Client Manager - SLED, Central-West Florida

THE ROLE

DGR Systems designs, builds, and delivers technology for organizations that depend on it working. We are an IT solutions provider and systems integrator headquartered in Tampa, and we are growing.

This is a quota-carrying role, and it is a relationship role. You will grow an existing base of state and local government and education clients across Central-West Florida, and you will open new ones: cities, counties, school districts, colleges, and public agencies throughout the Tampa Bay region and beyond.

You will own the full cycle: finding the opportunity, shaping the solution with our technical teams, getting it through the client’s procurement process, and making sure what was sold is what gets delivered. Your focus is Central-West Florida and your earning potential is uncapped.

You will be part of the DGR sales team and work closely with Inside Sales, Order Management, Solutions Consulting and Project Management teams to deliver on commitments.

WHY SLED Selling IS ITS OWN DISCIPLINE

If your experience is in commercial IT sales, much of what you know will transfer. The buying process will not, and we would rather say so now.

Public sector clients buy on their own calendar and under their own rules. Budgets are planned a year ahead and approved in public meetings. In Florida, state and K12 run on a July fiscal calendar while counties and cities run on October, so the same quarter means something different to different clients. Purchases move through RFPs, quotes against cooperative and state contracts, and board approvals. Once a solicitation is issued, many agencies impose a code of silence, and what you submit can become public record.

The deal is usually won before the RFP is issued. That is the skill we hire for: building trust with the people who define a need long before it becomes a bid, and knowing which purchasing path a client can and will actually use.

WHAT YOU’LL OWN

This role covers both sides of the book: the clients we already serve and the ones we don’t serve yet. Both carry equal weight.

Client Growth

• Maintain and grow an existing base of SLED clients, with account plans built around each client’s budget cycle, priorities, and refresh timelines

• Stay close enough to IT leaders, procurement officers, and department heads to hear about a need before it becomes a solicitation

• Respond to client requirements accurately and within committed service levels

• Follow every order through to delivery, so the client’s next call is about the next project rather than an issue with the last one

New Business

• Prospect and open net new logos across cities, counties, school districts, and higher education

• Execute campaigns that engage prospective clients and clearly articulate the value of DGR’s solutions

• Respond to, qualify, and work incoming leads

• Research current and prospective clients to identify opportunities and understand how they operate and how they buy

Public Sector Procurement

• Track upcoming solicitations, board agendas, and budget cycles across the territory

• Match each opportunity to the right path: RFP, ITB, quote, cooperative contract, or state term contract

• Work with Inside Sales, Solutions Consulting, and leadership to build compliant, competitive responses on deadline

• Know what can and cannot be said once a solicitation is open, and hold to it

Solution & Partner Programs

• Maintain a strong working knowledge of our OEM solutions (Microsoft, HPE, Fortinet and others), deal registration programs, and pricing strategies

• Register opportunities early, and use incentives, and special pricing to win business

• Bring in our Solutions Consulting teams to shape security, infrastructure, and Microsoft solutions

• Manage the full sales lifecycle, from quote and order management through close and client follow-up

You will also keep the CRM current, with opportunities and next steps someone else could act on without asking you. We treat that as part of the job, not as something to get to later.

HOW WE WORK

• Relationships come before the bid.  The best SLED deals are shaped long before they are posted. We expect you to be known in your territory before you need to be.

• We sell what we can deliver.  A quote is a commitment. Configuration, pricing, and availability should agree before it reaches the client, and you will work with our technical and inside sales teams to make sure they do.

• Public trust is part of the job.  Our clients spend public money under public scrutiny. We follow procurement rules to the letter, including the ones that cost us an opportunity.

• The pipeline tells the truth.  Forecasts are built on what the client has said and done, not on what we hope. A deal that has stalled gets called stalled.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

You’ll Need

• 5 or more years of experience in professional IT sales, inside or outside, carrying a quota

• Experience selling to state and local government or education, and an understanding of how those clients budget and buy

• Knowledge of OEM direct and distribution sources of supply and the associated quote-to-order process

• A track record of opening new accounts, not only growing inherited ones

• Strong written and verbal communication, including the ability to write clearly for a proposal response

• Working fluency with CRM tools 

• The ability to travel across the territory to meet clients and partners in person

It Will Help If You Have

• Sold cybersecurity and professional services solutions

• Worked with Microsoft licensing, including government or education agreements

• Responded to RFPs or ITBs, and sold through cooperative purchasing or state term contracts

• Existing relationships with public sector IT or procurement leaders in Central-West Florida

• Come from a VAR, MSP, or solutions provider

• Worked on E-Rate funded projects in K-12

We’ll Teach You

• Our OEM and partner programs and how their mechanics work

• Our service portfolio, delivery teams, and how we scope solutions

• Our systems, tooling, and sales process

WHO THIS ISN’T FOR

We would rather be direct than waste your time.

• If you want leads handed to you, this is not that role. Most of your pipeline will be built by you.

• If long sales cycles frustrate you, SLED will too. The work you do in the quiet months is what wins the deals that take a year to close.

• If procurement rules feel like obstacles to get around, we are not a match. Here, they are how trust is earned.

• If you would rather sell from the price sheet than learn what the client actually needs, this will be a hard fit.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Base salary range - Very Competitive

Variable compensation - Uncapped commission.

Work arrangement - Hybrid – Field Based, Tampa Bay area

DGR Systems also offers a robust company benefits package designed to support employees and their families, including competitive health and welfare benefits, paid time off, retirement savings support, and other company-sponsored programs.

HOW TO APPLY FOR THIS ROLE

Send a resume and a short note about a public sector deal you won or lost, and what you were doing in the months before the solicitation came out. We are more interested in the groundwork than the result.

Apply to:  

joinus@dgrsystems.com

DGR Systems is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.

We are interested in applicants who have worked in IT sales and are local to the Tampa Area.

We are interested in every qualified candidate who is eligible to work in the United States. However, we are not able to sponsor visas.