Sales & Marketing Manager - Flexible Packaging

Department: Sales & Marketing - Flexible Packaging Division

Location: Arusha, Tanzania

Role purpose:

Develop market and drive business growth to utilize full production capacity of flexible packaging division through effective marketing, lead generation, customer acquisition and cross-functional coordination for order fulfillment.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. People development, bench strength and role expansion:

- Build strong bench strength by systematically identifying, grooming and protecting high-potential juniors, ensuring at least one ready successor is available for each critical role in the team within 1-2 years through structured coaching, exposure and development planning.

- Proactively build the capability to shoulder expanded responsibilities by cross-learning adjoining functions, so that over time you can effectively perform or back up at least two roles within the department.

- Remain open to and positively accept additional responsibilities that management may assign from time to time, in line with evolving business needs and the overall working of the company, treating them as opportunities for growth and higher contribution.

2. Daily marketing and business development:

- Conduct customer calls, meetings and visits daily to generate leads, present offerings and build relationships (target minimum 3 meetings per day in B2B sales).

- Follow up with production team on sample preparation, order execution and delivery timelines to provide accurate information to customers.

- Develop and implement marketing structures, data formats and systematic processes for lead tracking and conversion monitoring.

3. Quotation and pricing management:

- Send quotations to prospective customers promptly with accurate pricing, specifications and delivery timelines.

- Offer competitive prices to customers benchmarked against competitor offerings, obtaining director approval for final pricing.

- Prepare quotation and lead conversion reports tracking success rates and reasons for wins/losses.

4. Lead management and conversion:

- Follow up systematically on all leads generated through various sources, ensuring no opportunity is missed due to delayed response.

- Check production capacity and stock availability before committing delivery timelines to customers.

- Forward samples to prospective customers and follow up on feedback, addressing concerns and objections professionally.

5. Customer outreach and revival:

- Plan and execute marketing activities and customer visits on a weekly and monthly basis to expand market reach.

- Revive dormant customers through targeted outreach, understanding reasons for disengagement and offering solutions.

- Increase outreach to potential customers systematically to build pipeline and achieve capacity utilization targets.

6. Order coordination and production planning:

- Check status of pending orders daily and coordinate with production team on priorities and delivery schedules.

- Create formats for systematic data entry of orders, requirements and progress tracking across departments.

- Ensure inclusion in production planning meetings to align marketing commitments with manufacturing capabilities.

7. Cross-functional coordination:

- Coordinate with all departments of flexible packaging division to gather information needed for customer communication.

- Communicate product specifications and customer credit-worthiness to relevant teams for order processing.

- Obtain updates from production, inventory, dispatch and accounts departments to provide accurate status to customers.

8. Sample management and identity preservation:

- Collect samples from production and maintain systematic identity preservation through all process steps.

- Implement system for recording verbal orders and obtaining written confirmations to avoid miscommunication.

- Track sample approvals and coordinate with production for commercial production launch.

9. Costing and planning support:

- Provide inputs on market pricing and customer expectations to support accurate product costing.

- Contribute to production planning with sales forecasts and order pipeline information.

- Apply experience in flexible packaging sales to improve costing methodologies and planning processes.

10. Information systems and communication:

- Ensure systematic working with regular updates in SAP and other information systems.

- Improve interdepartmental communication to ensure leads go to relevant unit heads and reviews are conducted regularly.

- Create single source of truth for product information, stock levels, pricing and production status accessible to all stakeholders.