About the position
ENVIRONMENT:
DEVELOP and execute the national sales strategy across the commercial customer base of a leading School Supplies Provider seeking its next National Head of Sales – Commercial. You will cascade the national strategy into actionable regional sales plans, with standardised dashboards, KPIs, and reporting requirements to ensure alignment across all regions. This role drives sustainable revenue growth, strengthens customer relationships, and ensures the commercial team meets its performance targets across regions. This position plays a key role in contributing to the overall profitability of the business by delivering strategic sales leadership, optimising national account management, and identifying new growth opportunities within the B2B commercial and School sector.
DUTIES:
Strategic Sales Leadership –
- Design, implement, and manage the national commercial sales strategy aligned with business objectives.
- Drive sales planning, forecasting, and budgeting across all commercial sales functions.
- Lead initiatives to identify and capture new business opportunities across key industries and re-activate dormant accounts.
- Drive and grow digital sales enablement and eCommerce integration.
- Drive customer segmentation strategies to tailor commercial offerings and improve onboarding more customers and customer satisfaction and to execute through targeted territory coverage, resource allocation, and prioritisation of high-value accounts.
Team Leadership & Performance Management -
- Lead, mentor, and support Regional Sales Managers and National Account Managers to achieve sales targets.
- Foster a high-performance culture through regular coaching, performance reviews, and skills development.
- Foster a high-performance culture and cross-regional cohesion.
- Build and maintain a collaborative, results-driven National Sales team.
- Requires regular national travel to engage with regional teams and key customer.
- Ensure the Sales team is supported with effective tools, analytics, and structured sales processes for operational excellence
- Strengthen the requirement for national adoption of CRM and sales enablement tools, ensuring forecasting accuracy, pipeline velocity targets, and activity-based coaching.
- Collaborate with Product and Category Managers to align sales strategies with customer needs and emerging market trends
- Design and lead national sales growth campaigns to drive focus on category and seasonal opportunities.
Customer & Key Account Management -
- Oversee the management and development of major national accounts and strategic commercial clients.
- Build long-term partnerships with key decision-makers in customer organisations.
- Ensure high levels of customer satisfaction through tailored service offerings and proactive relationship management.
Revenue Growth & Profitability -
- Identify revenue optimisation strategies and opportunities for cross-selling and upselling within the commercial space.
- Analyse market trends, competitor activity, and customer feedback to refine sales tactics.
- Ensure integration of customer insights, competitor intelligence, and market data into sales strategies and account planning.
- Monitor commercial margins and implement corrective action to improve profitability where needed.
Operational Alignment –
- Collaborate with Marketing, Procurement, Operations, and Finance to ensure seamless execution of commercial initiatives.
- Participate in pricing strategies, contract negotiations, and sales enablement processes.
- Ensure compliance with company policies, regulatory standards, and commercial governance.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):
- Achievement of national sales targets and revenue growth.
- Retention and growth of commercial key accounts.
- Customer satisfaction and service level improvements.
- Sales team performance and development outcomes.
- Contribution to margin improvement and cost efficiency.
REQUIREMENTS:
Qualifications –
- Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Sales, Marketing or a related field (MBA or equivalent advantageous).
Experience/Skills –
- Minimum 8–10 years of senior sales leadership experience, with a proven track record in national or regional commercial sales.
- Experience managing large Sales teams and Key Account portfolios across South Africa.
- Strong understanding of the B2B sales landscape, especially within the office supplies, retail, or distribution sectors.
- Strategic thinking with the ability to execute at a tactical level.
- Strong leadership and people management skills.
- Excellent communication, negotiation, and presentation abilities.
- Commercially savvy with strong financial acumen.
- Data-driven decision-making and analytical thinking.
- Proficient in CRM systems, MS Office Suite, and sales reporting tools.
While we would really like to respond to every application, should you not be contacted for this position within 10 working days please consider your application unsuccessful.
COMMENTS:
When applying for jobs, ensure that you have the minimum job requirements. OnlySA Citizens will be considered for this role. If you are not in the mentioned location of any of the jobs, please note your relocation plans in all applications for jobs and correspondence. Apply here [URL Removed] OR e-mail a Word copy of your CV to [Email Address Removed] and mention the reference number of the job.
Desired Skills: