Storage Sales Specialist

Storage Sales Specialist This role has been designated as ‘Edge’, which means you will primarily work outside of an HPE office. **_ Job Family Definition:_** Sales Specialists & Consultants are product, services, software or solution specialists that are responsible for leading pursuit in their assigned focus areas. Collaborates with and supports Account Managers and provides specialist expertise within the sales team. Drives proactive campaigns to build the pipeline, uses specialized knowledge and skills to prospect, qualify, negotiate and close opportunities. May have named accounts allocated, cover a designated geography, or may be allocated to one high-potential, competitive attack account. **_ Management Level Definition:_** **Responsibilities** - Responsible for sales of storage products and solutions in assigned territory, industry or accounts. - Uses advanced storage expertise to seek out new opportunities for customer value by expanding and enhancing existing opportunities. - Creates and drives the storage sales pipeline. Captures leads outside of specialization and uses closed-loop lead management to ensure assignment and follow-up by others. - Collaborates with the account pursuit teams to leverage their solutions expertise for business development. - Build sales readiness and reduces client learning curve through effective knowledge transfer in storage. - Contributes to development of quota objectives and future direction for storage product lines. - Directs and coordinates supporting sales activities related to pipeline hygiene through account managers, Presales, channel partners and other relevant stakeholders. - Effectively uses internal sales tools to maintain a healthy pipeline and the account plan in a timely fashion. - Collaborates across the HPE teams to deliver a consistent approach to developing business, including account planning for end to end solutions. - Assesses solution feasibility from a technical and business perspective to determine """"qualify-in""""/""""qualify-out"""" status. - Negotiates and drives profitable deals to ensure successful closure and a high win rate. - Drives sales of the storage portfolio, using strong leadership and initiative to successfully prospect, negotiate and close deals. - Establishes a professional and consultative relationship with the client by achieving an advanced understanding of the unique business needs of the client within the industry. Works with clients up to and including the C-level for mid-to-large accounts. - Leverages advanced knowledge of competitors and industry trends to strategically position the company's products and services. - Focuses on and works with the channel to forge relationships, provide enablement of key technologies, and co-sell to end-users. - Effectively leads, evangelizes, and helps to coordinate Storage marketing campaigns (digital /new techniques) to ensure a successful launch and maintenance of the campaign momentum, in alignment with the account strategy. - Acts as a trusted storage solutions consultant for the slated accounts/region. - Reinforces and articulates HPE's strategy and portfolio to partners and champions to uncover new business opportunities and contacts, including new logos when appropriate. - Effectively uses references to craft a story that makes complex technologies seem simple and understandable for the customers - Actively generates customer interest and anticipates customer's buying trends. Links business and financial benefits with technology offerings. Illustrates the ROI & TCO advantages of HPE offerings for the customer's business. - Cultivates and maintains positive relationships with customers to ensure account retention and growth, to position the company as the preferred vendor to meet business needs. - Supports deal closure in partnership with relevant internal stakeholders including account managers and channel partners **Classification Guidance** The sections below help differentiate between levels to enable consistency. **Education and Experience** - University or Bachelor's degree preferred. - Demonstrated achievement of progressively higher quota, interface with diverse business customers at all levels. - Typically 6-10+ years of sales experience. - Experience in storage sales, typically 2-3+ years. - Extensive vertical industry knowledge required. - Project management experience required. **Knowledge and Skills** **Storage Specialist - Sales Acumen & Behaviors** - Storage Specialist - Sales Acumen & Behaviors - Possesses expertise to be able to assess solution feasibility from a technical and business perspective, to determine """"qualify-in""""/""""qualify-out"""" status. - Uses expertise to negotiate and drive deals to ensure successful closure and a high win rate. - Demonstrates hunter mentality to actively pursue for solution opportunities in acquisition and development accounts and to pursue new business. - Possesses the ability to independently articulat