Sales Operations & Business Development Associate - Leadership Track-

Build a Career, Not Just a Job

Sparkler Filters has been designing and manufacturing industrial filtration equipment in Conroe, Texas since 1927. Our equipment operates around the world in chemical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, mining, and other manufacturing industries.

We operate in a very specialized niche. It takes time to learn the equipment, applications, customers, terminology, and how the industry works. We are looking for someone willing to make that investment with us.

This is not a position for someone looking for a comfortable routine, narrowly defined responsibilities, or a job where someone tells them exactly what to do next.

We need a relentless executor with a long-term outlook—someone willing to learn the business from the ground up, master the systems that make a sales department work, and earn increasingly larger responsibilities as they prove themselves.

We are thinking about this hire in terms of the next 10+ years, not the next 12 months.

What the Job Actually Looks Like

Responsibilities will change as your knowledge and abilities grow.

During the first year, expect significant training, customer calls, prospecting, account research, quote follow-up, CRM work, organization, and learning how the business works from the inside out.

As you become more capable, your responsibilities should expand into direct customer ownership, business development, technical sales, and eventually leadership.

Expect a Lot of Prospecting. Especially during the first year, there may be days where half of your day—or more—is spent on the phone and email reaching out to customers.

Sparkler has been building filters for nearly 100 years, which means we have a large historical installed base. Part of your job will be working through that history one filter, serial number, customer location, and account at a time.

That means calling plants, sending emails, researching companies, finding the right people, updating old records, and building a useful database of maintenance, engineering, process, operations, purchasing, and management contacts.

Some days this work will be repetitive. It is also one of the biggest opportunities in the position for growth.

Own the Top 50 Accounts. You will help map approximately 50 priority accounts, determine exactly what equipment they have, identify the right contacts, find lost or inactive accounts, uncover aging equipment and components, and develop opportunities for parts, filter media, service, retrofits, replacement equipment, and new projects.

Own the Follow-Up. Inquiries should not disappear into a black hole. Opportunities should not be forgotten because everyone got busy. You will manage follow-up schedules, keep opportunities moving, and make sure we know where things stand.

Close the Loop. Starting something is easy. Finishing it matters more.

We need someone willing to take something from 70% to 100%—get the answer, make the fifth follow-up, update the CRM, document the result, and make sure nothing is left hanging.

Master the CRM and Sales Systems. Build installed-base lists. Clean customer data. Track quotes. Maintain dashboards. Develop SOPs. If we have to manually fix the same problem every month, the goal should be to build a system so we don't have to fix it again next month.

Learn the Equipment. You cannot be successful here without eventually understanding what we sell. You will spend significant time learning our filters, applications, customers, industries, terminology, and processes.

You do not need an engineering degree, but you do need to be comfortable with numbers, dimensions, pressure, flow rates, percentages, basic calculations, drawings, and technical terminology; or committed to becoming comfortable with them quickly.

Communicate Clearly. A large part of this job will involve emails, CRM notes, quotations, follow-ups, customer communication, and eventually explaining technical information simply.

You need to be able to communicate clearly, professionally, and accurately. Verbally and written communication will be important.

Expect Unpredictable Days. One day you may spend eight hours learning filtration or researching customer equipment. The next you may spend most of the day calling customers. Another day you may be sitting in a customer meeting, working a trade show, fixing CRM data, helping prepare a quotation, or handling something nobody expected when they walked in that morning.

Limited Travel When Needed. You will travel to customer sites, industrial facilities, conferences, and trade shows as needed. You need to eventually be comfortable traveling independently and representing the company professionally.

The Mentality We Need

Experience and education matter less to us than characteristics.

You finish things. We need someone who follows through relentlessly. If someone tells you they will have something Tuesday and Tuesday comes, you ask for it.

That includes customers, coworkers, your boss, and your boss's boss.

Respectfully, professionally—but you ask.

One Small Request: Attention to detail matters in this role. To be considered, please include a short cover letter. In the first paragraph, include the words "relentless follow-through" and briefly tell us why you are the right person for this job. Applications that do not include this will not be reviewed.

You don't need babysitting. If you finish your work at 2:00, you don't sit there waiting for someone to notice.

Call customers. Clean the CRM. Research an account. Learn another piece of equipment. Find something productive that moves the business forward.

You know when to act, when to ask, and when to push back. Initiative without judgment can create just as many problems as doing nothing.

If something is obvious, handle it. If something is unclear, ask.

If you think something doesn't make sense, respectfully say so and explain why.

Over time, you should be able to recognize the difference between an idea, a priority, and an instruction.

