About Vehicle Lighting Solutions

Vehicle Lighting Solutions (VLS) has served public safety and commercial customers for more than 30 years. Founded by Jim Hess Sr. following a 20-year law enforcement career, VLS has grown into one of Whelen’s largest master distributors in the western United States. With three locations, extensive in-house inventory, and installation and repair capabilities, VLS provides a complete turn-key experience—from consultation and system design through installation, delivery, service, and ongoing support. Service, quality, and getting customers safely on the road are central to our success.

Position Summary

The Outside Sales Account Manager is responsible for retaining and growing existing customer relationships while developing new accounts within an assigned territory. This role manages the full sales cycle, from prospecting and needs discovery through proposals, closing, delivery follow-up, and ongoing account support. Working primarily remotely with one to two office days each week, the Outside Sales Account Manager partners with inside sales, customer service, purchasing, operations, and management to provide accurate solutions and a responsive customer experience.

Key Responsibilities

•      Account Management: Develop and maintain strong, long-term relationships with existing customers through regular communication, account reviews, in-person visits, and responsive follow-up.

•      New Business Development: Identify, prospect, and develop new customer accounts within the assigned territory using referrals, field visits, outbound outreach, industry contacts, events, and other approved methods.

•      Customer Meetings: Conduct effective in-person and virtual sales presentations, product demonstrations, discovery meetings, and follow-up discussions.

•      Needs Assessment: Understand each customer’s vehicle use, operational requirements, budget, timeline, specifications, and service needs; recommend appropriate products and solutions.

•      Proposals and Documentation: Prepare accurate quotes, proposals, sales presentations, scopes of work, and other customer documentation in accordance with company pricing and approval requirements.

•      Full Sales Cycle: Manage opportunities from initial prospecting and qualification through proposal, negotiation, closing, order handoff, delivery follow-up, and ongoing account support.

•      CRM Management: Maintain complete, timely, and accurate customer, prospect, opportunity, activity, and next-step information in the company CRM or other designated systems.

•      Sales Follow-Up: Follow up consistently with prospects and customers on open quotes, questions, purchasing timelines, account needs, and future opportunities.

•      Performance Goals: Meet or exceed established sales revenue, gross-margin, new-account, retention, pipeline, and activity goals for the assigned territory.

•      Market Awareness: Monitor customer needs, industry conditions, purchasing cycles, competitor activity, and emerging product opportunities; share useful market intelligence with management.

•      Internal Collaboration: Work closely with inside sales, customer service, purchasing, operations, scheduling, and management to confirm specifications, availability, pricing, capacity, timelines, and customer commitments.

•      Customer Issue Resolution: Respond promptly to customer questions or concerns and coordinate with internal departments to reach a professional and timely resolution.

•      Events and Representation: Attend trade shows, industry events, customer meetings, product demonstrations, and other sales-related activities as required; represent VLS professionally at all times.

•      Forecasting and Reporting: Provide regular sales forecasts, pipeline updates, territory reports, activity summaries, and account information to management.

•      Office Collaboration: Spend designated office days collaborating with the sales team, attending meetings, completing training, coordinating customer work, and handling administrative responsibilities.

•      Product Knowledge: Maintain current knowledge of VLS products, services, manufacturers, installation considerations, and relevant public safety and commercial vehicle applications.

Measures of Success

•      Achievement of assigned revenue, gross-margin, new-account, retention, and activity goals

•      Growth of qualified pipeline and consistent opportunity progression

•      Customer satisfaction, responsiveness, retention, referrals, and repeat business

•      Accurate quotes, proposals, specifications, pricing, and customer expectations

•      Complete CRM records, disciplined follow-up, and reliable forecasts

•      Effective internal handoffs with minimal scope errors or preventable delays

•      Consistent customer coverage, territory activity, and professional representation of VLS

Required Qualifications

•      Three or more years of outside sales, account management, business development, territory management, or related customer-facing sales experience.

•      Demonstrated success retaining customers, developing new accounts, managing a pipeline, and achieving sales goals.

•      Strong consultative-selling, presentation, negotiation, written communication, organization, and issue-resolution skills.

•      Ability to understand customer specifications and translate operational needs into accurate product, installation, service, and pricing solutions.

•      Experience preparing proposals, estimates, bid responses, scopes of work, forecasts, and customer presentations.

•      Ability to manage a geographic territory and remote work schedule independently while maintaining consistent customer contact, follow-through, and internal communication.

•      Sound business judgment and the ability to balance customer needs, operational capacity, pricing discipline, margin, and long-term relationships.

•      Proficiency with Microsoft Office and CRM, estimating, ERP, inventory, scheduling, or project-management systems.

•      Valid driver’s license, acceptable driving record, and ability to travel regularly to customer sites, industry events, and VLS locations, including occasional overnight travel.

•      Ability to work in the office one to two days per week, or as business needs require.

Preferred Qualifications

•      Experience selling emergency-vehicle upfitting, public safety lighting and equipment, fleet services, automotive aftermarket products, or other technical solutions.

•      Established relationships with public safety agencies, municipalities, government procurement teams, fleets, dealerships, or commercial accounts.

•      Experience with public-sector purchasing, cooperative contracts, specifications, requests for proposal, or competitive bid processes.

•      Associate or bachelor’s degree in sales, business, marketing, automotive technology, or a related field, or equivalent additional experience.

•      Manufacturer, automotive, emergency-vehicle, electrical, sales, customer-service, or project-management training or certifications.

Core Competencies

•      Customer-first mindset and a genuine commitment to long-term service

•      Persistent prospecting, consultative selling, and confident follow-through

•      Relationship building and credibility with operational and executive decision-makers

•      Business judgment, ownership, and focus on revenue, margin, and sustainable account growth

•      Clear communication across customers, sales, technical, purchasing, and operational teams

•      Calm issue resolution and practical problem-solving under pressure

•      Self-direction, organization, urgency, adaptability, and attention to detail

•      Integrity and respect for VLS customers, employees, history, and culture

Work Environment and Physical Requirements

This is a remote or hybrid, customer-facing position that requires one to two days per week in the office and regular travel throughout the assigned territory. Work occurs in home-office, VLS office, vehicle, customer-site, trade-show, showroom, and installation-shop environments. The employee must be able to use standard office and sales technology, deliver presentations and demonstrations, and safely move through customer and shop environments. Work outside normal business hours and occasional overnight travel may be required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.