Technology Territory Manager

A Brief Summary of This Position: The Technology Territory Manager (TTM) is responsible for the sales and support of Valley Technology Products (ie - AgSense, ICON, VRI) to new and existing customers. This position reports into the Vice President, International Technology with a matrix reporting line into the Commercial Director for their region.

The TTM is responsible to maximize the opportunity for sales within an assigned region and support the overall Valley Irrigation and Technology sales teams by maximizing the coverage to gain market share. The TTM provides input to management from their direct market knowledge on policies, programs, objectives, and procedures as they apply to product, service, training, warranty, market share, distribution, parts, innovation and technology. The TTM works in conjunction with the Valley Territory Manager to provide full support and training for the Valley Dealers and territory sales staff in that Territory.

The TTM works with appropriate staff within Valley Irrigation groups to resolve any dealer and grower satisfaction issues. This position is responsible for assisting the service department regarding warranty of Valley technical products and services for dealers in the assigned territory that require assistance.

The TTM is responsible for ensuring that the dealers and territory sales managers in their territory are properly trained on sales, installation and operation of Valley technical products and services. TTM will conduct Dealer training with support from appropriate subject matter experts and will travel to dealer and grower locations to perform the training.

Essential Functions:

• Understands the needs of end users and Dealers in their assigned territory to further the adoption Valley technology products in services to grow market share and revenue
• Meets with Dealers and territory sales managers in assigned territory on a regular basis to maintain current knowledge of the end users, preferences and opportunities for sales
• Achieving sales goals is a primary focus along with preparing sales plans and reports, analyze sales results and revise plans accordingly to maximize sales
• Supports the development and implementation of new product rollout plans that the Service groups will need for training
• Supports the creation and execution of the release of new product training plan
• Maintains current knowledge of emerging and advances technologies and work collaboratively with Director of Technology Sales to identify potential new products that could be integrated into the Valley product line
• Participates in the successful product launches in conjunction with product marketing and sales
• Attends dealer open house events, product shows, and industry conferences to present technical subject matter and answer product questions.
• Recommends product changes and enhancements to existing products based on input from customers, dealers and internal personnel
• Stays informed regarding competitive products and activity and shares that knowledge with other Valley Irrigation staff
• Identification of new irrigation product opportunities
• Responsible for maintaining a close, positive working relationship with Dealers in assigned territory, Sales, Product Management, Marketing, Engineering and Operations
• Supports cross-functional new product development teams to ensure timely product introductions into the market place and the product is developed per market requirements
• Ensure the timely resolution of service issues for Dealers in assigned territory
• Supports the Valley Territory Managers when requested for Valley technology products and services
• Acts as the first line interface for reliability and durability issues that are presented by end-user customers or dealer personnel
• Collect and analyze product reliability information related to the product lines and advanced technologies which includes technology trends, opportunities and customers’ expectations
• Participates in the development of the annual service training
• Maintain professional relationships with government and university extension and industry research personnel
• This position reports into the Vice President, International Technology and has no direct reports
• This role requires up to 50% travel including overnight stays
• Assist with incoming technology sales and support phone calls on an ‘as needed’ basis when in office

Required Qualifications of Every Candidate (Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities)

• Preferred Bachelors with 6+ years experience or Associates Degree with 8+ years of experience or 10+ years experience
• Two years’ experience working directly with dealer sales and service personal
• The ability to travel in local area and internationally, if assigned, up to 75% of the time
• The ability to resolve complex problems and large challenges
• The ability to establish and cultivate excellent working relationships with dealers and customers
• Strategic thinking ability with tactical and detailed execution
• Expertise in the use of influence, team participation, consensus building and dealer/customer/grower communication
• The ability to work within a broader sales team to achieve company goals beyond assigned territory
• Passion and integrity with the drive to excel and deliver exceptional results
• Agricultural background

Highly Qualified Candidates Will Also Possess These Qualifications

A degree in Engineering, Business, Agricultural Mechanization and Business, Agricultural Sciences (agronomy, soil science, crop production, etc.), Mechanized Agriculture or Agricultural Economics is preferred

• Experience with mechanized irrigated agriculture preferred
• Experience with irrigation scheduling preferred
• Experience working with RTK GPS equipment
• Experience with single and multi-frequency GPS equipment
• Experience with cellular communications networks
• Experience with solar equipment including sizing and maintenance of the solar equipment.
• A strong understanding of electronics, computerized control modules, VHF (very high frequency)/UHF (ultra-high frequency) communication methods, satellite and cellular communication technologies, PLC (programmable logic controllers) and GPS (global positioning system) technologies is preferred

Working Environment and Physical Efforts:

Work is typically performed in an office and field setting; however, the incumbent needs to be able to move about the office, production area, shipping warehouse, dealerships, and international site facilities as assigned. The incumbent has to be able to support Sales, Marketing, Service, Engineering and Operations. This support includes visits to both indoor and outdoor locations during all seasons of the year. The Technical Sales Manager must be willing and able to travel both locally and to the field approximately up to 75% of the year and, in uncommon instances, at short notice. The work environment can be TTMt-paced and demanding especially during peak sales seasons. Although some of the administrative tasks are repetitive and may seem mundane, the job has new challenges every day.

Most of the tasks are sedentary tasks. Employee is regularly required to reach with hands and arms. The incumbent is occasionally required to move around, use hands to type, handle, feel, grasp, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, talk, hear, taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, and depth perception. It is rare that an employee would have to climb up to an elevated height such as from a ladder, but the incumbent does have to have the ability to climb stairs as some areas of the plant and dealer’s offices can only be accessed by climbing a flight of stairs. There are trips to grower’s fields and the employee needs to have the ability to move about the crop area. The employee needs to be able to get him/herself to and from different sites using a vehicle or an airplane.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.