Senior Sales Executive- Freight Forwarding- UAE

Role Overview

Senior Sales Executive – Freight Forwarding with Milaha in the UAE. This role executes the entire sales cycle focused on new customer acquisition and budgeted base growth to secure business in line with commercial strategy.

Company Overview

Milaha is a large, diversified holding company with core interests in maritime transport, logistics, port management, and offshore marine services. The company is genuinely diverse in its offering portfolio and workforce, united by shared values across different backgrounds and cultures.

Role Purpose

Establish and nourish strong, multi-level, win-win relationships with new customers (decision makers and influencers) and prepare accounts for transition to local account management. The role carries hands-on responsibility and sales targets.

Key Responsibilities

Prospecting & Lead Development

• Identify and build a database of potential customers with prospect names, phone numbers, addresses, and supply chain fit for qualification and contact.

Customer Qualification

• Qualify leads and assess their business needs, patterns, and trends including contact information, commodities, trade lanes, business type, contract details, exceptions, and service requirements to determine fit with Milaha products.
• Perform data mining to identify customer business needs, patterns, and trends and establish a focused list of highest-potential target customers.
• Determine potential customers' ability to pay, authority levels, and market accessibility to assess suitability as prospects.

Engagement & Conversion

• Communicate with potential customers using product demonstrations and presentations to convert prospects into current customers.
• Establish purchase commitments from customers and collaborate with them to formulate accurate forecasted needs for Request for Quotation generation.

Pricing & Quotation Coordination

• Coordinate with Sales Support to provide relevant pricing input via market data review, competition analysis, and industry trends to generate competitive and timely quotations.

Negotiation & Commercial Terms

• Negotiate with customers using professional sales approaches and techniques to provide clarification on products, price, terms, and conditions and close sales transactions.
• Coordinate with Sales Support, Product, and Pricing sections to share negotiation information and align terms and conditions between customer and internal teams.

Closing & Onboarding

• Coordinate with Sales Support and Service Delivery sections to share final agreements and move forward to the booking process, validating customer onboarding per Standard Operating Procedure and finalizing the sale.
• Execute effective handovers to Customer Service, Operations, Finance, and other functions with agreed contract terms and conditions to move sales transactions to service execution.
• Educate customers about the shipment process to enable a smooth customer onboarding experience at Milaha.

Account Management & Performance

• Verify that committed sales volumes are followed through and monitor profitability in line with agreed service levels and contractual obligations, establishing corrective actions where required to meet customer needs and maximize sales.

Governance & Compliance

• Record all data in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool to ensure transparency, accessibility, timely updates, and high-quality accuracy.
• Implement and adhere to all internal policies, procedures, and government regulations to ensure compliance.
• Implement and adhere to all HSSEQ Policies to ensure compliance.

Additional Duties

• Perform other duties as directed and where trained to support optimal sales performance and achieve targets.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's Degree.
• 4–6 years' experience in a similar role.
• Preferred: Good academic background with strong analytic and mathematical skills.
• Preferred: Proven sales background in the 3PL/Logistics industry.
• Preferred: Experience with logistics processes, systems, and solutions.

Skills & Competencies

Technical & Systems

• Solid PC operational knowledge along with Microsoft Office 365 applications.
• Hands-on experience with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.

Language

• Fluent in English, both written and spoken.
• Other languages advantageous.

Core Competencies

• Customer Focus: Service oriented and dedicated to meeting requirements of internal and external customers. Maintains effective relationships and handles difficult customers tactfully. Acts with the customer in mind.
• Achievement Orientation: Results oriented. Takes charge, shows self-motivation and ambition for personal and professional achievements. Has competitive drive to get things done.
• Relationship Building: Builds relationships and networks; works through and with others. Communicates and negotiates effectively and persuasively.
• Analytical Thinking: Analyzes problems effectively and solves complex issues. Considers long-term impact and anticipates future consequences and trends. Generates innovative solutions.
• Compliance: Careful and thorough. Gathers complete information. Works well under formal frameworks and precise rules. Strives for quality.
• Composure: Keeps emotions under control. Performs effectively under stressful situations. Has positive influence.
• Risk Management: Assesses risks and makes timely decisions based on relevant information. Takes high-risk decisions when necessary. Not afraid of facing difficulties and adversity. Creates competitive strategies and plans.
• Motivate Others: Understands differences in people and viewpoints. Creates sense of belonging in the team. Inspires people to perform.