Business Development Manager - Newcastle in Newcastle upon Tyne

Location: Field-based, covering Newcastle to Leeds

Where will you be located? The sales territory is from Newcastle to Leeds and the surrounding areas so you MUST be able to comfortably travel to and work with this area. We are flexible on your location but believe in work life balance so you must be able to work this area, visit clients, cold call prospects and "map" the area.

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our UK Sales Team at Lavazza Professional, based in Basingstoke, North Hampshire. We are looking for an ambitious and results-driven Business Development Manager to cover an assigned UK sales territory.

This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced new-business professional who enjoys developing opportunities, building lasting customer relationships and managing the complete sales journey, from initial prospecting through to conversion.

Lavazza Professional is the business-to-business, or B2B, arm of the Lavazza Group. As a global coffee business, we have grown over the last 120 years from a small Italian artisanal company into an industrial leader.

We remain family owned, and our passion for quality coffee is coupled with a spirit of entrepreneurship, defined by innovation and a strong sense of responsibility. Across the Lavazza Group, we are committed to building a better world, one coffee at a time.

We offer products of superior quality through a sustainable model based on innovation, passion and expertise.

At Lavazza Professional, our goal is to fuel workplace productivity and wellbeing by proudly serving premium Lavazza coffee. Through our Multi-drink and Barista Collection systems, we provide industry-leading and versatile office coffee and vending technologies, with tailored options to suit different workplaces, business sizes and industries.

We have a profound commitment to sustainability and are proud of our Roadmap to Zero, which aims to completely neutralise the Group's carbon footprint by the end of 2030. You can be proud to join a company committed to sustainability, innovation and employee development.

The opportunity

As our Business Development Manager, you will be responsible for generating profitable new business within your assigned territory.

You will take ownership of the complete business development cycle, including identifying and approaching prospective customers, generating your own appointments, developing commercial proposals, converting opportunities and completing the associated sales administration.

This is a proactive, field-based sales role that requires the willingness and ability to travel throughout the assigned location. You will use cold calling, networking, LinkedIn and LinkedIn Sales Navigator to identify prospective customers and create new sales opportunities.

What you'll be doing

• Conduct targeted cold calling to prospective customers and book self-generated appointments.
• Develop new business opportunities through LinkedIn, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, networking events and local market knowledge.
• Build strong relationships with customers to generate referral and recommendation leads.
• Manage the complete sales cycle, from lead generation and customer meetings through to conversion and completion of all required paperwork.
• Generate profitable new business by using company calculators to construct commercially appropriate customer proposals.
• Maintain a high-quality opportunity pipeline using the company CRM.
• Produce and maintain a two-month rolling forecast of expected new-business wins.
• Follow the company's prospect contact strategy.
• Maximise inbound sales leads and work towards agreed conversion targets.
• Update CRM customer notes following every interaction, supporting consistent and high-quality customer communication.
• Attend business-generated leads and appointments while continuing to develop self-generated opportunities.
• Build sufficient product, service and customer knowledge to convert prospective customers and appointments into sales. [BDM - 2026 | Word]

You will build effective working relationships across the organisation, including:

• Partnering with Food Service and National Sales Channels to share leads.
• Providing accurate quotations and orders to Sales Administration.
• Sharing competitor and market-channel insights with Marketing.
• Communicating customer delivery requirements to relevant operational teams.
• Working with Customer Services to help resolve customer issues efficiently.
• Ensuring appropriate teams remain informed about delivery and product-range requirements.

What we're looking for

We are looking for a motivated and commercially focused sales professional who can demonstrate:

• Proven ability to generate new-business opportunities.
• B2B experience is essential however, we are open to applicants from all industries if you can show the drive to succeed, can show experience of B2B beginning to end sales processes and are motivated to pick up the phone and attend client visits to make that sale.
• Confidence making outbound calls to leads and cold calling prospective customers - ESSENTIAL
• The ability to manage a complete sales cycle, from lead generation through to customer meetings, conversion and administration.
• Strong business development and closing capabilities.
• Excellent time management, organisation and workload-planning skills.
• Strong negotiation skills, supported by integrity and trust.
• The ability to build collaborative relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• A commercially focused mindset aligned with business strategy and objectives.
• Financial acumen and the ability to develop commercially sustainable customer proposals.
• Confidence using CRM systems to manage opportunities, customer interactions and forecasts.
• The ability to use LinkedIn, lead-generation techniques, Copilot and networking events effectively.
• The ability and willingness to travel throughout the assigned sales territory.

You will also demonstrate the Lavazza Group values of Authenticity, Passion for Excellence, Responsibility and Inventiveness in your internal and external interactions.

Why join Lavazza Professional?

We offer:

• Sales Improvement Plan - £20k per annum
• Welfare and wellbeing package – including, Private Medical Insurance, Life Assurance plus many more.
• Company pension
• Company Events
• Learning, career development and progression opportunities

Our commitment to inclusion

Lavazza Professional is committed to creating an inclusive working environment where everyone is respected, supported and able to contribute.

We welcome applications from people with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. If you require reasonable adjustments or additional support at any stage of the recruitment process, including support relating to a disability, health condition or neurodiversity, please let our recruitment team know. We will be pleased to discuss how we can support you.

If you are an ambitious business development professional who enjoys creating opportunities, winning new customers and building trusted commercial relationships, we would love to hear from you.

All applicants must be located within the UK due to the recruitment process. The successful applicant will be required to satisfy a DBS check. The right to work must be in place and we do not offer any form of sponsorship for this role.