The Company
This family have been farming here for four generations. From father to son, they have gained an intuitive understanding of the land; sowing and harvesting the crops that are distilled to create this Distillery's range of field to bottle spirits.
The family are the visionaries and driving force behind the Distillery, they grew up working around the farm, and it is this hands-on experience that gave them a deep understanding and respect for the land.
Today, the distillery sits a stones throw from the fields with an incredible Distillery Experience overlooking them.
They've always farmed with absolute respect for the land. The addition of a distillery has not changed their commitment to minimising any environmental impact. Provenance and traceability doesn’t stop with just their crops and water. They use juniper in their spirits - so they grow our own juniper. They use honey - produced by the bees on their farm. They use solar power, and their distilling from start to finish uses negligible miles for its production. The primary waste product from distilling is recycled wherever possible as feed for cattle.
Purpose of the role.
As UK Sales Manager you will manage all sales channels for their premium spirits portfolio. You will develop and build on existing relationship in retail and on-trade channels and help develop and execute marketing activation campaigns in alignment with the company's vision and goals and to support objectives across our core markets and audiences.
Key responsibilities.
* Execute the commercial strategy for the Distillery, ensuring commercial budgets are achieved.
* Be a brand champion, inspiring others with engaging messaging. You’ll ensure they’re expressing their brand consistently at every touchpoint.
* With the management team create annual plans for brand growth and development and create annual budgets.
* Accountable for the commercial success in line with budget for a variety of markets;
* In the UK, create sales channels through Retail, On-Trade and wholesale.
* Additional International markets may be brought on as part of the strategy.
* Collaborate with teams across the business on NPD and sales channel development.
* With the management team help set the pricing strategy for the full product portfolio in line with budgets, margin expectation and market trends.
* With the Managing Director and spirits team plan the whisky release program. Manage the efficient sell through of all available stock, minimizing stock holding in line with budgets.
* Oversee and deploy a team of Ambassadors to bring the brand to life at festivals, shows and events.
* Gather market research to identify market trends, consumer insights, and competitor analysis to inform product pricing strategy and positioning.
* In collaboration with their marketing team, contribute to marketing campaigns, including online and offline activities and help develop brand collateral to increase brand awareness and drive customer engagement. Align on A&P spend.
* Track and measure sales performance metrics, providing regular reports and insights to wider team.
Experience
* Your background should showcase significant UK Sales and network experience, at least 3 years, within whisky and/or premium spirits brands.
* Proven track record of creating relationships and delivering results.
* Within the last 3 years you have worked in the spirits industry in the UK, growing market share for your brands.
* Networking and Sales are your strong suits, exemplifying your talent for building connections, fostering rapport, nurturing relationships, and sealing deals with senior stakeholders.
* Be able to work with external partners, agencies and internal teams to ensure projects are delivered and targets are achieved.
* Present a reasonable level of skills of data analysis and MS Excel, using raw data to create performance reports and projections, identify trends, opportunities, and challenges.
Competencies
* As you will join a young business, you will need to be adaptable, have a can-do attitude and positive mindset.
* Thrive in a growing, changing environment and be results driven.
* Be an effective collaborator with strong communication skills, both written and verbal
* Understand the big picture whilst maintaining attention to detail.
* Creative and fresh with a willingness to think unconventionally.