Key Account Manager

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KEY ACCOUNT MANAGER

Creightons is the brand trading name of Creightons plc, a UK based health and beauty specialist established for over 50 years and listed on the London Stock exchange. Creightons brands are present in over 50 Countries worldwide operating directly with many of the best and largest health and beauty specialist retailers across the globe such as AS Watson, Walgreens Boots, Sainsburys, Tesco and Asda.

The company has a reputation for exceptional customer service and consistently leads the way forward in product and brand development. They are award winning with customers for service, quality, and innovation.

Are you looking for a great career in the beauty industry? Look no further than Creightons and our award-winning portfolio of highly innovative, trend led brands - all manufactured in our own factories in the UK.

BRANDS

Ranging in format and market position within several key health + beauty categories including; personal bath, shower and bodycare, skincare, haircare and well-being. Our core award winning brands include Feather & Down, Balance Active Formula, T Zone, The Curl Company, Janina and Creightons.

ROLE DESCRIPTION

We're looking for a proven passionate Key Account Manager for a dynamic growing business to drive forward our amazing portfolio of beauty and wellbeing brands.

The Key Account Managers role will be responsible for all sales and commercial elements of the customer relationship with a key retail account, driving sales and profit/margin performance and ensuring high levels of customer service at all times.

We are looking for someone who ideally has key account management experience across drugstore and grocery channels. This is a great opportunity to work in a very exciting and innovative business in strong growth.

The role reports into Head of Global Sales. The role will be hybrid requiring weekly presence in the Peterborough head office.

Role Objective

The Key account manager will;

1. Meet sales growth and margin targets for key accounts.
2. Agree and manage commercial terms to commence and support growth.
3. Maximise key account potential via long term strategic planning.
4. Ensure all customer contact points established, relationships built at all levels.
5. Ensure all relevant customer data and setup managed to the highest standard.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

Commercial and Sales Management

• Initiate and drive a strategic trading sales plan in each key account to maximise the business and total sales growth to agreed acceptable contribution margin targets.

• Identifying and actively pursuing new brand opportunities to achieve required listings /revenue targets.

• Full profit and loss management for each key account.

• Prepare pricing quotations and communicate to customers alongside agreed compelling sales proposition bespoke to that customer.

• Price negotiation with customers within agreed limits.

• Management of customer growth-based terms to ensure ROI.

• For key accounts produce activation plans including;

1. Merchandising - shelf location and adjacency
2. Distribution (number of stores).
3. Promotional plans utilising all relevant options within that retailer.
4. Range - ensuring optimum sku range.
5. Online presence and execution plan, in co-ordination with Brand Manager.

• Managing product commercially throughout its lifecycle (impact of cost increases/change of specification)

• Producing sales budget to include sales/ margin and retailer/terms spend - tracking results and re-planning as necessary, on a monthly basis.

• Tracking adherence to sales budget and reporting to the business shortfalls/gains. Managing up front potential risks/opportunities.

Customer Management

• Managing the key account interface with customer teams to include buyers and supply teams.

• Understanding of customer processes + requirements of a vendor; including supplier KPI's and full understanding of category review schedules and timelines for each category.

• Responsible for leading the generation, preparation, and commercial elements of customer presentations. This includes presentation and negotiation of product rationale, product positioning, competitive gap analysis, and price architecture definition based on guidance from brand manager.

• Day to day customer interface - driving and owning all meetings/calls including all meeting preparation and meeting minutes together with issuing and ensuring follow through is actioned and closed off.

• Overseeing that all brand/NPD launches are delivered on time against CPA and managed with relevant Customer teams.

Order/Stock and Forecast Management

• Forecasting demand for 12 weeks+ time horizons including promotional activity. To include launch forecasts, including final store numbers, stock allocation and agree stock holding levels at Customer depot/ stores.

• Monitoring EPOS performance - identifying issues and developing/implementing corrective action plans based on trend analysis.

• Gather intelligence of activities which will impact base forecast (promotions / additional space / seasonality) and manage through the forecast into the business.

• Management of exit plans on discontinued lines to minimise P+M exposure on stock holding and profitability impact.

• Management of Customer service levels and delivery shortages; ensure appropriate Customer teams are aware in advance of potential issues, including effective internal and external communication flow to resolve and expedite any issues.

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

Attributes - role specific

• Strong and organised commercial manager with a hunter mentality - able to command the day to day yet also search out continually looking for new opportunities.
• Commercially astute and creative to generate win-win solutions.
• Driven
• Tenacious
• Passionate about our brands
• Team player and team leader
• Excellent communication skills
• Insightful/data driven
• Flexible, fluid approach able to react to change positively
• Excellent prioritisation and time management skills

Attributes - cultural

• Every day is dynamic, different, and empowered so that all make a difference.
• Owning our areas and driving them through to success is what brings us joy. Responsibility is liberating - it doesn't always go to plan, but we learn and go again.
• Tenacious & resilient.
• We love to communicate - more discussion makes for better ideas and even greater solutions. We truly believe in the power of the team.
• Flexible approach able to react to change positively.
• Excellent prioritisation and time management skills

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE & QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum 2 years direct accountability for driving sales of brand portfolio.
• Evidence of personally driving and achieving profitable sales growth from a portfolio of challenger brands.
• Evidence of producing brand sales growth within key retail accounts.
• Ideally experience within health/beauty industry, minimum of FMCG background.
• Management of multiple product types across multiple categories within key retail accounts.
• Ideally graduate level qualification and relevant professional training experience in account management, negotiation, and category management.
• Highly proficient in MS Office systems including Excel, PowerPoint and Word.
• Full Driving Licence.