Head of Sales - Telesales leadership and sales performance
£50,000 - £90,000 OTE
Who we are
CST Training is a construction training provider based in Bexley. We deliver CITB-accredited courses, NVQs and professional qualifications to construction employers and to individuals building a career in the industry. Most people come to us because they need a card, a qualification or a competent workforce, and they need it without fuss.
The business has grown steadily over the last three years, but it has outpaced the structure underneath it. What we do not yet have is one person who owns both sides of the sales equation: the day-to-day performance of the floor, and the targets, systems and reporting that tell us whether the floor is doing well or just doing a lot.
What the role is for
You will own the sales engine end to end. That means leading the people who make the calls and take the enquiries, and it also means owning the numbers that describe what they do — targets, forecasts, conversion, commission and the reporting.
You will be hands-on. This is not a role that sits above the floor and reads dashboards. You will listen to calls, sit with executives, work live deals when they need rescuing, and know your team well enough to spot the difference between someone having a bad week and someone in the wrong seat.
What you will ownLeading the sales floor
- Manage the team. Set the standard for your team, hold them to it, and coach them. Ensure the team and consistently performing and ensure if they are not, you are doing something about it.
- Own daily activity and call quality. Establish what good looks like on a call, use call listening as a coaching tool rather than a compliance exercise. Ensure we are maximising every opportunity.
- Recruit, onboard and retain. Sales floors live or die on how quickly a new starter becomes productive and how long good people stay. Both are yours to improve.
- Run the rhythm. Morning briefs, weekly one-to-ones, monthly reviews, and a clear escalation route when a target is at risk. Predictable, not bureaucratic.
- Handle the difficult conversations. Performance management, attendance, conduct. You will have HR support, but the ownership sits with you.
Owning sales performance
- Set and defend targets. Build the target model from the bottom up: revenue per head, conversion, course fill rate, and the assumptions behind each. Be able to explain to the board why a number is achievable.
- Forecast accurately. Produce a monthly forecast the finance team can plan against and be judged on how close it lands rather than how optimistic it sounds.
- Own the CRM. Data quality, pipeline hygiene, and reporting that people trust. If the CRM is not the single source of truth, fixing that is an early priority.
- Report to the SLT. A clear monthly pack covering performance against target, pipeline, headcount and the two or three things that need a decision.
- Improve conversion, not just activity. More dials is the easy answer. We are more interested in what happens to the enquiries we already have.
Essential
- At least 3 years leading a telesales or inside sales team, with direct line management of at least 10-15 people. Confidence in leading a team and having difficult conversations.
- A track record of hitting or beating team revenue targets, and the ability to explain how you did it.
- Genuinely hands-on coaching experience: call listening, side-by-side selling, structured feedback.
- Confident with numbers. You can build a target model, own a forecast and argue your case with a finance director.
- Strong CRM discipline and experience getting a team to use one properly.
- Recruitment and onboarding of sales staff, including managing people out when it is not working.
- Comfortable being on site in Bexley five days a week.
- Right to work in the UK.
Desirable
- Experience in training, education, apprenticeships or professional qualifications.
- Familiarity with the construction sector and how employers buy training for their workforce.
- Working knowledge of CITB grant funding, NVQs or other accredited qualification routes.
- Experience of a multi-site operation, or of opening a new site.
- Experience scaling a sales team through a period of fast growth.
- Sales enablement experience: playbooks, call frameworks, structured onboarding.
- Strong Excel, or Power BI and similar reporting tools.
- Experience selling both B2B and B2C from the same floor.
How you work
Beyond the experience, the people who do well here are direct, organised and comfortable being held to a number. You will need to be straight with people, including upwards. If the forecast is going to miss, we would much rather hear it in week two than week four.
What we offer
- Competitive base salary, depending on experience.
- On-target earnings, through a performance bonus tied to team revenue and the measures above.
- Real ownership. This is a build role. The structure, the targets, the commission scheme and the reporting are all yours to shape.
- Direct access to the SLT. You will report to the Managing Director and present to the SLT monthly.
- A growing business. Strong position in a market that is not going away.
Pay: £50,000.00-£90,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Childcare
- Company events
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Employee discount
- Employee mentoring programme
- Financial planning services
- On-site parking
- Referral programme
Work Location: In person
