District Sales Manager - Illinois and Missouri

District Sales Manager

Sales | Illinois and Missouri (St. Louis area)

Reports To: VP of Sales

Direct Reports: None

About the Position

The District Sales Manager is a focused team player who attains sales revenue targets and gross margin goals while developing and maintaining strategic, long-term customer relationships throughout Illinois and the St. Louis area of Missouri.

Core tasks include prospecting and soliciting orders, processing orders, identifying customer needs, creating quotations, and proposing solutions based on the appropriate FALK Panel products to meet project requirements.

The District Sales Manager will take over a small group of existing customer accounts in the territory and grow well beyond them. This is fundamentally a hunting and cold-calling role focused on prospecting new accounts and generating pipeline. FALK Panel's manufacturing plant in Walker, Michigan and its own fleet of flatbed trucks deliver to the territory quickly, which gives the role a strong story to tell new customers.

In the entrepreneurial spirit of FALK Panel, the District Sales Manager owns projects from start to finish, including communication and coordination with the customer and internal FALK Panel teams, and operates with a high degree of autonomy and accountability for results within the territory.

Role Responsibilities

Sales & Business Development

• Take over and maintain the small group of existing customer accounts handed off to the role, and develop new customer relationships through face-to-face visits, customer service efforts, and phone and email conversations to achieve targeted sales goals.
• Implement a strategic business plan that expands the company's customer base and achieves market share and revenue targets across Illinois and the St. Louis area of Missouri.
• Prospect and solicit new orders across the assigned territory, identifying customer needs and proposing appropriate FALK Panel product solutions, including the advantage of fast delivery on FALK's own flatbed fleet.
• Actively hunt and cold call prospective customers, contractors, architects, and installers to build FALK Panel's presence and pipeline across Illinois and the St. Louis market, well beyond the existing customer base.
• Use AI-assisted research tools to identify target accounts, upcoming projects, and key contacts, and to prepare for first conversations with prospects.
• Negotiate to achieve "win-win" outcomes for both FALK Panel and the customer.
• Plan, prioritize, and organize weekly schedules to maximize face-time with customers and travel efficiently to facilitate sales and customer service.

Project & Order Management

• Own projects from start to finish, liaising with FALK's Sales Operations Coordinator (SOC) to confirm production scheduling and hand off approved orders for production.
• Enter Requests for Quote (RFQs) directly into FALK's system for all opportunities, ensuring the Estimating team has what's needed to quote accurately.
• Understand project specifications and collect the necessary structural and architectural drawings, steel information, and other project details from customers to support the Estimating team's take-off and quoting process.
• Resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service in a timely, professional manner.

Technical Expertise & Customer

Support

• Be a subject matter expert on all products that FALK Panel manufactures and distributes.
• Prepare and deliver product presentations to contractors, architects, installers, and engineers.
• Visit customer job sites to support sales and customer interactions and to build FALK Panel's reputation as an installer-friendly partner, not just a product supplier.
• Proactively advise customers on installer-friendly design choices, for example recommending panel-length or configuration adjustments that reduce overlaps or simplify installation, so customers are educated before production.

Installer Partnership & Values in the Field

• Represent FALK Panel's Mission and Values in every customer, prospect, and partner interaction across Illinois and the St. Louis area.
• Build FALK Panel's reputation across the territory as the industry expert not only at selling insulated metal panels, but at installing them.
• Actively reinforce an understanding of FALK's mission and values with customers and installers, so FALK Panel is seen as a trusted, values-driven partner across the territory.

Planning & Reporting

• Complete weekly and monthly activity reporting on sales pipeline, customer visits, and territory performance.
• Track progress against sales revenue and gross margin targets and communicate variances proactively.
• Maintain accurate customer and opportunity records in FALK Panel's CRM/ERP system (Microsoft Business Central preferred).
• Use AI tools to draft call notes, follow-up emails, and pipeline summaries, following FALK's AI Usage Policy when handling customer pricing, drawings, or other sensitive information.

Autonomy & Communication

• Operate with a high degree of autonomy: identify priorities, manage a territory-level book of business, and drive results with minimal day-to-day direction.
• Communicate clearly, professionally, and proactively with leadership, internal teams, and customers.
• Represent the Illinois and Missouri territory in company-wide sales planning and strategy discussions.

Mission, Values & Customer Focus

• Partner with leadership to understand and support FALK's Mission and Values, and cascade that mission and those values throughout the FALK team, including actively educating and reinforcing the team's understanding of FALK's mission and values on an ongoing basis.
• Champion a customer-friendly and installer-friendly approach across the business, building FALK's reputation as the industry expert.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent sales/industry experience.
• 5+ years of experience in direct sales of construction or architectural products.
• Metal building and insulated metal panel experience highly preferred.
• Ability to read and understand construction drawings and specifications well enough to collect accurate project information for FALK's Estimating team; demonstrated aptitude will be considered in lieu of direct experience. Take-offs are performed by Estimators, not the District Sales Manager.
• High level of computer proficiency, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook (preferred; training available on the job).
• Strong organizational skills, time management, and attention to detail.
• Independent, self-motivated sales professional comfortable managing a territory with minimal oversight.
• Exceptional planning skills and the ability to manage a two-state travel schedule effectively.
• Valid driver's license and willingness to travel throughout Illinois and the St. Louis area of Missouri (overnight travel required).
• Comfort adopting CRM/ERP systems (Business Central preferred) and new sales-enablement or AI tools.
• Ability to read and interpret documents such as sales reports, blueprints, and training and procedure manuals, and to write clear reports and correspondence.
• Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of the organization.
• Ability to calculate figures and amounts such as discounts, costs, profits, proportions, percentages, and volume.

Ability to apply contextual understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, or graphic form.