Category Sales Manager

Category Sales Manager – Maidstone - Climate Centre

We are Climate Centre, part of the Wolseley Group - a leading specialist trade merchant across the UK and Ireland. We pride ourselves in putting our people and customers at the heart of everything we do – and best of all, provide opportunities to develop skills and build careers through our award-winning Wolseley Talent Guild.

In addition to the competitive salary, there are also benefits on tap – including...

Annual leave (increasing with length of service), a generous pension scheme (matched up to 9%), potential to earn bonuses, enhanced maternity / adoption leave and access to a great range of online and high street discounts.

We also promote positive health and wellbeing by offering free access to healthcare, our popular YuLife app, our Cycle to Work scheme and more!

As a Category Sales Manager based in our Maidstone branch, you'll be responsible for:

• Develop and implement plans to deliver maximum sales and achieve profit targets for specialism
• Undertake full responsibility as the subject matter expert (SME) within the branch and the local WUK network
• Deliver upon all sales and margin targets as agreed with the General/Branch Manager. Seek to exceed targets by focusing on new business, maximising sales and revenue generation opportunities
• Maintain any existing revenue and grow downtrading accounts
• Collaborate with the GM/BM to achieve our customer service KPI's
• Utilise and share specialist knowledge with peers and clients to provide bespoke solutions. Work in consultation with clients, providing expert advice and end-to-end support on client projects
• Build customer loyalty within the local network – focus self and others upon understanding customer needs so that WUK provide added value on client projects
• Proactive engagement of other WUK SMEs. Actively support peers in meeting broader branch targets and deliverables
• Organisation of promotional events with suppliers to build a network of contacts and customers within the local network
• Maintain and develop knowledge within own specialism by regularly keeping up-to-date with product developments, industry trends, market insights and client feedback
• Coach, develop and upskill the team within own area of specialism, as well as continually educating and improving the specialist knowledge of the wider branch team
• Represent own area of specialism within the branch and local network – ensure specialism is actively

This is a full-time, permanent role working 40 hours per week Monday to Friday between 08:00-17:00. No weekend work required.

And here's what we'd like you to have:

• Experience of sales within a customer-facing environment
• Experience of products, and their application, within the relevant market
• Ability to plan and organise resources
• Commercial acumen and ability to execute commercial plans to deliver profitable results
• Numeracy skills and the ability to interpret complex financial information
• Able to engage, coach and develop a team
• Able to communicate complex messages to a range of stakeholders and able to influence others to overcome resistance and challenges within the business in an appropriate manner
• Able to demonstrate negotiation skills with external customers and suppliers
• Resilience, persistence and a proactive approach towards driving opportunities and issues to a successful conclusion
• High attention to detail, quality and standards
• High degree of customer focus
• Adaptable approach – able to deliver change within a branch
• Awareness of basic Health and Safety principles and methodology
• IT skills – working knowledge of MS Office

We look forward to receiving your application!