Sales Lead - Factory

Reports to - Director

Nature of selling - Direct clients only (no agency-based work)

The Role

This is a hunter and business development role for an experienced professional who understands the complete sales cycle in store fit-outs, turnkey projects, furniture and fixtures or related execution-driven businesses. The Sales Lead - Factory will own the sales and revenue of this vertical: building direct client relationships, developing a healthy project pipeline, converting opportunities into profitable orders and ensuring that the business sold can be executed successfully through RAZPL's factory and a dependable vendor network. A strong vendor and execution network is essential for this role.

Key Responsibilities

Business Development

• Identify and develop direct clients in the retail and commercial segments.
• Build relationships with retail chains, brands, expansion teams, project teams, procurement teams and other relevant decision-makers.
• Generate new business through direct prospecting, referrals, networking and existing relationships.
• Develop opportunities for store fit-outs, turnkey projects, furniture and fixtures, retail interiors, facades, branding and allied execution work.
• Build a strong pipeline of prospective projects across multiple accounts and locations.
• Track competitors, retail expansion plans, pricing trends and new store openings to keep the pipeline full.

Sales Ownership

• Own the complete sales cycle from lead generation to order closure.
• Understand client requirements, project scope, timelines and commercial expectations.
• Coordinate internally for estimation, BOQs, costing, feasibility and proposal preparation.
• Lead commercial negotiations, approve final pricing and protect the agreed gross margins.
• Ensure proper handover of confirmed projects to the execution team.

Execution and Vendor Network

• Bring an established network of reliable vendors, contractors, fabricators, installers and other execution partners (civil, electrical, carpentry, fixtures, finishes and allied trades).
• Evaluate vendor capability, capacity, pricing and reliability for different project requirements, and work within RAZPL's vendor management processes on empanelment, scorecards and performance.
• Work closely with the Head of Practice - Factory/Signage and the project team on handover, timelines, quality and cost control from order to completion.
• Ensure that commitments made during sales are commercially and operationally viable, and support the resolution of execution issues where client relationships or commercial commitments are involved.

Client Relationship Management

• Develop long-term relationships with key decision-makers and maintain regular communication with key accounts.
• Identify opportunities for repeat business and multi-location rollouts, converting single stores into multi-store programmes.
• Understand upcoming expansion plans and proactively position RAZPL.

Commercial Discipline, Billing and Reporting

• Prepare and maintain accurate sales forecasts, and track pipeline, proposals, negotiations and closures in the CRM.
• Present a weekly pipeline review and contribute to the monthly business review.
• Ensure milestone billing is on time and support collections, so that revenue booked is revenue realised.
• Ensure that revenue growth does not come at the expense of agreed gross margins.

Key Performance Expectations

Measure / Expectation

Monthly revenue - Approximately 1 crore per month (12 crore on an annual basis)

Gross margin - Approximately 40% (about 4.8 crore of gross margin on an annual basis)

Client mix -100% direct clients. Agency-based business is not the focus of this role

Quality of revenue - Measured on profitable revenue, quality of clients, repeat business and execution feasibility, and not merely on revenue booked

Pipeline, conversion and collections - Targets to be agreed with the Directors at the time of joining

Reporting discipline - CRM updated regularly; weekly pipeline and monthly review submitted on time

Candidate Profile

Essential

• 12 or more years of relevant experience in store fit-outs, retail interiors, turnkey projects, furniture and fixtures, retail execution, facades or related project-based businesses.
• Strong network among retail brands, chains, corporate clients and decision-makers.
• Proven track record of independently generating and closing business, at a scale comparable to 1 crore per month.
• Strong understanding of project costing, commercial negotiations and margins, including drawings, BOQs and site execution.
• Established and verifiable vendor, contractor and execution network.
• Ability to understand project requirements and translate them into commercially viable solutions.
• Strong negotiation and relationship-building skills.
• Willingness to personally drive business development rather than depend on inbound leads.
• Graduate in any discipline; a degree or diploma in engineering, interiors or business management is an advantage.

Preferred

Experience with clients having multiple retail locations and recurring rollout requirements will be an advantage.

Key Competencies

• Commercial acumen, negotiation strength and margin discipline.
• Ownership mindset and comfort with a clear numbers-based mandate.
• Credibility with senior client stakeholders and with vendors alike.
• Structured planning, follow-up and reporting habits.

What We Are Looking For

We are looking for someone who can combine sales capability, client relationships, project understanding, vendor network and commercial discipline. This is not a conventional sales coordination role. It is a business ownership role with clear revenue and profitability expectations.

Please note: this role is for direct client selling. Profiles built primarily on agency, channel or sub-contract based work will not be considered.