Job Description

Company Description

IWS Group is a fast-growing family of specialist industrial product owners and service companies, each of which are market-leaders in their niche. The Group\'s range of products and solutions cover workplace safety, impact protection, racking & shelving, recycling, 5S and visual communications, primarily serving the warehousing, logistics and material handling industry, with full turnkey services and a network of distributors across Europe and beyond.

The Rack Group have been established for over 40 years as the UK\'s leading pallet racking repair and maintenance professionals. The Rack Group name is synonymous within the industrial storage equipment industry for its continued mission to improve all aspects of safety associated with racking inspections, racking maintenance and racking protection. Over the years we have worked with the biggest names in retail to create bespoke racking repair systems and methods of keeping costs to an absolute minimum. The Rack Groups expertise and dedication to enhancing all safety aspects associated with the use of storage equipment have resulted in a service that meets and, where possible, exceeds the recommendations laid out in European Standards and SEMA guidelines for pallet racking safety.

Position

Rack Group is growing business looking for an experienced sales leadership professional, who can inspire, lead, and motivate our sales team by delivering excellent standards and great products. The Head of Sales will have keen commercial skills, strong leadership skills and work ethic.

The Sales team is comprised of the Key Account Managers, RSM Impact Protection, the Sales Estimator, and the Business Development Team. Primarliy, this new role at Rack Group will focus on management of a portfolio of accounts and business development activity in addition to supporting the sales team to achieve set SLAs and KPIs in line with the company\'s growth plan.

In leading the Sales team, the Sales Manager (SM) will ensure that all systems, processes, and procedures are followed and, where applicable, will improve efficiency, conversion rate, gross margin, business growth, and customer service satisfaction. Therefore, demonstrating and developing capabilities throughout the sales team such as problem-solving, effective communication, influencing, and negotiation are critical to this role and will allow those customer/working relationships to grow.

Whilst owning and growing their customers, the SM will work alongside the sales and project delivery department to ensure that all projects are delivered on time and within budget. The Head of Sales will take responsible for overall sales strategies, planning/forecasting, tendering and delivery of budgets agreed with the Managing Director, while supporting and coaching their direct reports so that all reporting teams achieve the required budgets and SLAs/KPIs. Specific personal acountability and reposnsibilities include:

• Build and develop your pipeline of opportunities.
• Take ownership of high-value leads from large clients, nurturing them through the entire sales cycle and developing long-term relationships.
• Management, retention, and customer account optimisation through effective processes and efficient response times.
• Develop, grow, and manage the team\'s pipeline, forecasting sales, materials, resourcing, and overall sales strategies.
• Complete on-site customer visits to build on working relationships and gain information for processing quotations/projects.
• Complete tenders for large projects in conjunction with the Managing Director
• Ensure the quote management and follow-up process is efficient, where a conversion rate of 75% is achieved, and all quotes are followed up within 48 hours from sending.
• Provide leadership for the Sales team, managing and developing processes and procedures.
• Ensure Health and safety are complied with, that documentation is up to date, that risk is managed, and that teams comply with legislation and training requirements.
• Coach and lead direct reports where necessary to develop skills and boost performance continuously.
• Ensure the business remains relevant, differentiated, and critical customer relationships are protected.
• Collaborate closely with colleagues to review internal resources, customer requirements and sales strategies.
• Integrate and promote new, complementary services from associate companies.
• Create and nurture a high-performance, positive working environment.
• Build a close, collaborative working relationship with the rest of the leadership team.
• Own and deliver the company\'s top line and GM growth targets.
• Maintain commercial awareness of our key markets, competitor products, pricing and service offerings, and review regularly with key stakeholders to ensure our offer/range meets our client\'s demands.
• Represent IWS group companies within the marketplace where required by management.
• Deputise for the Managing Director as required.

At Rack Group, we are introducing new ideas, technologies, and ways of thinking to drive our internal processes and systems, and our customer-focused culture encourages employees to be innovative whilst embracing new challenges and improvements. As part of the senior leadership team, the Head of Sales will become a key influencer, focussed on continuous improvement and will be expected to develop broad commercial knowledge of all areas of the business in order to deputise for the Managing Director as required. In line with this development path the Head of Sales witll also attend H&S meetings when required, acting as the company\'s Health and safety representative.

Measures of success will include:

• Build and maintain effective customer and team working relationships
• Weekly/monthly reporting on leads/sales growth and opportunity, including quote volume for the team
• Implementation of successful and efficient sales growth strategies
• Meet or exceed customer\'s expectations on delivery of information/quotations
• Leading by example and instilling the company culture.
• Successful engagement of direct reports, where team members are achieving SLAs and KPIs
• Reporting teams are fully trained in SOPs and technical knowledge, maintained through an established training schedule
• Proactive engaement in promoting a H&S driven culture
• Demonstration of continuous improvement

Recognised challenges to incoming candidates include:

• Maintaining and developing an understanding of the company, the industry in which it operates, and the challenges it faces from internal and external factors relating to projects.
• Fluctuating and short lead times for quotations.
• Developmenht of internal processes to incorporate/enable Business Central system requirements
• Building technical knowledge within the Sales team.

These duties are neither exclusive nor exhaustive and the post holder may be called upon to perform such other appropriate duties as may be reasonably requested. Canidates must be willing to undertake further training to fulfill the requirements of the role and recognise that it is the joint responsibility of both the employee and employer to review H&S at work requirements.

IWS Group is an entrepreneurial environment with short lines of communication and decision-making. This role operates within a growing group of companies with a strong people culture and offers challenging and rewarding career opportunities for the right candidate.

Requirements

Essential knowledge, qualifications & experience:

• Demonstrable sales leadership experience within a relevant sector
• Substantial experience leading teams in the delivery of customer focused / bespoke solutions
• Storage Equipment / Racking technical Knowledge
• Knowledge of H&S regulations relevant to the industrial storage equipment industry
• Knowledge and understanding of products, systems of work, installation techniques and construction basics within the industry
• Able to articulate technical information to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Project / campaign planning Experience
• Must be able to demonstrate th Right to Work in the UK
• Candidates for the Head of Sales role must also be able to travel to Rack Group Head office in Barnsley on a regular basis and accommodate occasional travel to customer sites and other businesses within the Group.

Desirable knowledge, qualifications & experience:

• Management and/or coaching qualifications
• Health & Safety Qualifications
• SMSTS
• Engineering or technical qualification

Required aptitude and attitude:

• Adapt approach as required, flexing between strategic focus, change management , and operational control
• Demonstrate professional excellence through effective relationship building, adapting communication skills as required
• Able to engage and influence others to achieve results and continuous improvment
• Capable of working to challenging deadlines and managing multiple tasks efficiently
• Demonstrate effective delegation balanced with a hands-on, can-do attitude
• A results orientated problem solver who is tenacious, persistent, and balanced

Other information

Now part of the rapidly growing IWS Group of companies, investment is being made in people, systems and expanding the service offering for an ambitious period of growth. This is an exciting time to be joining the team in this newly created leadership role. In return for your commitment to a 40 hour working week (usually Monday to Friday), we offer a competitive salary (based on skill & experience) plus the opporunity to earn bonus in addition to the following benefits:

• Company vehicle / car allowance
• 23 days holiday (rising to 25 after 5 years\' service)
• Company sick pay support scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme (including 1:1 counselling)
• Group Life Assurance
• Health Care Cash Plan
• PERKS retailer discount scheme

IWS Group