Key Account Manager

Job Details

Welcome to Hovis. We are the proud guardians of over 130 years of baking experience that make up our iconic and much-loved brand. We produce bread and bakery products created with Hovis goodness at the heart of each. We deliver around 1.3million loaves, every day of the week throughout the UK and Ireland, where we also make Mothers Pride and Ormo products.

We are 2,800 people working within 8 bakeries, 1 flour mill, and 2 regional distribution centres across the UK. Our success is a result of the hard work of our people;  they are experts in their field whether it’s baking, manufacturing, logistics, engineering, or the many departments within the central functions team based in our head office in High Wycombe. We are a values-led business and expect our colleagues to live, breathe, and embed Quality, Accountability, and Trust into their ways of working.

We are searching for a Key Account Manager to join our team in order to enable Hovis to deliver on its vision of delivering the best quality product every day, enabling growth in a sustainable way and creating superior value for its stakeholders.  The successful candidate will grow sales profitably across the allocated accounts and lead growth agenda, whilst building Hovis credibility and customer relationships.

Responsibilities Include:

Commercial Management

• Able to deliver forecasts based on ensuring accurate assumptions via the following: understanding current customer landscape i.e. growth/decline/opportunities, competitor landscape & promotional activity.
• Works with the customer to gain future insight & alignment.
• Extrapolates trends to provide insight, able to translate into a number (volume/value).
• Works closely with demand planning and category teams to build these assumptions, takes a longer-term future view.
• Understands pricing architecture and implementation of gross to the net framework.
• Ability to translate/present options through an understanding of full mix management.
• Issue resolution e.g. customer service, aged debt, payment days, equipment returns.
• Support the wider commercial team with the creation of weekly reporting
• Customer spend management through maintenance of Blueplanner promotions / invoices / trade discount schemes

Winning with Customers

• Is able to sell to customers using pre-prepared category data and insight.
• Uses different lines of questioning to gain customer insight and information to ascertain the customer needs.
• Creates a compelling sales story by understanding the need & selling the benefits of the Hovis solution
• Can reference how the Hovis solutions fit in with the customer’s strategy.
• Building trust with customers through understanding and delivering against the hierarchy of needs

P&L Management

• Has a basic level understanding of margins and pricing to be able to calculate benefits for customers and for Hovis.
• Understands the impacts of different types of investment on the P&L (e.g. lump sums, pence per loaf and % investment).
• Has a basic understanding of RGM principles (e.g. target GMAS per loaf, minimum NSV rates etc).

Negotiation

• Always aims to sell before negotiating.
• Understands customer requirements through questioning and short term and long term outcome.
• Has a basic plan for customer negotiations with established walk away points and some concessions to trade.
• Manages internal stakeholders through the negotiation process, aligning qualitative and quantitative outcomes
• Always operates with integrity on behalf of Hovis.

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

● Educated to degree level (or equivalent) and / or several years experience
● Experience in blue-chip FMCG
● Specific Account Management experience
● Excellent salesperson and strong negotiator
● Experience in new business development
● Commercial acumen &analytical – Excel / PowerPoint / Google
● Good understanding of forecasting and track record of forecast accuracy
● Passionate and tenacious
● Ability to deal with ambiguity and change
● Strong prioritisation and organisational skills
● Understanding of own personal style and ability to flex

While not essential, preference will be given to those candidates who have

● Full P&L responsibility
● Experience within allocated accounts or similar
● Training: customer meeting process, negotiation skills, managing customer’s effectively & influencing skills
● Knowledge of bakery industry

Why work for us and our benefits:

At Hovis, we understand the importance of looking after our colleagues, so we provide a variety of benefits in addition to their salaries. The benefits we provide at Hovis are as varied as the people who receive them but they are offered with the intention of creating value to them personally over and above their salaries

• There is a range of colleague benefits available, which individuals can select based on their needs.

• Our benefits scheme is called Hovis Choice, which offers a variety of savings and cashback offers on day to day living and much more including eyecare vouchers, and a healthcare scheme to suit everyone.  It also includes our Cycle to Work scheme where you can obtain a brand new bike at a significant saving

• We offer competitive annual leave entitlement and flexibility where possible in order to create a healthy work-life balance

• We celebrate loyalty with our generous long service and colleague recognition schemes

• We offer three levels of pensions

Hovis values diversity and is committed to promoting equal opportunities in the workplace. Every job applicant, employee or worker will be treated fairly and equally with dignity and respect regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, social class, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religious belief, union membership, political opinion, sex, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic.