Company
Since 1997, Windfall Brands has been helping new and established brands succeed on the shelves in supermarkets, in petrol stations, behind the bar, and on menus all over the UK. We helped create the fruit cider category over 10 years ago and launched the first CBD drink brand in the UK, we've been ahead of the curve more than once.
Today we work across fruit juice, snacking, alcohol, food, and soft drinks, in trade channels from supermarkets to the licensed on-trade, high street, and foodservice. Our brands turn up in places like Starbucks, the staff restaurants at Google and Twitter, and on the shelves at Holland & Barrett and Boots.
We're a family-run business, and it shows: we're small enough that people know your name and what you're working on, and ambitious enough that we want everything we do to make a difference rather than just tick a box. We take our CRM seriously too, not as admin, but as the quickest way to spot where the next opportunity is.
The Role
As a Client Manager, your job is to make it as easy as possible for our sales team to sell, while making sure the client feels genuinely well looked after. You're the client's voice inside Windfall, and Windfall's voice to the client, which means equal parts relationship-building and getting properly into the detail.
You might already be an Account Manager in FMCG, a Client Manager at another agency, or working client-side and ready for a change. If you like owning a portfolio and being trusted to run it your way, we'd like to hear from you.
Role Details
Purpose: Owning and developing client relationships to achieve profitable sales and distribution of our clients' products within the UK
Location: Office based, Poole, Dorset (hybrid available after probation)
Reporting To: Senior Client Manager
Qualifications
- Minimum 2 years' sales / account management experience or 1y client management experience
- Experience working with clients, ideally within sales, trade marketing, or category management
- Understanding of UK trade channelss (major multiples, convenience, high street foodservice, on trade.)
- Comfortable in a CRM system, and genuinely interested in mining it for insight rather than just logging activity
- A good standard of education including maths and English, A-Level and above
Benefits
- 28 days holiday per year, inclusive of bank holidays
- Company pension
- Bonus scheme
- Private medical insurance
- On-site parking
- Sick pay
- Casual dress
- Flexitime
- Work from home (1 or 2 days per week post probation)
Key Areas of Responsibility
- Own and lead the relationship for a portfolio of clients, acting as their day-to-day and strategic point of contact
- Develop and deliver client / brand growth strategies, working closely with the Senior Client Manager and internal sales team
- Agree and achieve key business objectives with line manager and clients
- Prepare and lead client update meetings and quarterly business reviews
- Manage and report on annual trade promotional budgets, and build trade promotional and trade media plans where appropriate
- Liaise with the sales team to maintain an accurate sales forecast for clients and the operations team
- Use our CRM and monthly sales data to build sales analysis and gap analysis for clients, and to spot opportunities before you're asked to look for them
- Keep company administrative standards up to scratch, including accurate and timely CRM record-keeping
- Work closely with our customer business management team on range review recommendations, trade presentations, sales aids, and category solutions (planograms / POS)
- Help the wider sales team think a little more like the client does
Working Rhythm
- Bi-weekly: team meeting covering brand performance and target accounts
- Monthly: client call with the team, topline sales figures against budget, and a review of client assets
- Quarterly: performance and KPI review, plus a look at your own progress
Professional Competencies
Career Experience
- Minimum 2 years' sales / account management or 1y client management experience
- Track record of managing client relationships within sales, trade marketing, or category management
- Good understanding of UK grocery and/or out-of-home trade sectors
- Comfortable reading, manipulating, and presenting data to tell a clear commercial story
About You
- A natural relationship-builder, equally at ease presenting to a client board or working through a problem with the sales team
- A genuine brand expert: you know the ethos, the SKUs, the category and the goals, as well as the commercials, pipeline, and open tasks
- Curious about data, when a number looks odd, you want to know why, and the CRM is where you go to find out
- Confident on the phone, on video, and in person, since that's where most of your day will happen
- A calm, quick problem-solver who can work autonomously and still hit deadlines
- Aware of the wider factors (economic, market, industry) that can affect a client's business
- Well organised, able to juggle multiple brands across different categories
- Intermediate + Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
- Working with team members to support them
What We'll Help You Develop
- Advanced use of our CRM and reporting tools to build proactive, insight-led client recommendations
- Deeper commercial acumen: ROI calculations, promotional evaluation and sales modelling
- The core principles of category management, and how to apply them in client recommendations and proposals
- Line management and mentoring skills
- Running a smooth new client onboarding
Pay: £32,000.00-£38,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Company pension
- Free parking
- Life insurance
- On-site parking
- Private medical insurance
- Sick pay
Work Location: In person
