An outdoor kitchen and seating area with a swimming pool in the foreground, lush greenery, colorful flowers, and trees surrounding the space.

SALES MANAGER & DESIGNER.

Location: St Albans, Hertfordshire (AL4 9HJ)
Job type: Permanent, full-time, office-based, with some European travel
Salary: £35,000 to £40,000 basic, plus bonus and commission

The Role

The Outdoor Kitchen Collective is looking for a competent, self-motivated, well-organised and experienced Sales Manager / Designer to take responsibility for day-to-day sales and for the development of our existing design and sales team.

You will work alongside the Managing Director, the Marketing Team and our Sales Designer(s) to deliver sustainable sales growth of high-end projects and products. You will design and sell your own projects while overseeing the design and sales work of the Sales Designer(s).

You will manage the planned growth of the business from a sales perspective over the next one to three years, and be an integral part of developing and implementing the company’s sales strategies. You will have energy, drive, initiative and confidence, with the tenacity to put your ideas and strategies into practice and the ability to communicate them effectively throughout the company.

The Ideal Candidate

You will have a successful track record in design or sales, ideally from the garden design or retail kitchen industries, or from another high-end luxury living sector. You may already be operating successfully as a Sales Manager / Designer, or be actively looking to take your first step into sales management.

You should be computer literate, with a strong record of sales achievement and networking, and the ability to initiate and develop long-term relationships.

Key Responsibilities

Design & Sales

  • Meeting clients to understand the scope of work

  • Giving passionate showroom tours that excite clients about their project

  • Understanding and advising on clients’ needs in a consultative way to achieve a sale

  • Liaising directly with customers to present designs and convert sales, with proficiency and competence

  • Designing, costing and creating outstanding outdoor kitchen environments

  • Collating, formulating and presenting detailed customer quotations and proposals accurately and quickly

  • Meeting your own agreed sales targets

  • Preparing Request for Tender (RFT) designs and quotations for tender packages

  • Sourcing and negotiating key supplier costs

  • Building and maintaining excellent B2B and B2C client relationships

  • Reducing current quotation lead times and maintaining a maximum 24-hour turnaround on enquiries, designs, revisions and quotations

Leadership & Team Management

  • Managing the Sales Designer(s) to ensure their targets and the company’s overall targets are met, while ensuring the sales team always represents the company’s values and image

  • Reviewing the work of junior designers to identify errors and ensure quality and accuracy

  • Training junior designers on new projects and setting deadlines

  • Mentoring and encouraging more junior team members, and being a go-to for advice and guidance

  • Nurturing a dynamic, hungry, positive sales team with a healthy sense of friendly competition, including continuing the six-monthly appraisal programme for your team

  • Providing regular updates on sales success to the rest of the team

  • Ensuring that all individual and sales team targets and objectives are met

Sales Management & Strategy

  • Helping to develop, maintain and implement the CRM system

  • Building and maintaining a healthy, sustainable and profitable sales pipeline

  • Analysing and improving sales processes, and promoting good, effective communication as a critical sales tool and developing this in the sales team

  • Generating design and sales forecast reports, circulating them to the business and reporting back to the MD

  • Working with the Marketing department to develop and implement new sales initiatives, strategies and programmes that capture key demographics and nurture trade contacts

  • Assisting senior management in maintaining and developing showroom policy and procedures, to ensure the success of our business

  • Ensuring all staff have detailed, up-to-date knowledge of all products, and managing the sales team’s CPD, including internal CPD and training standards

  • Ensuring the sales team stays up to date with current and emerging market trends and product developments

Networking & Brand

  • Networking actively within the industry, and hosting CPD talks at our showroom or at external events

  • Hosting CPD events at the barn for small groups of garden designers, architects and other professionals, explaining the design process and the USPs of our kitchens and canopies. We see this as an essential and critical step in the success of this position, and we expect you to show initiative in setting these events up

  • Championing The Outdoor Kitchen Collective and the TOK_C brand

Qualifications & Experience

Essential

  • A minimum of one to two years’ experience in a comparable role, with experience of rapid growth

  • Comprehensive experience of design packages such as SketchUp, Vectorworks and CAD

  • MS Office, Outlook or similar, and CRM systems (Capsule)

  • Commercial awareness

  • A proven record of meeting sales targets and driving revenue growth

  • Experience of working within contractual requirements

  • The ability to work to deadlines and under pressure

  • A proven record of creative delivery, and of people management and development

  • Experience of managing and developing client accounts

Preferred

  • Extensive experience of designing and delivering garden designs, luxury lifestyle projects or construction projects

  • A passion for, and knowledge of, high-end design and luxury products

  • Knowledge of, and interest in, food, cooking and outdoor living products such as BBQs, outdoor kitchens and pergolas

  • A good working understanding of construction and design processes

Personal Attributes

  • Energy, talent, drive and enthusiasm, with a positive, team-spirited approach and a passion for bringing your ideas to life

  • Comfort working in a small, close-knit team

  • A flexible approach to working patterns rather than a rigid 9 to 5. You will be available around clients’ schedules, and adapt to and take advantage of seasonal peaks and troughs to ensure targets are met

  • Self-motivated, with a polished, professional presentation appropriate to a high-end showroom, and a good eye and passion for high-end luxury products and design

  • A professional approach: attentive to detail, accurate and thorough in all aspects of your work

Working Pattern

Our showroom is open Monday to Saturday. The Sales Manager / Designer works a minimum of two Saturdays per calendar month, taken in lieu of a weekday (Monday or Tuesday of the following week).

Salary & Benefits

  • £35,000 to £40,000 basic salary, plus bonus

  • Performance-linked bonus package that fully reflects the importance of this role within our organisation

  • Quarterly commission on your own and department sales

  • Yearly commission on meeting overall company targets

  • Pension

  • 20 days’ holiday plus bank holidays

Location & Commuting

You must be able to commute reliably to St Albans (AL4 9HJ), or plan to relocate before starting work. Please note that the barn has limited access by public transport, but there is a large free car park on site.

How to Apply

If you’d like to lead and grow a talented sales and design team on some of the most exciting outdoor living projects around, please send your CV to fiona@theoutdoorkitchencollective.co.uk