The Opportunity

An award-winning manufacturer of gardening equipment, Hozelock has been helping gardens around the world flourish through technically perfect, visibly striking products for 60 years. Operating in several key and strategic markets throughout the UK & Europe, the business exports to over 60 countries worldwide.

Hozelock is a wholly owned subsidiary of Exel Industries, a group of companies covering agriculture, consumer products, and other industrial sectors. Exel Industries is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange and has reported revenues in the region of €750m with over 3,000 employees.

Combining a knowledge and passion for gardening with pride in innovation to develop gardening solutions that help gardens flourish and come to life, every Hozelock product is crafted to work time after time. As a result, Hozelock is one of Britain’s favourite gardening suppliers. As they continually invest into keeping their product range up to date, Hozelock have a comprehensive range that covers garden watering, garden spraying, plant protection & pond solutions.

Reporting into the Group Sales and Marketing Director, the primary objectives of the Commercial Director and team are to manage customers and develop new business opportunities within the markets. 

Key responsibilities and performance measures for this role:

• P&L responsibility for all B2B and B2C sales within the UK & Eire Scandinavia, and Australasia markets, managing business performance costs, undertaking overhead analysis, budgeting and forecasting
• Building and maintaining robust relationships, maintaining clear communications and promoting a culture of knowledge sharing and mutual support to develop a best in class supply model
• Managing the coordination of Country Managers to ensure smooth operations and effective execution of the Strategic Plan
• Leading and managing international negotiations at central level across strategic partners, capitalising upon all opportunities to secure new business and maximise profits
• To develop and implement a coordinated sales strategy for Hozelock’s retail business in the UK 
• To achieve the agreed annual sales/profit growth targets
• Lead and motivate the UK sales team 
• Plan for increasing sales with existing and new customers 
• Responsibility for selling to selected key retailers
• Training and development of sales teams
• Monitor performance against agreed targets and take corrective action where required 
• Monitor progress against agreed targets and take corrective action where required
• To understand the business objectives and strategies of the main UK customers
• To negotiate NPD listing and promotional activity on an on-going basis
• To be responsible for accurate sales forecasts for listed products both standard and promotional
• Strict cost control within annual budgets
• Produce monthly performance summary reports 
• Comply with the Health and Safety responsibilities as defined in the company health and safety policy, and ensure that any specific responsibilities are adequately delegated in their absence.

Qualifications / Experience required:

• Graduate desirable 
• Must have 5 years’ experience of working in a similar environment/role 
• Must be able to clearly demonstrate a successful track record in working with customer to achieve targets
• Garden or related industry would be of benefit 
• Contract negotiation 

Key behavioural competencies:

• Mix of pragmatic/entrepreneurial skills 
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Good communication skills verbal & written 
• Good listener 
• Robust negotiation/commercial skills 
• Excellent planning and organisation skills
• Ability to work alone, sometimes under pressure and to tight deadlines’ 
• Self-motivated and result driven 
• Computer literate 
• Excellent analytical skills 
• Able to get things done 
• Tenacity
• Strong leader 
• Team player 
• Ability to think outside the box