Strategic Territory Manager (Contract)

You are a natural relationship builder. You’re a leader with a proven track record of results, preferably in SaaS and/or Education. You are a strategic thinker who sees the bigger picture and can use this vision to reduce churn, build relationships, and identify growth opportunities. Your empathy and service-oriented mindset help make clients feel like they’ve found a trusted advisor – someone who values their success as much as they do. Above all, you identify with our mission of empowering educators with the tools they need to help students plan their successful futures.

Leading a cross-functional team, as a Strategic Territory Manager, you’re responsible for overseeing the growth and success of high priority states. Able to see the big picture, you establish the territory strategy and plan that will win new clients, retain existing accounts, and grow business. With an intimate understanding of territory needs, you deliver value to clients with each interaction. In your enthusiasm and eagerness to help, you uncover creative approaches to move the business forward and develop the strategies needed to increase Xello’s foothold. As an expert relationship builder & big-picture thinker, you are able to identify the key relationships we need to create in the states we operate in, and lead the way in developing those. You know how to marry client needs to the product, or identify the gaps needed to make Xello successful in a market. You are someone who can effectively disseminate information from a number of sources, see the opportunities to succeed in the market, and help chart that course for the business, communicating effectively to other departments around the path to success. Never satisfied with the status quo, you’re passionate about finding new ways to support Xello in our own quest for continual improvement by analysing our processes, finding efficiencies, and shaping consistently high-quality interactions for every client. 

Sound exciting to you? Read on!

What you’ll do…

• Build and maintain relationships with state, provincial and strategic district administrators to deepen Xello’s presence in key territories and solidify its position as a strategic partner. 
• Understand how Xello supports education policy and share this information with staff and clients to help them improve the quality of territory specific interactions. 
• Identify barriers to the achievement of business goals in assigned territories and help inform sales and success action plans to overcome these barriers.
• Develop, maintain and oversee the implementation of territory strategic plans.
• Provide the in-depth knowledge as the expert on the states within your territory, enabling your team members to execute on their functional duties in the most effective way - helping to hone those skills into a precise strategy.
• Nurture key relationships within the Territory, including Xello champion or lighthouse districts, as well as strategic partnerships with external organizations beyond simply a school district or state administrator.
• Clearly and compellingly articulate the Xello value proposition through update sessions, phone calls, webinars, and other client communication venues.
• Continually assess Xello’s product market fit & relay that information to key internal stakeholders.
• Act as the expert regarding competitors within the industry as well as within your market segment specifically, and enable Xello to out-perform and win against the competition.
• Bring forward opportunities for territory specific campaigns, and collaborate with key stakeholders on execution. 
• Identify product and service improvement opportunities that solve technical and/or business issues of varying complexity
• Document all client interactions in Salesforce (CRM) 
• Attend client and industry-related events, such as conferences, throughout the year
• Share insights, experiences, and lessons learned with your team
• Lead RFP & RFI responses within your territory.
• Where needed, support the efforts of our success and sales team members in key states to ensure the achievement of business goals
• Ensure a positive working environment and team culture within the Territory team.

What we’re looking for… 

• Minimum 4 years of demonstrated experience leadership and/or managing accounts with high levels of satisfaction, retention and growth, preferably in a SaaS environment or leadership experience in Education 
• Proven track record of success establishing new relationships in addition to having a strong client service orientation
• Demonstrable comprehension of strategic thinking, understanding how market insights factor into business-making decisions.
• Strong problem solving, decision making, and analytical skills, with the ability to think creatively and be resourceful when assisting clients
• Demonstrated experience managing client expectations and having difficult conversations, with a focus on reaching positive outcomes
• Persuasive presentation skills with excellent written and verbal communication skills
• A keen attention to detail, passion for user insights and customer value, and astute business judgment
• Comfortable speaking to groups of people and to those in positions of top-level authority
• Proven ability to develop materials and presentations that drive client engagement, adoption, and success
• Working understanding of product development and product roadmaps, and/or experience working with Product Owners/Product Managers.
• Experience using Salesforce or a similar customer relationship management (CRM) system
• Proficiency with Google & Microsoft Office suites
• Willingness to travel (25-35% of the time)