Technical Sales Engineer

EarthLinked Technologies, Inc. is the global technology leader in heat pump solutions that harvest renewable energy directly from the shallow earth or photovoltaic panels. The company designs, assembles and markets the most cost-effective and environmentally-friendly solutions to heat water for commercial users and to heat or cool residential and small commercial buildings. These solutions let users lower their utility bills, hedge against rising energy prices and reduce their carbon footprint.

Since it was founded 30 years ago, EarthLinked has completed thousands of installations and accumulated over 1.2 million hours of operating experience. Those systems all utilize a highly reliable heat pump manufactured in the company's LEED-certified factory in Lakeland, Florida, and are currently saving energy and emissions in 47 states and 16 countries.

While we are proud of our continuous technology advances and initial distribution channels, we are convinced that the potential of our innovative solutions is much greater, and based on concrete market signals, believe that the time has come to go mainstream. As a result, we are now embarking on an ambitious growth agenda, and looking to add an exceptional Technical Sales Manager to our team.

Position Overview: 

Possessing the drive, expertise and rigor needed to implement our sales growth strategy, the candidate will be expected to aggressively increase the market penetration of our line of commercial water heating solutions in particular. To that end, the ideal candidate will have at least 3 years of experience in selling solutions in the commercial water heating sector, and good balance of technical knowledge with sales skills. If you believe the time has come for distributed renewable energy, this is your chance to join us and seize this exceptional entrepreneurial opportunity.

What Is EarthLinked Water Heating?

Water heating consumes a major part of a building's energy budget. In the U.S., lodging facilities spend on average 42% of their energy budget to heat water, while restaurants spend 32% and healthcare, 18%. Yet it is often overlooked as a source of savings, because it quietly consumes energy in the mechanical room and is accepted as an essential service without a viable alternative.

Enter EarthLinked Water Heating, which places those savings within easy reach, by reducing the consumption of purchased energy, carbon emissions and operating costs by 60-75% when compared to an electric water heating system (in fact, the U S EPA verified savings up to 75%). Over its lifetime, the solution yields significant financial and environmental savings over natural gas, electric, propane, or fuel oil systems.

Harvesting solar heat from photovoltaic modules or the upper 100 feet of the earth's surface, a single heat pump can pre-heat 2,500-3,000 gallons per day to 110 degrees F, usually enough for a 50-unit building.

The photovoltaic and geothermal sources of heat can be combined together or with other solutions (such as an existing water heating system) to serve large needs anytime, anywhere. When recovering heat from photovoltaic panels, the solution also increases panel efficiency by up to 20% and lengthens their life expectancy.

Even among renewable energy system, our superior and versatile technology, coupled with all-around customer support, make EarthLinked solutions the preferred choice for customers seeking to reduce both their energy costs and environmental footprint.

Role Description:

The Technical Sales Manager will play a critical role in generating and converting commercial sales leads. The candidate will be accountable for growing the sales pipeline directly and through existing and new dealers, by building and maintaining a large pool of prospects at each stage of the sales funnel.

For each new opportunity, the manager will work alongside key internal and external partners to understand and communicate client requirements, put together a competitive commercial proposal, present it or help support a presentation to the prospect, close the transaction and follow up regularly to ensure satisfaction and identify repeat sales opportunities.

To achieve further leverage, the manager will also identify targets for distribution partnerships and will deploy deliberate strategies to secure those alliances, provide support to partners and pro-actively solve problems to ensure the realization of sales objectives.

The candidate will be expected to ramp up quickly in this role, and take a proactive approach to rapidly scale a consistent, high-output sales conversion process, and continuously improve it. Building on sound analytical skills and a good understanding of the complete sale cycle, the manager will proactively use computer tools such as Excel models and CRM system to create winning proposals, effectively collaborate with all stakeholders, and report on the sales pipeline progress.

The manager will assist and report to Marketing when requested to help design and launch marketing activities, especially with regard to direct lead generation and conversion activities. The position will proactively share field information with the senior management team, e.g. competitive intelligence and customer knowledge, to help maximize the effectiveness of sales and marketing efforts.

The manager will be based at least half of the time at EarthLinked's head office and travel as needed to visit prospects and allies, and attend shows and meetings as relevant. Initial focus will be primarily upon sales to the Florida lodging, higher education, governmental and healthcare markets. Superior performance will be rewarded with rapidly increasing responsibilities.

Responsibilities:

• Searching for new clients who might benefit from company products or services;
• Visiting potential clients;
• Developing and growing long-term relationships with sales representative and customers;
• Managing and interpreting customer requirements - speaking with clients to understand, anticipate and meet their needs;
• Persuading clients that a product or service best satisfies their needs in terms of quality, price and delivery;
• Calculating client quotations;
• Negotiating tender and contract terms to meet both client and company needs;
• Negotiating and closing sales by agreeing terms and conditions;
• Analyzing costs and sales;
• Preparing reports for head office;
• Meeting regular sales targets;
• Recording and maintaining client contact data;
• Coordinating sales projects;
• Supporting marketing activities by attending trade shows, conferences and other marketing events;
• Making technical presentations and demonstrating how a product meets client needs;
• Providing pre-sales technical assistance and product education;
• Liaising with other members of the sales team and other technical experts;
• Solving client problems;
• Helping in the design of custom-made products;
• Attending training and company events as requested;
• Helping produce effective sales support material.

Qualifications: 

Required knowledge, skills, characteristics and abilities:

• Minimum of 5 years experience in sales, including at least 3 years in the Commercial Water heating industry, with a track record of success; knowledge of large water heating clients, such as education institutions, hotel/restaurants, and government, a definite plus;
• Good understanding of technical sales management, sales partner development, with demonstrated ability to convert leads. Comprehend complex solutions quickly and can communicate them in plain English to prospects. Solid ability to create and communicate a compelling business case;
• Engineering or technical degree; additional business degree a plus;
• Excellent knowledge of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, online sales tools, and demonstrated analytical skills;
• Strong organizational skills, driving efficient execution, prioritization and progress on multiple concurrent opportunities;
• High integrity, persistence, focus, energy, and drive in the face of challenges;
• Superior interpersonal skills; ability to work cross-functionally and learn; excellent at building trust; value others; communicate effectively; excellent oral and written communication skills in English.

Compensation: Competitive salary based on experience and credentials, including both fixed and a significant variable component.

To Apply:

Please send a resume and a short email explaining why you are suited for this role

No executive recruiter or phone call please.

EarthLinked is an equal opportunity employer.