Distribution agency Love Drinks is seeking a Customer Development Manager for the South West region
Love Drinks are looking for an amazing individual whose enthusiasm bowls us over! Our Customer Development Manager role will suit an individual who’s is passionate for all things craft, with the determination to drive distribution, visibility and growth for the Love Drinks Portfolio. Must be results orientated, a good listener with a competitive spirit.
At Love Drinks we have a consultative approach to selling and the successful candidate will understand the importance of sustainable brand building in a cluttered market. The Love Drinks candidate will have on trade experience, knowledge of the key areas and have strong community relationships.
Reporting to the Sale Manager this is a critical role where experience of sales skills is required to take Love Drinks forward. The successful candidate will be responsible for growing volume, distribution and profit within the independent free trade, regional groups and activating during key periods to deliver engaging customer experiences to generate footfall.
Responsibilities
- Drive distribution, visibility and activation (DVA) to increase ROS for the Love Drinks portfolio.
- Manage and grow an extensive and diverse account base. Develope strong and loyal relationships with key purchasing managers across the On and Off Trade.
- Work alongside marketing / brand owner and ambassadors when relevant to develop and execute marketing activities.
- Initiate own marketing idea’s to develop and execute marketing activities within accounts
- Seek new business opportunities within the channel to ensure growth across the portfolio.
- Be confident in building customer account plans to deliver against agreed KPI’s and targeted business growth.
- Management of budgets to ensure all marketing and sales activity drives a positive ROI.
- Deliver presentations which clearly identifying category and market data and trends to influence decision making to benefit the customer and Love Drinks portfolio
- Work closely with RTM to ensure product availability for end users
- Support the wider team with national account callage, ensure attendance for brand ambassador events and brand owner visits.
- Attend trade shows and industry events if/when required.
- Knowledge of the drinks industry essential
- Good understanding of the UK on trade
- An unrivalled passion for selling premium products
- Team player demonstrating collaboration and communication
- A natural ability to build relationships
- Ability to support a high performance team
- Confident and persuasive communication style
- Strong ‘can do’ attitude
- Ability to make a difference and make it happen
- Proactive and has the ability to rise to the challenge
- Positive, resilient, self-starter
- Organised and open to change
The Person
Your career history to date will show evidence of a journey that demonstrates background, skills and behaviours similar to the below:
- Strong sales and time management skills with an emphasis on developing superb and sustainable customer relationships. You’ll be tenacious and resilient with great listening skills and the flexibility to respond creatively to customer needs.
- Credible background within the drinks sector and some experience of working with wholesalers.
- Commercial acumen. You will be comfortable using your numeric and strategic skill set to understand customers and identify key value areas.
- Exceptional communication skills. A highly developed influencing style and facilitative manner will enable you to engage effectively with customers to develop strong and productive relationships, and the trust necessary to explore new ways of working.
- You’ll thrive on the ability to take decisions and make things happen. The business is receptive to new ideas and responsive to customer demands. The right candidate will be able to work with autonomy, accountability and purpose to drive real change and deliver exceptional results.
Remuneration and Rewards:
The Package: Basic Salary depending on experience. Annual Bonus – up to 15% based on company Performance and personal KPI’s. Benefits package includes Pension, Westfield Health Care, Monthly Incentives, Cycle Scheme, Day off on Love Drinks’ birthday, EMI scheme, annual away days and regular get-togethers to celebrate the team’s successes.
About Love Drinks
Love Drinks aspire to be recognised as the industry leader for nurturing incredible brands in the UK. Our vision is to combine our knowledge and passion with craft products to inspire the industry, drive innovation and to set the benchmark as an award-winning drinks business. The company’s reputation as a brand builder for some of the world’s premium and niche spirits and craft beers, has been built on hard work, reputation and trust. Those values remain just as important today and for the future.
At Love Drinks we operate in a very holistic way focusing on 3 core principles, Premiumization, Personalisation (trade or consumer) and supporting the Wellbeing. This means we only work with customer who want to challenge and make the industry better and more premium, give their team members or customer a better experience and genuinely care for their staff. This gives a long-term ROI while ensuring we are making our industry a better place to operate in.
Since its inception, the company has seen double-digit growth in both turnover and profit. Love Drinks is in the enviable position of being able to choose the drinks brands they want to work with; those who have a quality and truly differentiated product that will enthuse the drinks industry and consumers alike another reason why Love Drinks has the most focused and tailored portfolio in the industry.
Love Drinks’ point of difference is the skill set of the people they employ. It’s not about plugging a gap, it’s about finding people who can fit into the business and adapt to the Love Drinks culture and ethos, in order to grow the business together.
Love Drinks is committed to diversity and inclusion.