Regional Sales Manager - Ireland

For a quarter of a century, the Jellycat family have brought joy, wonder and playful fun to people of all ages, in every part of the world. Utterly original and in a class of their own, they are currently among the most loved and collected toys of their kind. How has this gentle tribe endeared themselves to so many? Perhaps it is their whimsical expressions. Or the deliciously soft fabrics. Or the beautiful way in which they sit in your hand. Whatever it is, there is something magical and unmistakeable about each one of them.

We are seeking an experienced, commercial, personable Regional Sales Manager to manage, grow and develop the brand throughout the independent retailers within the above geographical region. With strong commercial skills and are truly passionate about product, providing excellent customers service, promoting our brand values.

We have an established stockist portfolio in the region of luxury gifting retailers and you will be responsible for visiting them regularly to help them grow their sales of Jellycat, maximise the opportunity and ensure that Jellycat looks great in their store at all times. Whilst ensuring the brand is at the forefront of everything you do and have a genuine love of retail.

You will be familiar with the region you are representing and be responsible for ensuring that we are in the right luxury accounts on the high street, towns, cities and shopping malls. Along with nurturing the existing stockist relationships, you will also be pro-active in identifying the new stockists and areas of opportunity that we are not yet maximising (always Luxury).

Your main focus is to be a Jellycat brand sales ambassador who will not only grow the sales of the brand in your region but will ensure that you are proud of how we look in stores as we share joy with our consumers. Strong relationships are paramount they need to be built and nurtured to ensure we grow the business across our various product categories of Loveables, Amuseables, Baby Jellycat, Books and Accessories.

You will be responsible for 80 -100 accounts, field based a minimum of 3 days a week visiting customers with 1 to 2 days a week working at home for administrative duties. You will be required to come to Head Office once a month on an ad hoc basis to attend sales team meetings and product meetings.

You will work closely with your line manager and Head of UK Sales to deliver go-to-market plans and be responsible for aligning on annual budget plans/product forecasts and how you will achieve those, understanding that we would never compromise brand positioning (Luxury) in favour of sales revenue, so this is critical in the underpinning of everything we do. You will be an all encompassing Jellycat ambassador and have the autonomy to make decisions in relation to what is best for Jellycat and act upon those decisions.

There is a positive ‘can-do’ team culture here at Jellycat, and it’s important that you are not only a self-starting ambassador and strategic sales person for Jellycat, but are a great team player willing to get involved in what needs to be done in order to achieve great things in retail within the UK.

You'll be;

• Ultimately responsible for the portfolio of Independent stockists in the above mentioned geographical region.
• Field based and will visit each of your customers regularly (no less that 3 times a year dependent on location/size/importance)
• Working with the marketing teams to ensure that we have the correct Jellycat POS branding at retail and we always look great and in-line with Brand Guidelines, be fully versed in approval processes for POS/branding.
• Providing instore customer training on the product and brand.
• Ensuring your accounts have access to new collection launches.
• Launching, presenting and selling in all new collections annually.
• Responsible for taking orders, monitoring your accounts credit status to ensure orders are delivered in a timely manner and general administration for your territory.
• Ensuring key Orders are put onto SAP and PixSell.
• Ensuring your stockists are paying their invoices inside of the terms (working closely with credit control)
• Delivering the Sales Growth and Budget that we agree at the start of each calendar year.
• Developing strong, personable, professional relationships with all stockists.
• Sharing images with the team of best-in-class visual merchandising within your account base.
• Identifying new Luxury target stockists and securing those new accounts.
• Working with your Team Leader to build robust full year financial budget plans and developing and presenting the plan on how you and your teams will achieve the budget/forecast.
• Working closely with your peers – Regional Sales Managers to ensure we are planning and aligning future retail activations and launches.
• Occasionally working with your line manager to close accounts that aren’t the correct fit for Jellycat.
• Providing feedback sales performance sell-thru to business and working with relevant teams to ensure product feedback.
• Ensuring only authorised promotional material is used instore and is in line with our brand guidelines.
• Mentoring, motivating and guiding your independent accounts to achieve the best in visual display, product selection and drive sales. 
• Responsible for building the best product story for each store based on its location, customer base, complementarity brands.
• Pro-actively identify growth and brand awareness opportunities within partnerships to unlock our full retail opportunity – whether Baby Jellycat, Loveables, Amuseables, Books or Accessories.
• A Jellycat brand Ambassador always – exploring every LUXURY opportunity where we can raise Brand Awareness with our target consumers.
• Presenting quarterly regional updates (financial and commercial) to line manager/Head of UK sales and the business.
• Reporting on sales  as required and requested, visibility of visits and priorities– data accuracy is paramount.
• Presenting to your line manager, and Head of Sales for any in-store conceptual branding opportunities (SIS, pop-ups, window takeovers).
• Attending UK tradeshows and supporting events.
• Visiting key national accounts within your territory, supporting account manager with feedback and instore, ensuring best visual merchandising practice.

You'll have;

• Ideally a minimum of 3 years experience as a sales manager (ideally independent stockists).
• Closeness to the geographical location you are representing.
• The ability to be a brand ambassador for Jellycat and not just a sales person.
• The ability to thrive within a field based sales role, passionate about providing the best customer support and experience possible.
• Problem solving and solution based methodology.
• The ability to be a true team player who is flexible, personable, positive and is motivated by being part of a high performing team.
• Proficiency in Excel & PowerPoint (for reporting/ forecasting/financial planning purposes)
• An understanding of product presentation and excellent VM, with proven track record of escalating concerns with line manager.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ideally has experience within a Luxury brand to understand the premium positioning.
• The ability to work in a fast paced environment.