National Sales Manager (7294)

Overview

National Sales Manager – responsible for building a high‑performing sales culture across South Africa and SADC, with an annual sales target of approximately R170m. Lead a national sales team of 9 direct reports (8 external, 1 internal) reporting to the EMEA Director.

Responsibilities

• Sales Leadership and Team Culture
  • Lead, coach and develop the national sales team.
  • Build a positive, accountable and high‑performing culture.
  • Inspire the team through clear communication, strong leadership and visible support.
  • Set clear expectations around customer activity, pipeline management, Salesforce usage and follow‑up.
  • Improve seller effectiveness through regular one‑to‑ones, field visits, coaching and performance reviews.
  • Identify development needs and support individual growth plans.
  • Challenge underperformance fairly and constructively.
  • Ensure the team represents Cromwell professionally with customers, distributors and suppliers.
• Commercial Growth and Strategy
  • Own delivery of the South Africa sales plan, including sales, margin, customer growth and EBITDA.
  • Review the existing strategy and identify areas for refresh or strengthening.
  • Develop clear plans to grow through the distributor‑led channel.
  • Drive new business growth by creating end‑user demand through distributor partners.
  • Identify new market opportunities across South Africa and SADC.
  • Understand market trends, competitor activity, customer needs and distributor performance.
  • Recommend focus areas for time, resources and investment to grow profitably.
• Distributor and Customer Development
  • Build strong relationships with key distributors and strategic customers.
  • Spend regular time in the field with sales representatives, distributors and end users.
  • Support the sales team in opening new opportunities and progressing major customer discussions.
  • Develop stronger customer value propositions in support of marketing, digital, suppliers and the wider EMEA team.
  • Act as a senior Cromwell representative where leadership involvement is required.
  • Use customer and distributor feedback to improve service, stock, pricing, product range and commercial approach.
• Sales Discipline, Pipeline and Reporting
  • Drive strong discipline around Salesforce usage, pipeline quality, call planning and opportunity management.
  • Ensure sales activity is planned, visible and aligned to business priorities.
  • Use Salesforce, Power BI and other reporting tools to track performance, risks and opportunities.
  • Lead regular sales meetings focused on actions, accountability, pipeline progression and customer growth.
  • Provide clear updates to the EMEA leadership team on performance, risks, opportunities and required support.
• Operational Alignment
  • Work closely with the National Operations Manager to ensure the sales plan is supported operationally.
  • Collaborate with operations and customer service to improve the customer experience.
  • Escalate service issues where they impact customer relationships or sales performance.
  • Help ensure the business has the right stock profile to support key customers, distributors and growth categories.
  • Note: The role does not carry direct responsibility for warehouse, inventory management, operational delivery, health and safety or day‑to‑day branch operations.
• Digital, Marketing and EMEA Collaboration
  • Lead the local digital and marketing agenda in line with the South Africa sales strategy.
  • Work with the internal digital/marketing colleague to improve campaigns, customer communication, lead generation and product focus.
  • Use digital tools, website content, customer data and marketing insight to support sales growth.
  • Ensure marketing activity is commercially focused and linked to distributor growth, end‑user demand and product/category growth.
  • Contribute positively to the wider EMEA leadership team, sharing best practice, market insight and commercial ideas with other EMEA countries.

Key Measures of Success

• Commercial performance versus budget.
• New customer and distributor growth.
• Product and category growth.
• Pipeline quality, value and conversion.
• Salesforce usage and seller effectiveness.
• Customer visit activity and follow‑up discipline.
• Team engagement, development and retention.
• Effectiveness of local digital and marketing activity.
• Quality of collaboration with operations, customer service, marketing and EMEA colleagues.

Qualifications

• Proven sales leadership experience, ideally at national or senior regional level.
• Experience leading field‑based sales teams.
• Strong distributor/channel sales experience.
• Track record of delivering profitable sales growth.
• Strong commercial understanding, including sales, margin, pipeline, customer growth and P&L performance.
• Experience developing and delivering sales strategies.
• Strong customer relationship and negotiation skills.
• Ability to use data and reporting tools to drive performance.
• Confident using Salesforce, Power BI and Microsoft Office.
• Experience working with marketing, digital and supplier teams to support growth.
• Strong understanding of customer service and operational alignment, without directly managing operations.
• Full driving licence and flexibility for national travel.

Personal Attributes

• Positive, energetic and resilient.
• Strong people leader who can inspire and motivate others.
• Commercially sharp and performance‑focused.
• Structured and disciplined, without being overly rigid.
• Confident communicator with strong interpersonal skills.
• Ability to build trust quickly with teams, customers and distributors.
• Comfortable challenging poor performance in the right way.
• Collaborative and able to work well across functions and countries.
• Fresh‑thinking, practical and action‑focused.
• Strong cultural fit with Cromwell’s values and future direction.

Benefits

• Competitive salary.
• Company car.
• Annual bonus.
• Mobile phone.
• Laptop.
• Pension and medical benefits, in line with company policy.
• Opportunity to play a key role in the growth and development of Cromwell South Africa.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Cromwell is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates, regardless of their race, gender, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age. We also welcome applicants from the armed forces community who meet the minimum requirements for the role.