Client Relationship Executive

The Group Client Relationship Executive will play a pivotal role in helping Ford & Stanley Talent Services Group (Ford & Stanley) to build and maintain very effective relationships with its customers. This will be achieved by liaising between key contacts within client companies and internal heads of service delivery, to ensure the expectations of the customers are always managed, and that Ford & Stanley’s sales promise is the customer reality.

Working within the Group Sales & Client Development Team, the Client Relationship Executive will also help the company develop and expand the service line provision within newly acquired and long-standing client relationships. They will be tasked with raising awareness of Ford & Stanley’s suite of Group services and ultimately ensuring that when the customer has a business need within the Group’s areas of expertise, Ford & Stanley services are front of mind.

Ford & Stanley has steadily built a strong market reputation for delivering innovative, high quality talent services over a fifteen-year period. Those services comprise recruitment from shop floor to boardroom, leadership development, performance coaching and mental fitness support. With a current turnover of £25million and a long-established team of circa 60 people, the company is embarking upon an ambitious growth strategy by expanding market share and extending its influence in its fledgling sectors.

The essence of the opportunity for anyone considering this role is to help the company turn its ambitions into reality and to realise your own career aspirations as a result. In addition to what will be a highly fulfilling role, your potential career paths include key account management, international relationship development and accounts team leadership.

The Group Client Relationship Executive is a newly established role that sits within the Group Sales & Client Development Team. The team works hand in hand with leaders of each business area to ensure the Group strategies for maximising commercial returns whilst protecting market reputation are realised.

This will entail developing a clear understanding of each Ford & Stanley service line, their unique features, and specific benefits to employers. From there building client awareness, creating understanding and establishing which service line(s) are relevant and of interest.

From the inception of all new client relationships, the role takes responsibility for ensuring a clearly defined Service Level Agreement (SLA) is established from the outset. For legacy clients, you will be responsible for revisiting any existing SLAs and helping to iron-out any historical service deltas if required to re-establish service provision.

You will conduct Company Discoveries and act as the conduit to internal recruitment teams gaining a full understanding regarding your client’s organisations, why people like working there, and their unique selling points to the candidate market. The person in this role will use their considerable interpersonal skills to create mutual understanding of what both parties need from the other to ensure the relationship is successful; liaising between the employer and the service delivery teams to resolve any misunderstandings or deltas.

Your first 12 months will involve:

• Gaining an understanding of all 4 business areas and developing the ability to confidently articulate the value and service of each in a concise manner.
• Getting to know each of your new colleagues and building rapport.
• Becoming fully conversant with company systems and processes, with particular focus on Bluesheet / Goldsheet customer relationship methodology and Company Discovery.
• Meeting each of your new clients, establishing professional rapport, and learning about their organisations.
• Working alongside service delivery team colleagues, fulfilling your role in executing the Group strategy for each client under your remit.
• Becoming the person of trust both internally and externally to ensure that service delivery runs smoothly, that deltas are painlessly resolved, and the NPS ratings remain high by managing expectations.

Key deliverables within the first 12 months include:

• Demonstratable examples of expanding Ford & Stanley's client base under your remit.
• Being perceived as someone who is proactive, a problem solver, easily accessible of whom both the business and clients/hiring managers can rely on.
• Becoming the best in the business of articulating the group's offering and ability to develop/train others in the art of.

Essential Hard Skills (Skills & Experience):

• Demonstratable experience of successfully growing and expanding relationship and commercial opportunities across a portfolio of clients.
• A B2B background developing relationships in consultancy services or solutions environment.
• Represented their organisation well at trade shows, networking events with demonstrable ROI.
• Degree educated.

Essential Soft Skills (Attributes & Behaviours):

• An engaging, passionate, confident individual able to build rapport within warm and cold relationships.
• An articulate, confident communicator both internally and externally.
• Proactive, hungry and energetic personality.
• Problem Solver, decisive with no task too big no task too small mindset.
• High drive, self-motivation and desire to have their name synonymous with the ability to deliver high-level commercial and relationship results.
• Exceptional negotiator demonstrating high levels of emotional intelligence.

Working Arrangements & Location:

We have a Proudly In Office policy which has been pivotal to our exponential growth and success. Ford & Stanley operates as a business ‘eco‑system’, with each team member symbiotically supporting and relying on the other for their experience, learning opportunities, in‑the‑moment knowledge sharing and motivation when we need a lift. We are flexible with team members when they need us to be, meaning ad‑hoc home working days are fully supported, but as an exception. We are in office when our colleagues and customers need us to be – which is business hours, 5 days a week.

Our core business hours are 8:30am – 5:30pm Monday to Thursday with a 4:30pm finish on a Friday. The contracted place of work for this position is Ford & Stanley Head Offices on Pride Park, Derby.

Interview Process:

• Initial discussion with Group Sales & Commercial Director.
• 1st Stage Interview: Introductory discussion with the Group Chairman followed by a formal interview with Group Sales & Commercial Director.
• Final Stage: Face to face with the Group Commercial Director and two potential future colleagues, including a 3 slide presentation.

Salary Banding: Low £40k Mid £45k Top £50k Package includes uncapped commission scheme, pension, holidays, life assurance, health shield, private medical care, and more.

Ford & Stanley Talent Services Group Ltd is a Disability Confident employer that is committed to a policy of equal opportunities for all opportunity seekers.