International Sales Manager - Export/International

We believe nature holds the key to our emotional and physical wellness, providing gentle yet effective remedies. At Nelsons, we harness these powerful ingredients and infuse them with centuries' worth of expertise to offer traditional treatments for a modern world. We're an award-winning, family-owned business, whose passion for providing natural healthcare choices since 1860 continues to drive us today. Nelsons is one of the UK's leading and Europe's longest established manufacturers of natural healthcare products, having built up an impressive portfolio including world-famous RESCUE® Remedy and Teetha®. What's next? Growth, and lots of it! We're experiencing a significant and exciting period of digital transformation and we're looking for talented, ambitious individuals to help drive meaningful impact across the business.

The Role

The Americas, Middle East and Eastern Europe

Reporting to our Senior International Sales Manager, as an International Sales Manager, you will be part of the International/Export team responsible for building businesses in key Export markets. Your day-to-day job will involve managing current distributors and securing new distribution aligned with Nelsons Business/Brand strategy. Your primary objective is to grow sustainable and profitable sales year on year by understanding market dynamics, aligning distributor strategy to Nelsons strategy, challenging, motivating and developing our distributors to Nelsons way of working.

Key Responsibilities

• Commercial: Develop and execute international growth strategies across assigned territories. Create and track annual Joint Business Plans with designated distributors in your cluster. Manage sales objectives (monthly, quarterly and yearly targets) for defined regions, support existing distribution partnerships and identify new ones (routes to market). Manage and grow current distribution partnerships via product launches & market expansion initiatives. Deliver revenue and margin growth across international regions assigned. Work closely with marketing, operations and leadership teams to drive business growth. Manage sales forecasting (purchases), pipeline activity and territory performance. Populate & monitor In Market Sales (IMS) and distributor stock levels using trackers/Power BI platform on a monthly basis, make clear assumptions to drive business and flag any challenges to internal stakeholders. Lead distributors exit strategies and market transitions for the designated territory. Provide rigorous market analysis combined with strong commercial vision. Identify new brands, competitors in the designated markets to drive strong positioning of Nelsons Brands. Apply deep market intelligence across consumer behaviour, retail landscapes and cultural nuances to shape market strategy. Evaluate market opportunities through commercial, operational and regulatory lenses. Create scalable foundations for sustainable long-term growth. Work closely with Group functions to secure effective and successful implementation of key fundamentals growth drivers. Learn from successful initiatives in other business regions and rollout within your territory where relevant and possible. Assist Senior Int. Sales Manager and team with any ad hoc and administration tasks they may request.
• Marketing: Develop and implement marketing activity calendars with distributors. Collaborate with Export Marketing team to ensure marketing activities align with brand strategy. Oversee the successful implementation of marketing activities and new product developments. Document and account for funded marketing activities. Keep management informed of relevant market intelligence.
• Product supply organisation, quality and regulatory: Work with Nelsons Product Supply to ensure each distributor completes the necessary documentation to be set up and have shipments made with no/minimum disruption. Attend the monthly Supply Chain Organisation and Export meeting to review all at-risk orders and agree on a mutual solution. Ensure change controls are routed through Quality. Work with the Regulatory Officer on any regulatory documentation for your countries and act as an intermediate link between internal regulatory support functions and external distribution partners. Keep up to date with the Export Regulatory Team on all EM regulatory submissions and challenge distributors when their information is inaccurate. Immediately bring to the attention of the Senior Int. Sales Manager, Marketing Manager and Regulatory Team any regulatory issues that impact budget or serious regulatory concerns that could impact sales and profit.
• Accurate forecast delivery and budget planning: Populate sales forecast ahead of the Integrated Business Planning (IBP) meeting and system upload (Blue Planner). Ensure that the forecast phasing is accurate delivering an 80% accurate SKU by month budget for the full 12 months and 90% accurate by SKU and month for the next 90 days. Ensure that orders are received within lead-times. Communicate any risks and opportunities immediately and channel the information through the relevant communication channel. Work with marketing manager and financial controller to secure that any investment is recorded accurately and approved by the Senior Int. Sales Manager. Work with the Financial Controller, Demand Planner and Senior Int. Sales Manager to deliver an accurate sales budget with corresponding marketing spends by country. Ensure the budget is fully approved by the Senior Int. Sales Manager, Commercial Director and ELT. Work with marketing manager and financial controller to secure that any investment is recorded accurately.
• Administration/Legal collaboration: Distributor contracts - Review Nelsons distributor agreements regularly and manage renewals, extensions, or termination in a timely manner. Trademarks - Ensure the necessary Trademarks are in place in each territory working with Nelsons Export Marketing Manager and legal.
• Business Development: Identify and appoint top distribution partners in key markets. Locate, recommend, and appoint new distributors in greenfield areas. Drive sales and profit targets through effective distributor management. Motivate, challenge, and support distributors to maximize sales and profit growth.

Requirements

• Experience managing distributors and/or direct to retailers worldwide including developing, negotiating, terminating, and transitioning difficult distributors, ideally with experience working across Asia Pacific.
• Comfortable in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
• Experience working in a Sales role within either a FMCG company, medicinal category or cosmetics.
• Commercially astute with excellent negotiation skills and P&L management.
• Problem solver and strategic thinker.
• A flexible, can-do attitude with the willingness to work closely with others within a small team, a real self-starter.
• Detail-oriented and collaborative, with confidence and communication skills to work with various stakeholders in the business.
• Proven track record of delivering and over-exceeding sales targets.
• A foreign language fluency is preferable but not essential.
• Ideally educated to a degree level or equivalent, relevant experience.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel and PowerPoint.

Benefits

• Annual bonus.
• 25 days holiday per year PLUS Christmas shut down.
• A ‘Rescue Day' each year to use how you need.
• Free products and staff discounts.
• 3pm Friday finishes ALL YEAR ROUND.
• Hybrid and flexible working.
• Paid days off to volunteer for some charities.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Regular socials plus standard benefits such as pensions, eye test vouchers and season ticket loans.

Nelsons is an organisation committed to equity, inclusion and diversity to drive our business results and create a better future, every day, for our employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. We are interested in every individual bringing their whole self to work and this includes you!