Commercial Manager - Southern Europe

Cordstrap’s solutions safely transport and protect the goods, people handling them, and industrial environments they pass through. The Commercial Manager of Southern Europe will lead the Sales Team for Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, and Croatia, and coach them through the transition into a solutions-centric approach, which enhances the value proposition and drives growth.

About Cordstrap

Cordstrap is the global market leader in protection engineering, mitigating risks during movement of goods, and protecting products, people, and the places they are shipped. They collaborate with customers to provide tailored advice and solutions for their various global shipping needs. Cordstrap combines its vast product range of equipment, strapping, lashing, dunnage bags, moisture control and cargo monitoring services, with application expertise and local regulatory knowledge to deliver customized load security solutions. From large project cargo and hazardous chemicals to fragile materials, they ensure every form of cargo is moved safely, worldwide.

With headquarters in The Netherlands and a global presence of sales offices, factories, and distribution partners, Cordstrap has 500 employees in twenty-two countries, and serves customers in more than fifty countries.

Now Cordstrap is developing a fit-for-future sales business strategy to further enable commercial teams to strike the right balance between customer acquisition, development, and retention. This sales-based model focuses on potential and high value opportunities in three main application segments: Container Protection (CP); Heavy Duty Securing (HDS); and Palletizing, Unitizing, and Bundling (PUB). To maintain their momentum and leadership position among competitors, Cordstrap’s strategy is to focus on high-value products and services, innovation, and cross-selling opportunities.

Vacancy: Commercial Manager – Southern Europe

Cordstrap has successfully started transitioning from a small and mid-sized customer, product-oriented approach, to a solutions, applications-oriented marketing and sales approach that focuses on larger customers in key industries. To continue building their global brand, expand their value proposition, and increase growth and profitably, the company’s account managers also need to adjust their sales approach and customer service standards. The Commercial Manager of Southern Europe will guide the Regional Sales Team through this transformation towards Protection Engineering. This includes coaching them to proactively identify opportunities to negotiate and upsell, enabling more conversations with customers, and unlocking new sources of value and growth within Cordstrap’s existing customer base.

The organization’s Southern Region includes Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and represents about one-third of Cordstrap’s market in southern Europe with a revenue of twenty-two million euros. Substantial growth is predicted in this region in the short term, especially within verticals that benefit from Container Protection, and Heavy-Duty Securing segments. The Commercial Manager of Southern Europe will lead the Field Sales Team, identifying target segments and clients, and translating their technical knowledge and expertise into attractive sales propositions to drive profitable growth margins.

The Commercial Manager is a confident people manager who understands how to navigate the complexities of implementing organization-wide change. Focused on stimulating teamwork and collaboration, they will ensure a seamless integration of new hires and then guide, motivate, and coach the experienced sales team members, supporting them along their changing roles and responsibilities. Bringing structure and energy to the team, the Manager creates buy-in and commitment in a down-to-earth manner to a range of personalities, cultures and functions and understands how to grow and maintain collaborative relationships.

Leading Salesforce colleagues with a customer-centric mindset, the Commercial Manager of Southern Europe will implement disciplined strategy execution to meet KPIs and achieve outstanding results. They will identify new opportunities and improve retention efforts by coaching the sales team on how to develop deeper client relationships, effectively negotiate, strategically upsell, and efficiently close deals in line with Cordstrap’s Protection Engineering approach.

Utilizing CRM and Power BI platforms, they will enhance the data and insights quality, acquire market intelligence, and monitor commercial progress. The Commercial Manager also has a deep understanding of the relationship between sales and marketing teams and ensures alignment of growth strategies with the development of innovative campaigns that translate into sales.

Reporting to the European VP of Sales, the Commercial Manager can manage multiple stakeholders and present insights, plans and strategies to leadership with ease. They will liaise with the Central and Northern Europe commercial managers, the European Strategic Account Director, the Small and Mid-sized Accounts Director, and the European Marketing Activation Manager. Additionally, they collaborate with a variety of other departments, including Development Engineering, Business Intelligence, and Customer Service.

“The Commercial Manager of Southern Europe will join our organization in the middle of its strategic transformation journey. An excellent people coach, the Commercial Manager will implement growth strategies and enhance our value proposition, making an immediate impact on the success of our sales team and future growth of our business.” – Paul de Weert, VP Sales of Europe for Cordstrap

Cordstrap is a fast-growing organization where creative ideas and taking initiative are valued and encouraged. The role will be based in a major Southern Europe city, such as Barcelona, Madrid, or Milan, and enjoy international travel within its countries and to the company’s headquarters in The Netherlands. This position is perfect for an entrepreneurial team leader who is ready to hit the ground running and make a direct impact on this dynamic international organization’s future growth.

Interested?

Cordstrap is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, please contact Ana Moya Morales at anamoyamorales@topofminds.com