Sales assistant

Full time, permanent – office-based role in Gillingham, Dorset SP8

THE ROLE

We are looking for an enthusiastic sales assistant to join our sales team in our office in Gillingham, Dorset.  This is a new role giving the right person an opportunity to gain sales experience and develop skills whilst learning from the rest of the team.  Initially you will be trained on administrative tasks relating to sales on our monthly publications, training courses and membership before moving on to working towards sales targets and building your own client list.

Reporting to the sales director and working closely with our senior sales account manager you will be supported with full training in this new role.

You will be joining the Guild at an exciting time, as we develop and grow our wide range of activities that support the independent food and drink sector.

Initially, you will be responsible for:

  • Administrating tasks relating to sales on our publications and events
  • Calling retailers to renew their membership
  • Supporting sales on our retail cheese courses

As you develop into the role, you will be trained in more detail and be responsible for:

  • Managing and building relationships with your own client database
  • Closing sales daily across multiple projects. (publications and events)
  • Creating new leads and converting them into opportunities for sales
  • Maintaining required number of calls per day to ensure activities are being put out to potential clients

This is a desk-based role, however due to the nature of the role and the Guild’s activities, there will also be opportunities to be part of the events that the Guild of Fine Food attend throughout the year.   Our normal office hours are Monday to Friday, 9.30am-5.30pm.

YOUR BACKGROUND

We’re a small and growing business with a brilliant team (meet them here!) who work across a broad range of activities. We’re looking for a self-motivated team player with some work experience in an office based environment who is keen to learn and communicates well over the phone.  This is a great opportunity to be involved in a variety of activities and gain sales, administrative and communications skills.

If you have some of the following skills– or have the ability and willingness to learn – we’d love to hear from you:

Skills

  • Strong communications skills
  • Confident on the phone, willing to build sales call expertise
  • Good administration skills and an eye for detail
  • Ability to work under pressure, across multiple projects simultaneously
  • Thrive on team and individual targets
  • Competent IT skills and digital aptitude (experience on Word, Outlook and Excel preferred).
  • Knowledge of CRM database software desirable
  • Languages, especially Italian and Spanish, an advantage – but not essential, please don’t let that put you off applying
  • A love of and interest in good food & drink is definitely a bonus – you will be exposed to a lot!

HOW TO APPLY

Please send a CV and covering letter to Sally Coley.

Closing date:  31st October 2024 (please note we may start interviewing before the closing date and if a suitable candidate is found then the position may close early – so please get in touch with us as soon as possible if this position is of interest to you).