Head of Sales - Fragrance Machinery | Johannesburg

Core Objectives

• Own the full revenue line: new business, renewals, retention, upselling, and key account growth.
  
• Build and lead a high-performing sales function — team, systems, and process — not just personally sell.
  
• Personally lead and close the business's largest and most strategic opportunities.
  
• Grow revenue from the existing client base through renewals, retention, and account expansion — not only new clients.
  
• Set and enforce sales standards, reporting discipline, and CRM data quality across the team.
  
• Own the Sales–Operations communication standard — the team executes to it; the Head of Sales manages exceptions.
  
• Reduce the Director's day-to-day involvement in sales activity, team management, and client escalations.
  
• Represent Sales at management level, contributing to overall business strategy alongside the Director and Operations.
  

Key Responsibilities

Revenue Ownership & Growth (Primary Function)

• Own the company's full revenue line: new business, renewals, retention, upsell, and key account growth.
  
• Set the annual/quarterly revenue target and the plan to hit it, in agreement with the Director.
  
• Personally lead and close the largest, most strategic, and most complex deals.
  
• Identify and develop key accounts, driving expansion revenue from the existing client base.
  
• Build and manage a renewal and retention process to protect and grow existing recurring rental revenue.
  
• Lead growth of the Perfume Projects Division as a strategic growth line — sourcing major projects personally, while the team develops smaller ones.
  
• Identify new markets, verticals, and product opportunities.
  

Sales Team Leadership

• Build, lead, coach, and hold accountable a high-performing sales team.
  
• Set individual and team targets and manage performance against them.
  
• Own team performance issues and routine client escalations — these should stop reaching the Director.
  
• Recruit, onboard, and develop sales talent as the team grows.
  
• Assist sales staff with deal strategy and closing support on their larger opportunities.
  

Sales Standards, Systems & Reporting

• Own the sales process standard: what "done right" looks like for CRM data, requisitions, and handovers to Operations.
  
• Ensure the team is trained on and complies with these standards — this role sets and audits the standard; it does not personally check every requisition, payment, or order.
  
• Own sales reporting: pipeline, forecast, revenue, retention, and team performance, reported to the Director and management team.
  
• Get personally involved in individual requisitions, payments, or handovers only where something has broken down and needs senior intervention.
  
• Be fully proficient in Zoho CRM and drive team-wide CRM discipline.
  

● .

Sales–Operations & Cross-Functional Link

• Own the relationship and communication standard between Sales and Operations (not Operations' execution or delivery).
  
• Chair or delegate the weekly Sales & Operations meeting; attend personally for strategic or escalated issues only.
  
• Represent Sales in cross-functional planning with Marketing, Operations, and Accounts.
  

Commercial Leadership

• Sit as part of the management team alongside the Director and Operations Manager.
  
• Contribute to pricing, positioning, and go-to-market decisions.
  
• Provide regular commercial input into business strategy and planning.
  
• Forecast revenue and manage overall pipeline and account health.
  

Requirements

Skills & Experience Required

• Proven commercial maturity — track record operating at a senior sales leadership or management level, not only as an individual sales contributor.
  
• Demonstrated experience building, leading, and holding accountable a sales team.
  
• Experience owning a full revenue function: new business, renewals, retention, and account growth — not new business alone.
  
• Strong negotiation and closing ability on large, complex, or strategic deals.
  
• Comfortable operating at management-team level — contributing to strategy, not just executing it.
  
• Strong understanding of CRM systems (Zoho experience highly advantageous),(Sales force, etc).
  
• Able to set standards and hold others to them, rather than personally handling execution.
  

Personal Attributes

• Commercially mature — operates as a business leader, not just a top performer.
  
• Confident negotiator, comfortable leading the largest and most complex deals.
  
• Builds and delegates rather than doing everything personally.
  
• Strong leadership presence; earns credibility with a small, established team.
  
• Calm under pressure; absorbs escalations rather than passing them upward.
  
• Strong sense of ownership and accountability for outcomes, not just activity.
  
• Collaborative — works well as part of a small management team.
  

Success in This Role Looks Like

• Revenue growth across new business, renewals, and account expansion — not just new logos.
  
• Client retention holding at or above target.
  
• The sales team consistently meeting targets without daily involvement from the Director.
  
• The Director's time freed from routine sales management, team issues, and client escalations.
  
• Strategic and major deals personally led and closed by the Head of Sales.
  
• Clean, disciplined CRM and reporting the management team can trust.
  
• A functioning weekly Sales–Operations rhythm that the Head of Sales oversees rather than runs personally.
  

Benefits

• Salary: Market Related