UK Head of Independent Bookshops, UK Sales

The opportunity

Bloomsbury is looking for a strategic, experienced and confident sales person with extensive knowledge of the UK Independent Bookshop sector to represent the voice of the independent booksellers internally to our Bloomsbury, Special Interest and Head of Zeus publishing divisions as well as selling all imprints in to the London and South East territory.

This unique and exciting role offers the opportunity to be the lead voice for the UK Independent Bookshops in the Bloomsbury divisional decision making and strategic planning whilst working closely alongside the Area Sales Managers across the UK selling titles across our exceptional line up of authors including Isabel Allende, Susanna Clarke, Peter Frankopan, Neil Gaiman, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Johann Hari, Elodie Harper, Dan Jones, Tom Kerridge, SJ Maas, Madeline Miller, Alan Moore, Tom Percival, J.K.Rowling, Katherine Rundell, Louis Sachar, Samantha Shannon, Lisa Taddeo and Stuart Turton.

This particular field based role will also attend select in person and/or Head Office divisional meetings as a representative of the UK Independent Bookshop sector on behalf of the wider Bloomsbury Field Sales Team.

This role reports in to the UK Sales Director, Special Interest and is a permanent, full time role. The role will based at home with a regular fortnightly (tbc) visit to the London Bloomsbury or Head of Zeus office.

The role

• A lead voice in to the Bloomsbury, Special Interest and Head of Zeus divisions sharing authoritative knowledge and expertise on behalf of the UK Independent Bookshop sector
• Responsible for sales in the London and South East territory working directly with all customers to grow sales and achieve UK Sales team targets.
• Working as part of the UK Field Sales team, attending seasonal team meetings for full title briefings and liaising with colleagues in order to effectively represent the whole UK picture in internal meetings.
• Maintaining and growing relationships with customer base with regular contact, face-to-face meetings and follow up with customer relationships being key.
• Identifying and developing new relationships with potential customers, ensuring customer needs are understood and selecting appropriate product solutions.
• Working with the wider Bloomsbury teams to ensure customers have all the necessary material and information to maximize sales of our books as well as regarding author activity and events on the territory.
• Working closely with M&P contacts and initiating Marketing and PR proposals and activities internally to enhance sales through the Indies attend select appropriate marketing meetings to support strategic planning and tactical marketing initiatives with internal colleagues
• Co-ordinating the distribution of sales, marketing and publicity material to customers.
• Journey planning effectively in order to achieve the best coverage of the area and to maintain regular contact with account base, whilst planning in admin time to stay on top of responsibilities and deadlines.
• Dealing with orders, queries from customers and working closely with the distribution centre to ensure smooth delivery of stock.
• Use of company online systems and resources to stay on top of stock information and key publication data.
• Gathering market feedback to channel back to office based teams including editorial.
• Maintaining and consistently improving product knowledge.
• A key sales voice in the Bloomsbury/ BA strategy.
• This role comes with use of a lease car.

Knowledge, skills and experience

• Strong communication skills are key
• Demonstrate authoritative knowledge and understanding in the UK Independent Bookshop sector
• Excellent time management and organisational skills
• Self-motivated and Independent, a self-starter
• Previous sales experience required
• Must have a full clean driving license

Additional information

The role is a full-time permanent position

The role is based at home for territory management with visits to our London office 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP and the Head of Zeus office 5-8 Hardwick St, London EC1R 4RG

Please apply with a CV and covering letter addressed to Human Resources (Word or PDF format only) via the ‘APPLY NOW’ button detailing how you meet the requirements outlined above for this role by Monday 6th March 2023.

Bloomsbury reserve the right to close the role early if we exceed the required number of applications

Bloomsbury Benefits

As well as a fantastic opportunity to join a global award-winning organisation, Bloomsbury offers the following competitive benefits package:

Holidays

• 25 days holiday
• 3.5 days Christmas company holiday

Other Benefits:

Two paid Personal Wellness Days

Flexible Fridays – take Friday afternoon off by working an additional 3 hours and 45 minutes earlier in the week

Season Ticket Loan

Sharesave Scheme

In-house Doctor

Eyecare Voucher Scheme

Company culture – Employee Voice Meetings, Staff Networks (Bloom (BAME), Accessibility, Mental Health, Pride, and Parents, Guardians and Carers), 9 Mental Health First Aiders trained across the UK offices, Publishing Events and access to free Publishing Resources

For additional benefits see below

Bloomsbury is a place where anyone of any background, race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender identity, age, ability, or socio-economic status can thrive, feel comfortable, and be heard and accepted. We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

We are willing to make any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process, please flag to the recruitment team if required

Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK.