Commercial Linen & Uniform Sales Specialist
Location: Greater Portland Area, Maine
Work Model: Field and Office Hybrid
Position Type: Full-time
Company: Confidential
Compensation: Competitive base salary plus uncapped commission and performance incentives
Company and Position Overview
A growing commercial laundry and textile-service provider in the Greater Portland area is seeking a proactive, results-driven Commercial Linen & Uniform Sales Specialist to lead new-business development across the region.
In this newly created position, you will serve as the primary client-facing representative for new commercial linen, laundry, uniform, and related facility-service opportunities. You will be responsible for identifying prospective customers, conducting onsite needs assessments, developing customized service proposals, closing recurring service agreements, and coordinating a successful transition to the company’s operations and route-service teams.
The Sales Specialist will target local businesses across industries such as restaurants, hospitality, healthcare, senior living, wellness, industrial services, and other commercial sectors. Success in this role will require a combination of field prospecting, cold calling, digital outreach, consultative selling, relationship development, and disciplined pipeline management.
Why This Is a Good Opportunity
This is a high-visibility, growth-focused opportunity for a self-motivated salesperson who enjoys building a territory and creating new business from the ground up.
The position offers considerable autonomy to develop the Greater Portland market through in-person prospecting, networking, referrals, telephone outreach, email campaigns, LinkedIn, and other lead-generation strategies.
You will be supported by an experienced operational team committed to delivering dependable, high-quality service. At the same time, you will have the opportunity to influence how the company approaches prospecting, CRM usage, pipeline management, and long-term regional sales growth.
This role is an excellent fit for someone who enjoys being in the field, building relationships with local business owners, solving operational challenges, and seeing the direct revenue impact of their work.
Key Responsibilities
New-Business Development
- Develop new commercial linen, uniform, laundry, and related service accounts throughout Greater Portland and the surrounding Southern Maine territory.
- Independently generate leads through cold calling, field canvassing, email outreach, LinkedIn prospecting, referrals, networking events, local business organizations, and community relationships.
- Identify and qualify prospective customers in industries such as restaurants, hotels, inns, healthcare practices, senior-living communities, spas, salons, fitness facilities, catering companies, industrial businesses, and other organizations with recurring textile-service needs.
- Build and maintain a consistent pipeline of qualified sales opportunities.
- Meet or exceed established prospecting, appointment, proposal, contract, and new-revenue goals.
Consultative Sales
- Meet with business owners, general managers, operations leaders, purchasing contacts, and other decision-makers.
- Conduct onsite assessments to understand each prospect’s current provider, linen or uniform requirements, weekly volume, inventory needs, delivery frequency, quality expectations, service concerns, and budget.
- Recommend customized and cost-effective linen, uniform, laundry, mat, towel, or related facility-service programs.
- Clearly communicate the company’s service capabilities, operational advantages, pricing structure, and local-service value.
- Prepare and present professional proposals, pricing recommendations, service schedules, and commercial agreements.
- Negotiate service terms and close recurring commercial contracts.
CRM and Pipeline Management
- Accurately maintain the company’s CRM system with prospect information, activity notes, follow-up dates, proposals, pipeline stages, and sales forecasts.
- Use CRM data to manage priorities, maintain consistent follow-up, and provide reliable pipeline visibility to leadership.
- Support the continued development and improvement of the company’s sales processes, tracking methods, and digital prospecting practices.
- Provide regular updates regarding prospecting activity, active opportunities, projected revenue, market feedback, and competitor activity.
Customer Onboarding and Operational Handoff
- Partner closely with route, service, production, and operations teams to confirm that proposed service programs can be delivered successfully.
- Document important onboarding details, including products, inventory quantities, delivery schedules, site requirements, billing information, special instructions, and customer expectations.
- Ensure a clear and accurate handoff after a new agreement is signed.
- Remain involved during the initial onboarding period to help resolve questions and ensure that the customer’s service begins successfully.
- Maintain positive relationships with newly acquired customers and identify appropriate opportunities for expanded inventory, additional locations, or related services.
Market Development
- Build strong relationships within the Greater Portland business community.
- Attend relevant networking events, trade gatherings, chamber events, and local business functions.
- Monitor competitor activity, market trends, pricing expectations, and emerging customer needs.
- Provide leadership with feedback that may help improve service offerings, sales positioning, and future territory-development strategies.
Requirements
- At least two years of successful business-to-business sales experience.
- Demonstrated ability to prospect independently, build a sales pipeline, conduct meetings, prepare proposals, negotiate terms, and close new business.
- Experience in outside sales, territory sales, route-based sales, field canvassing, business development, or recurring service sales.
- Commercial linen, commercial laundry, uniform rental, textile rental, or facility-services experience is strongly preferred.
- Candidates with relevant experience in hospitality services, food-service distribution, janitorial services, waste management, industrial supplies, pest control, commercial cleaning, or another recurring B2B service industry may also be considered.
- Comfortable visiting local businesses, initiating conversations, cold calling, networking, and developing a territory without relying entirely on inbound leads.
- Strong consultative-selling, presentation, negotiation, and closing skills.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Confident and professional when meeting business owners, executives, general managers, and operations leaders.
- Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and consistent follow-through.
- Experience working with a CRM such as Salesforce, HubSpot, or a comparable pipeline-management system.
- Familiarity with LinkedIn, email prospecting, and other digital lead-generation methods.
- Ability to work independently while collaborating closely with leadership and operations.
- Valid driver’s license, clean driving record, reliable transportation, and the ability to travel regularly throughout the Greater Portland area.
Strongly Preferred
- Existing relationships within the Greater Portland restaurant, hospitality, healthcare, senior-living, industrial, or commercial-service community.
- Familiarity with the Southern Maine business market.
- Experience selling recurring service agreements or contracts.
- Experience selling commercial linen, laundry, uniform, mat, towel, or facility-service programs.
- Understanding of route-based service operations and customer onboarding requirements.
Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate is a true new-business hunter who enjoys creating opportunities rather than waiting for leads to arrive.
They are comfortable walking into a local business, starting a conversation with a decision-maker, uncovering service challenges, and presenting a practical solution. They are persistent without being overly aggressive, organized in their follow-up, credible with customers, and motivated by measurable results.
This person will be entrepreneurial, relationship-oriented, accountable, and excited by the opportunity to help establish and grow a commercial sales territory.
Compensation
The position offers:
- Competitive base salary
- Uncapped commission or bonus potential
- Additional performance-based incentives
- Mileage reimbursement or vehicle allowance
- Company phone or phone allowance
- Paid time off
- Health and additional benefits
Final compensation and benefits will be based on experience, qualifications, and demonstrated sales results.
Confidential Search
This is a confidential recruitment process. Additional information regarding the company, leadership team, service capabilities, compensation structure, and growth plans will be shared with qualified candidates during the interview process.
The employer is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to any status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
Application Question(s):
- Do you have sales experience within commercial linen, commercial laundry, uniform rental, or related recurring B2B service industries (such as commercial cleaning, janitorial, or facility services)? If so, how many total years of experience do you have in these fields?
- Are you based in or near the Greater Portland / Southern Maine area, and do you possess a valid driver’s license, a clean driving record, and reliable transportation for daily regional field visits?
- Do you have a track record of B2B cold outreach, and are you proficient in using a CRM (like Salesforce or HubSpot) to manage your sales pipeline?
Work Location: On the road
