
• Reactivate dormant accounts and recover business lost to competitive automation suppliers.
• Identify and pursue competitive-conversion opportunities based on performance, reliability, energy efficiency, lead time, total cost of ownership, and application value.
• Develop account plans for priority customers and document specific actions, opportunity values, decision-makers, timelines, and next steps.
• Manage the full sales cycle from prospecting and qualification through solution development, quotation, negotiation, close, implementation, and follow-up.
• Meet or exceed assigned sales quotas and other performance objectives established by the company.

Technical and Consultative Selling

• Apply working knowledge of pneumatic products, applications, and competitive positioning to recommend appropriate industrial-automation solutions.
• Conduct discovery with maintenance, engineering, operations, procurement, and executive stakeholders to understand technical and commercial requirements.
• Partner with internal and technical resources on complex applications, product selection, demonstrations, proof-of-concept activities, and engineered solutions.
• Develop compelling customer-value propositions and presentations that connect technical capabilities to measurable operational and financial outcomes.
• Support product launches, customer training, plant surveys, energy-saving initiatives, and application-conversion programs.
• Maintain current knowledge of pneumatic products, industrial-automation trends, competitive technologies, target industries, and customer applications.

Pipeline, CRM, and Sales Discipline

• Enter and maintain timely, complete, and accurate customer, activity, opportunity, quotation, and forecast information in Selltis or the company's designated CRM.
• Document substantive customer interactions, agreed actions, opportunity stages, next steps, expected close dates, and revenue or gross-margin potential.
• Maintain a reliable sales forecast and participate in pipeline reviews, territory reviews, coaching sessions, and business-planning meetings.
• Use available sales and customer data to identify whitespace, dormant accounts, declining business, cross-selling opportunities, and areas requiring corrective action.
• Complete required call, visit, pipeline, reporting, and administrative expectations in accordance with company standards.

Customer and Cross-Functional Partnership

• Build durable relationships with customer stakeholders and serve as a responsive, credible commercial resource.
• Coordinate with customer service, operations, supply chain, engineering, finance, and leadership to support quotations, product availability, implementation, issue resolution, and customer retention.
• Communicate customer needs, competitive intelligence, pricing considerations, product gaps, and market trends to appropriate internal stakeholders.
• Protect customer relationships and company interests by following established pricing, contract, account-ownership, crediting, confidentiality, and approval requirements.
• Represent the company professionally at customer sites, industry events, trade shows, training sessions, and partner meetings.

Required Qualifications

• Demonstrated professional sales experience with pneumatic products and industrial-automation applications.
• Proven record of achieving sales growth through new-customer acquisition, competitive conversions, dormant-account recovery, or expansion of existing accounts.
• Working knowledge of pneumatic, motion, fluid-control, electrical, sensing, and related automation product categories relevant to the assigned market.
• Proven ability to discuss technical applications credibly and engage internal specialists or engineers when deeper expertise is required.
• Experience managing a geographic territory, sales pipeline, account portfolio, or similar book of business.
• Demonstrated ability to prospect, conduct effective customer visits, develop opportunities, negotiate, and close business.
• Experience using a CRM to document sales activity, maintain opportunities, and produce accurate forecasts.
• Strong communication, presentation, relationship-building, organizational, and time-management skills.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across a matrixed sales and support organization.
• Ability to travel regularly throughout the assigned territory and meet customer-site access and safety requirements.
  Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, engineering technology, industrial distribution, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
• Preferred qualifications we should add in CFPPS (Certified Fluid Power Pneumatics Specialist)
• Established relationships within the assigned territory or target industrial markets.
• Experience selling through or alongside an industrial distributor, automation integrator, machine builder, OEM, or manufacturer channel.
• Experience with Selltis or another sales-focused CRM platform.
• Experience selling engineered solutions in partnership with application specialists, controls engineers, or other technical resources.