Group Field Sales Manager

Who we are and what we do

About Hachette UK

Hachette UK is a creative powerhouse and the UK's second largest book publishing group. Our mission is to make it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity.

We're made up of 10 autonomous publishing divisions and over 60 imprints with a rich and diverse history and an incredible range of authors. We're also the market leader in e-books and publish a range of bestsellers in audio format, the fastest growing part of our business.

Our award-winning adult publishing divisions are Orion, which won Publisher of the Year at the 2021 British Book Awards; Little, Brown; John Murray Press; Hodder & Stoughton; Headline; Octopus, and Bookouture. They publish fiction and non-fiction in digital, audio and print format, from the world's best and most diverse authors, including Brit Bennett, Candice Carty-Williams, Martina Cole, Michael Connelly, John Grisham, Stephen King, Stieg Larsson, Nelson Mandela, Stephenie Meyer, Maggie O'Farrell, Delia Owens, Ian Rankin, J.K. Rowling, Colson Whitehead, and Malala Yousafzai. Hachette Children's Group publishes a wide and vibrant range of books for children across all age ranges, while Hachette Learning is a market leader in resources for both primary and secondary schools.

Hachette UK is part of Hachette Livre, the world's third largest trade and educational publisher. As well as our headquarters in Carmelite House, London, and our state-of-the-art book distribution centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire, we have recently opened five new offices in Manchester, Bristol, Sheffield, Newcastle, and Edinburgh. The UK region also includes offices in Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, the Caribbean, and Ireland.

It's an exciting time to join our business because the publishing market continues to grow and thrive. The UK remains the largest exporter of physical books in the world and book adaptations for film and TV are the foundation of the UK's creative industries.

What you'll be doing

Reporting to the Group Field Sales Director – you will be joining an experienced team of UK field sales professionals.

 Key responsibilities include:

• Ensuring that all Hachette publishing divisions and reputation within the territory is maintained to its highest potential and the best customer service is offered.
• Meet or exceed the budget and forecast for your region
• Regular travel to customers across the region of Central England and North Wales incorporating South Yorkshire, Manchester, Cheshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and Shropshire 
• Working with bookshops and booksellers in the territory to ensure that accounts are well informed of the complete Hachette UK divisions backlist and front-list.
• Assist with end-to-end ordering process of all orders
• To organise sales trips in the region, keeping within travel budget
• Identify new markets and customers in the territory to achieve sales growth and increase market share.
• Develop strong product knowledge across the Hachette divisions
• Run and analyse sales figures to adapt sales strategy and focus as needed
• Maintain database of contacts
• Feedback to Group Field Sales Director on sales, trends within the Independent bookshop market and on publishing opportunities as and when required
• Provide feedback on operational processes

Who we are looking for

We’re looking for someone with excellent written and verbal communication, who can offer excellent customer support. The ideal candidate will be self-motivated, highly organised and able to work well independently as well as part of a team.  Ability to manage a busy workload and prioritisation is required, as is confidence in learning and using various IT systems.

What we offer

Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:

• 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays)
• Private medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Generous pension schemes
• Rent deposit loans
• 2 community days per year
• Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)
• Retail discounts through Hachette rewards
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Eye care vouchers
• Wide-ranging training library
• Development programmes (including mentoring)
• Up to 70% off book purchases
• A charity bookshelf
• 12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including AgeWise, Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
• Season ticket loans
• And much more!

This role will be home-based, with travel to Central England and North Wales incorporating South Yorkshire, Manchester, Cheshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and Shropshire and regions within and around the area.

Our commitment

Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.

If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.

The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org