Sales Representative – Chicago, ILA leading global manufacturer in the water and wastewater infrastructure space is seeking a technically minded Sales Representative to support municipal and industrial wastewater customers throughout the Chicago area. This position is focused on building long-term customer relationships, identifying operational and infrastructure challenges, and providing engineered pumping, mixing, monitoring, controls, service, and aftermarket solutions that improve system performance, reliability, and efficiency. The Sales Representative will work directly with municipalities, wastewater utilities, industrial facilities, consulting engineers, contractors, and other industry partners, managing opportunities throughout the entire sales cycle—from early project development and prospecting through technical evaluation, proposal development, negotiation, closing, and post-sale support. Develop and Grow the Territory Build and execute a strategic sales plan for the Chicago-area municipal and industrial markets. Identify new customers, projects, and applications through prospecting, networking, referrals, market research, and field activity. Expand relationships within existing accounts while developing new sources of revenue. Maintain a healthy pipeline of both short- and long-term opportunities. Use market intelligence, customer data, and competitive insight to prioritize accounts and opportunities. Consistently achieve or exceed annual order, revenue, margin, and growth objectives. Build Strong Customer Relationships Develop relationships with utility leaders, operators, engineers, contractors, maintenance professionals, procurement teams, and industrial decision-makers. Understand each customer's system, operational priorities, capital plans, and long-term challenges. Serve as a trusted technical and commercial resource throughout the customer relationship. Conduct account reviews, site visits, and follow-up activities to identify future opportunities. Provide a high level of responsiveness, professionalism, and customer service. Sell Technical Solutions Evaluate customer needs and recommend appropriate pumping, mixing, controls, monitoring, service, and aftermarket solutions. Translate technical product capabilities into clear operational and business value. Conduct technical presentations, product demonstrations, lunch-and-learns, and customer training. Review plans, specifications, operating conditions, and application requirements alongside internal engineering resources. Develop solution strategies based on performance, reliability, lifecycle value, service support, and application expertise. Build proposals addressing both the technical and commercial requirements of each opportunity. Manage Projects and the Sales Process Manage opportunities from initial identification through quotation, negotiation, award, delivery, startup, and post-sale follow-up. Develop account strategies and project-specific pursuit plans for major opportunities. Coordinate pricing, commercial terms, proposals, approvals, and contract requirements. Negotiate effectively while maintaining appropriate value, margin, and commercial discipline. Maintain accurate account information, sales activity, forecasts, and opportunity data within CRM systems. Provide timely and accurate forecasts to sales leadership. Monitor project schedules, customer commitments, competitive activity, and potential risks. Collaborate Across the Organization Work closely with application engineering, service, operations, customer support, marketing, product management, and leadership. Coordinate internal resources to provide technically sound and timely customer solutions. Engage product and application specialists when additional expertise is required. Share customer feedback, competitive intelligence, market trends, and product needs with internal stakeholders. Support broader regional growth initiatives. Help ensure a smooth customer experience from initial engagement through delivery and ongoing service.
