Business Development Officer
Your tasks
New Customer Acquisition
- Identify, prospect, and onboard wholesalers, retailers, market traders, sub-distributors, supermarkets, and other suitable business customers.
- Conduct daily field visits to markets, shops, wholesale clusters, and other assigned territories.
- Build and maintain a qualified database of prospective and existing customers.
- Present Nevara's products, communicate their value, negotiate within approved pricing guidelines, and convert prospects into paying customers.
- Develop new accounts consistently rather than depending exclusively on existing customers or walk-in sales.
Sales Generation and Target Achievement
- Achieve a minimum monthly sales benchmark after the agreed onboarding period.
- Develop and execute a structured plan to progress towards monthly target.
- Prepare weekly sales forecasts, customer acquisition plans, and territory sales plans.
- Follow up on quotations, negotiations, pending orders, and inactive customers to close sales.
- Drive repeat purchases, increase order quantities, and identify cross-selling opportunities across Nevara's product portfolio.
- Execute approved promotions and trade activation activities to increase product movement.
Distribution Network Development
- Identify and recruit qualified wholesalers, sub-distributors, and bulk-buying customers.
- Develop relationships with high-volume traders and customers capable of purchasing repeatedly.
- Identify underserved markets and opportunities to expand Nevara's geographic reach.
- Build a pipeline of potential accounts with the capacity to support increasing monthly sales volumes.
- Support the development of territory coverage plans and customer segmentation.
Customer Relationship and Account Management
- Maintain regular contact with active customers and follow up on reorder cycles.
- Understand customers' stock levels, sales velocity, purchasing preferences, and commercial challenges.
- Resolve routine customer concerns promptly and escalate pricing, supply, credit, and product-quality issues when necessary.
- Monitor repeat orders, customer retention, and account growth.
- Build long-term relationships based on reliability, professionalism, and mutual commercial value.
Market Research and Competitive Intelligence
- Survey assigned markets to identify potential customers, competitors, prevailing prices, product demand, and distribution gaps.
- Gather feedback on product acceptance, packaging, pricing, quality, and promotional effectiveness.
- Identify opportunities for new products, new customer segments, and new distribution partnerships.
- Submit actionable market intelligence to management to inform commercial decisions.
Sales Reporting and Pipeline Management
- Maintain accurate customer records, sales pipelines, visit reports, quotations, and order follow-ups using the company's approved reporting tools.
- Submit daily activity reports and weekly sales performance reports.
- Track leads generated, customers contacted, orders secured, cartons sold, collections, and repeat purchases.
- Maintain realistic sales forecasts and explain any significant deviations from targets.
- Ensure all sales and customer commitments are properly documented.
Sales Coordination and Commercial Discipline
- Coordinate with administration, inventory, finance, and warehouse personnel to facilitate accurate order processing and timely delivery.
- Work within approved prices, discounts, credit terms, and promotional policies.
- Follow up on customer payments in coordination with the finance team.
- Avoid unauthorized discounts, unapproved credit sales, and commitments the company cannot fulfil.
- Protect customer information, company assets, and commercially sensitive information.
Requirements
- A minimum of an HND in business administration, marketing, sales, or a related field; equivalent practical experience will be considered.
- At least 1 year of relevant experience in sales, business development, FMCG distribution, wholesale trade, or consumer goods.
- Demonstrable experience acquiring customers and meeting sales targets.
- Experience dealing with Nigerian market traders, wholesalers, retailers, or distributors is a strong advantage.
- Good negotiation, communication, presentation, and relationship-management skills.
- Competence in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets and basic sales reporting.
- Familiarity with CRM systems or sales reporting applications is an advantage.
- Willingness to undertake frequent field visits across assigned markets and territories.
Other
Location: Lagos