You communicate priorities. If I give you two things that both need to be done and you can realistically only do one, don't guess and don't quietly let one fail. Say "Hey, you told me to do this and this. I can only get one done right now. Which one do you need first?"

You can manage up. Part of your value should eventually be making the people around you more effective.

Track commitments. Confirm priorities. Follow up when something is overdue.

I want to be able to hand you something and trust that it will be handled, consistently.

You don't say, "That's not my job." We are a small company. Everyone occasionally does things outside the boundaries of their title. If you don't know how to do something, there is always someone to ask.

One day you may be helping close a million-dollar order. The next day you may be filing paperwork or moving boxes simply because it needs to get done. Both matter.

You build your own systems.

Ask it once. Learn the answer. Write it down. Build an SOP. Improve the process.

If something repeatedly falls through the cracks, don't just become better at catching it—help build a system that stops it from falling through the cracks.

You are comfortable being assertive. You need enough confidence to pick up the phone, call someone you have never spoken with, ask difficult questions, follow up repeatedly, and hold people accountable.

You know how to push without burning bridges. You will eventually need information and action from engineering, estimating, production, accounting, management, customers, and vendors.

Sometimes you will need to push hard.

The goal is to keep things moving while still being someone people want to work with.

You understand that not everything is equally important. A strategic customer with an urgent problem, a $300,000 equipment opportunity, a $500 replacement part, and a chronic price shopper do not always deserve the same amount of time.

We will teach you our business, but over time you need to develop the judgment to understand where your effort creates the most value.

You value accuracy. This is technical industrial sales.

If you don't know the answer, say so and get the right answer.

"I don't know, but I'll confirm that and get back with you" is a much better answer.

You are curious, coachable, and interested. We have nearly 100 years of institutional knowledge here.

We don't expect you to walk through the door knowing industrial filtration.

We do expect you to want to learn it.

You have ambition without ego. There is a significant career opportunity here, but nobody starts at the top.

You need to be ambitious enough to want serious responsibility someday while still being willing to clean CRM records, make 60 follow-up calls, or handle something boring that simply needs to get done.

How You Will Be Managed

You will receive direction, SOPs, training, systems, priorities, and access to people who have spent decades in this industry.

You will not receive constant supervision.

My preference is to explain what we are trying to accomplish, give you the tools and information you need, and let you figure out how to execute it.

When you finish something, move to the next thing.

We expect mistakes while you are learning. We do not expect repeated mistakes because you didn't pay attention, didn't use the system provided, didn't communicate, or simply didn't follow through.

What Success Looks Like

During the first year, success is relatively simple:

Learn the business. Keep learning.

Master the CRM and sales processes.

Know our important customers.

Keep opportunities organized.

Follow up consistently.

Be comfortable making calls and speaking to multiple departments.

Become increasingly capable and indepenent.

Your responsibility should expand as quickly as your ability does.

Where This Can Go

This is intentionally an entry point into a much larger career opportunity.

Someone exceptional who stays, proves they can execute the internal systems, learns the industry, develops leadership ability, and produces results could ultimately progress through roles such as:

• Aftermarket & Business Development Specialist
• Key Account Manager
• Applications Engineer
• Field Service Specialist
• Territory or Market Development
• Sales Manager
• Senior Commercial Leadership

There is no ceiling on the position for someone with long-term vision.

That is an opportunity, not a promise. You will have to earn every step.

Who Should Not Apply

This probably is not the right job if you:

• Need detailed instructions before starting every task.
• Want a perfectly predictable workday.
• Hate CRM, organization, documentation, or administrative work.
• Want a role where someone else handles everything behind you.
• Are uncomfortable calling customers.
• Are afraid to follow up because you might "bother" someone.
• Sit and wait when nobody has specifically told you what to do next.
• Quietly allow things to fail instead of communicating that you need help or priorities clarified.
• In the cover letter, also include the words “long-term vision” in the first paragraph.
• Create unnecessary friction when you have to push someone for an answer.
• Start a lot of things but struggle to finish them.
• Expect a raise or promotion before developing the ability to handle the responsibility that comes with it.
• Are looking for something to do for a year or two before moving on.

About Sparkler Filters

Sparkler Filters is a small, family-owned American manufacturer.

We don't hire constantly, and the average employee who fits here tends to stay a long time. Our average tenure is more than 15 years.

We are not looking to fill a chair. We are looking for someone we can invest in, trust with increasingly important responsibilities, and hopefully still have sitting around the table with us 10 or 20 years from now.

If you are the person everyone eventually learns they can hand something to and know it will get done—and you're always looking for a better way to do it—we want to talk to you.

Pay: $20.00 - $25.00 per hour

Expected hours: 40.0 per week

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance

Work Location: In person