There are many types of maritime sales or business development jobs. Spinnaker’s area of expertise are sales roles for product and service providers within the shipping industry. Many jobs nowadays involve some form of selling - please see our job guides on for those specific roles.
Maritime sales jobs can be office-based and/or out ‘in the field’ visiting client offices or ships. These roles can involve building industry contacts by attending conferences and networking events and by organising and manning exhibition stands. Sales teams usually work closely with internal marketing teams and external PR teams.
At Spinnaker we are here to help with your next Sales or Business Development job role.
Business development managers tend to focus on growing and generating revenue from products or services by finding and expanding into new market segments and establishing relationships for future business.
Sales managers tend to focus on closing deals within existing market segments and maintaining relationships with existing customers.
Business Development Director, Business Development Executive, Business Development Manager, Customer Service Representative, Global Head of Sales, Global Sales Manager, Key Account Manager, Regional Head of Sales, Regional Sales Manager, Sales Director, Sales Executive, Sales Manager.
Pretty much every service or product that can be sold to a shipowner, a shipyard or a trading company (mining groups, oil and commodity companies) will employ sales and/or business development individuals.
Software providers, technical hardware providers, chemicals and lubricants companies, provisions and stores companies, spare parts suppliers, shipmanagement companies, ship agency groups, ship survey companies, training providers, navigation products, maritime data companies, satellite communications, payment solutions providers and charities.
Sales and business development roles are available globally.
There is no barrier to entry or specific qualification required. So much of what a successful salesperson does is down to their personality and style of working. You have to be willing to pick up the phone and not believe that sending an email means you’ve been in touch. You have to be proactive, which means spotting opportunities and acting on them straight away. It’s extremely important to be resilient and able to take rejection and disappointment – you won’t always clinch a sale and while you have to take personal responsibility for your results, you can’t take things personally.
As you progress in sales, employers will be looking for specific sector knowledge, who your key connections are, and quite possibly knowledge of particular types of products.
You should always bear in mind that the best salespeople don’t always make the best managers. In contrast, some of the best strategic thinkers and managers are awful at sales!
To find out more about sales & business development jobs, please get in touch with the team who specialise in these vacancies.
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The largest container ship can carry over 24,000 containers, stacked as high as 20 storeys!
Chloe has provided immense support right from day one. She shared the job description and personally interviewed me before forwarding the application on. I look forward to keeping in touch and being informed about opportunities matching my career aspirations in future.