License Footwear Sales Manager

DEPARTMENT: Lead and manage the footwear sales process in UK. To offer full commercial support & decision making where necessary whilst continually driving sales & profitability for footwear in order to achieve the business strategy to a mutual benefit.

POSITION:  To oversee the whole sales process for footwear in the UK.  To act as an ambassador to the business in a front facing capacity offering a trusted point of contact for each of our stakeholders & clients at all times. To integrate with other depts. and ensure every opportunity is maximised to the best of their ability. Set & manage annual budgets, work with the team to maintain & grow revenue whilst at the same time maximising margin.

OBJECTIVES:

• To ensure the footwear sales team hits all sales targets at the projected margins.
• To develop and maintain excellent relationships with the senior buyers.
• To develop growth within the UK markets.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• To understand & share the companies long term vision & actively engage in promoting the goals & business aspirations
• Make the commercial decisions on a day-to-day basis with the support of the Head of Sales, offering support to the wider sales teams, where necessary
• Participate fully in the delivery of each year’s budget & forecasts for existing & new business & assist the team to achieve these goals throughout the year, having a close working relationship
• Ensure quarterly review meetings with senior management at Retail are carried out driving the business success and plan
• Be accountable for the Footwear P&L of the business and its management together with the Head of Sales
• Develop successful strategies to underpin delivery of sales against budgets considering overheads and ensuring we are always maximising opportunity and profitability
• Key participation in bi-weekly sales report meetings, License update meetings, sales meeting; to understand how we are performing & report back to the management team in the monthly Management update meetings
• Manage own accounts as well as offering support to the other sales managers & their customers via a close working relationship & assist in ensuring optimum engagement of the rest of the team throughout the process in support of their efforts
• Manage the commercial process & ensure all lead-time calendars are updated & followed ensuring timely delivery wherever possible
• Deal with customer complaints in a courteous & polite manner, always protecting Fashion UK’s position & seeking to find mutually acceptable solutions to business issues
• Challenge the Fashion UK support team ensuring processes are followed including SOPs in CP, Design, Sampling etc.
• Provide support on a strategic level within the business, participating fully in its management to help drive new ideas / initiatives & opportunities for overall business development and growth
• Participate actively & vocally within the overall management team to enhance the development of Fashion UK’s staff and business processes which is to include challenging in a professional manner the Senior Management if appropriate in the best interests of the business

• Work closely with Senior Function Leaders i.e. Design, Technical, Operational, Merchandising & Financial helping to create a co-ordinated, efficient and driven approach at all times with the rest of the sales team

SECONDARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Encourage a closer working relationship with the support team including design, merchandising & technical to provide sales with timely information including CP update, samples & design work, License approvals, to retain & build business opportunity
• Standardise the footwear sales process & review as applicable
• Deliver team briefings & updates where appropriate
• Maintain staff movement calendar
• Conduct mid-term & annual appraisals
• Organisational development, Training, Recruiting, Business Admin to be managed with the support of Director of Operations/HR
• To carry out any other duties as requested by Directors that may fall outside of the above

QUALIFICATIONS AND PERFORMANCE ATTRIBUTES:    

• Educated to degree level and capable of processing complex information and understanding multifaceted issues. 
• Capable of strategic thinking and understand second and third order effects
• Well-seasoned experience: can walk into top retailers, used to dealing with senior management at Retail
• Understands the specialist technical requirements of footwear and be able to articulate them comprehensively to the Team, Managers, Customers, Suppliers
• Must be a self-starter, proactive, capable of coordinating teams and individuals & motivating others to succeed
• Must be articulate & capable of communicating complex information to teams & individuals of differing levels of experience and education
• Experience of managing a sales team and its processes
• Experience of the licensing fashion industry and increasing revenue and profitability
• Experience of setting financial budgets
• Proficient at costing and negotiating (Royalty, Duty, Margins etc.)
• Must be able to use own initiative to gain a business advantage

Pre-employment Checks: References required

Travel: Visiting customers