Job Title: General Trade Representative – Eastleigh

Industry: Textile Manufacturing & Distribution
Location: Eastleigh, Nairobi
Employment Type: Full-Time

Job Overview

Our client is an established regional enterprise operating within the textile manufacturing and distribution sector, providing a diverse range of consumer and business-oriented products across multiple market segments. The organisation has an extensive distribution network serving customers across Sub-Saharan Africa.

They are seeking a commercially driven and proactive General Trade Representative to develop and grow their market presence within Eastleigh and surrounding trading areas.

The successful candidate will be responsible for identifying new business opportunities, acquiring customers, developing strong relationships with traders and business owners, and growing repeat sales. The role requires an individual who understands the dynamics of wholesale and retail trade, is comfortable working in the field, and can translate market intelligence into sustainable revenue growth.

The ideal candidate should have a strong understanding of the Eastleigh business environment, a proven ability to acquire customers, and the commercial discipline to manage a sales territory independently.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify and develop new business opportunities among wholesalers, retailers, distributors, traders, and other potential customers within Eastleigh and surrounding markets.
• Drive customer acquisition, onboarding, and activation to expand the company's market presence.
• Manage the entire sales cycle, from prospecting and customer engagement to negotiation, conversion, and repeat business.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with business owners, purchasing managers, decision-makers, and key trading partners.
• Conduct regular market visits to understand customer needs, trading patterns, product demand, and purchasing behaviour.
• Develop structured daily and weekly route plans to ensure consistent market coverage and productive customer visits.
• Grow sales revenue, active customer accounts, order frequency, and overall territory performance.
• Promote the company's product range, identify cross-selling opportunities, and introduce new products to existing and prospective customers.
• Monitor competitor activities, market pricing, product availability, and emerging business opportunities.
• Understand customer purchasing patterns and recommend suitable product offerings that support their business needs.
• Maintain a qualified sales pipeline and consistently follow up on prospects to drive conversion.
• Monitor customer ordering patterns and proactively engage inactive or low-frequency customers to encourage repeat purchases.
• Work closely with the Customer Growth / Care team to coordinate orders, resolve customer issues, and ensure timely service delivery.
• Maintain accurate customer records, sales reports, market intelligence, and pipeline updates.
• Monitor customer payment behaviour and adhere to approved pricing, credit, and payment policies.
• Provide weekly field reports highlighting sales performance, new customers acquired, competitor activities, market opportunities, and challenges.
• Achieve agreed monthly revenue, gross profit, new customer acquisition, and repeat business targets.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Diploma or Bachelor's degree in Sales and Marketing, Business Administration, Business Management, or a related field is an advantage.
• At least 2–4 years of experience in field sales, business development, or territory sales within FMCG, textiles, wholesale distribution, or a related trading environment.
• Proven experience in customer acquisition, relationship management, and revenue generation.
• Good understanding of Eastleigh's wholesale and retail trading environment and surrounding commercial markets.
• Existing relationships or networks within the Eastleigh trading community will be an added advantage.
• Experience selling consumer products, textiles, fabrics, or related merchandise is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to develop sales territories and convert prospects into active, repeat customers.
• Good negotiation, presentation, and communication skills.
• Strong understanding of sales reporting, customer management, and pipeline tracking.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel.
• Willingness to spend significant time in the field and independently manage an assigned territory.

Key Competencies

• Strong business development and customer acquisition skills.
• Commercial awareness and revenue growth orientation.
• Excellent relationship-building and negotiation skills.
• Strong market intelligence and competitor analysis abilities.
• Territory planning and route management.
• Customer retention and account development.
• Strong follow-up and execution discipline.
• Analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• High levels of integrity, accountability, and initiative.
• Ability to work independently and consistently deliver against targets.

Performance Expectations

The successful candidate will be accountable for:

• Achieving agreed monthly sales revenue and gross profit targets.
• Acquiring and activating new customers within the assigned territory.
• Growing repeat orders and increasing the value of existing customer accounts.
• Expanding active customer coverage across Eastleigh and surrounding trading areas.
• Maintaining a healthy sales pipeline and improving prospect-to-customer conversion.
• Providing consistent market intelligence and competitor updates.
• Maintaining sound commercial practices around pricing, payments, and customer credit.

Application Process

Interested candidates should submit their updated CV via our Career Page.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.