Client Relationship Executive

Job Description:

Position: Group Client Relationship Executive

Reporting to: Group Sales & Commercial Director

Overview: 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 play a pivotal role helping 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.

The Opportunity: 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 c60 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.

About Ford & Stanley Group

The Ford & Stanley Group comprises of 4 companies specialising in the provision of world class talent Solutions - Executive Search, White Collar Recruitment & Blue Collar Recruitment underpinned by our solutions business that specialises in Leadership,

Ford & Stanley Talent Services Group comprises specialist teams covering talent acquisition from Shopfloor to Boardroom, and wider Talent Solutions comprising Leadership Development, Performance Coaching & Mental Fitness Support amongst other talent-related services.

The Ford & Stanley client base comprises over 150 employers from Start-up & SME through to large corporate organisations across 6 specialist sectors spanning the UK, Europe and North Americas. A large percentage of current business is carried out within the rail sector where the company is recognised as a key player. Group growth will be realised by growing the company’s sphere of influence in fledgling sectors, whilst increasing market share within the rail sector which still has significant growth headroom.

With Head Offices based in Pride Park, Derby UK – Ford & Stanley is privately owned, has c60 employees, £25million turnover, has averaged 18% annual growth since inception, and to date been awarded 6 major multi-year contracted recruitment partnership agreements with UK and international organisations.

Team loyalty is consistently high with average length of service of the current team at recruiter level being 3.2 years, in support functions it is 3.1 years, 6.5 years at middle management level and 13.3 years at director level. Our team culture is inclusive and highly supportive, and our Mission of helping to create 10million Better Workdays is very much central to how the business operates. We are environmentally active and run our own conservation meadow as part of this.

For a deeper insight into our culture, mission and values please visit our Join us page. You may also want to see some of the great work our teams have been doing for the environment here.

The Role: 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 a) maximising commercial returns whilst b) protecting market reputation are realised. Whilst business area leaders are naturally focussed on managing the performance of their own specific business areas, the Group function has a holistic approach across all services to ensure all are equally represented within each client company. 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, as the person in this role 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 thereon act as the conduit to internal recruitment teams gaining a full understand 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:

• Gain an understanding of all 4 business areas and develop the ability to confidently articulate the value and service of each in a concise manner.
• Get to know each of your new colleagues and build rapport
• Become fully conversant with company systems and processes, with particular focus on Bluesheet / Goldsheet customer relationship methodology and Company Discovery.
• Meet each of your new clients, get to know and understand them, establish professional rapport, and learn about their organisations
• Working alongside service delivery team colleagues, fulfilling your role in executing the Group strategy for each client under your remit, adopting strategic client development planning methodology.
• Become the person trust both internally and externally to skilfully ensure that service delivery runs smoothly, that delas are painlessly resolved, the commercial opportunities are realised and the NPS ratings remain high by managing expectations.

Key deliverables within the first 12 months include:

• Demonstratable examples of expanding Ford & Stanleys client base under your remit. This will be measured on increasing spend, opportunities brought into the business have increased from previous year. This will involve the quality of the opportunities onboarded and level commitment from clients. Essentially ensuring a high vacancy onboarded to conversion rate.
• Perceived as someone who is proactive, a problem solver, easily accessible of whom both the business and clients/hiring managers can rely on.
• Become the best in the business of articulating the groups 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

• Candidates to be within a commutable distance of our Derby HQ, driving licences and car. (The position comes with a car allowance not car)

• 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. This is crucial to our collective ambitions.

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.

Salary Banding: Low £40k Mid £45k Top £50k Package

• Uncapped Commission Scheme
• Pension: 4% employer / 5% employee (Opt in and out option)
• Holidays: 25 + 8 bank holidays
• Extended Christmas break & company shutdown
• Sell Holidays (Max 5)
• Life Assurance: 4 x Annual Salary
• Health Shield: Free Dental, Eyecare, Discount Gym, Massages etc
• Private medical care (3 years + service)
• 24/7 Confidential Mental Fitness & Performance Coach Access
• Fully expensed half year company away day
• Fully expensed iPhone
• Laptop + seamless connectivity to company infrastructure anywhere in the world
• Sickness: After probation – 10 days at 100% pay 10 days half pay

Benefits:

• World Class Rated Leadership Training
• Clear progression route with structured quarterly PDRs and individual development plans (IDP’s) built around your strengths
• Monthly / Quarterly team social budget
• Annual Christmas Party
• LinkedIn Recruiter Licence
• Company Team building Events
• Fully stocked Beer & Prosecco fridges
• High-quality privately-owned offices
• Free parking
• Free Tea & Coffee
• Opportunities to volunteer at our privately owned Conservation Meadow where we plant trees for every placement
• ‘The first 7’ (years) company recognition experience (up to £1,500 on lifetime experience day of your choosing)
• £500 internal referral scheme.

Ford & Stanley Talent Services Group Ltd is a Disability Confident employer that is committed to a policy of equal opportunities for all opportunity seekers. We shall adhere to such a policy at all times and will review on an on-going basis all aspects of recruitment to avoid unlawful or undesirable discrimination. We will treat everyone equally irrespective sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, age, disability, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief or political beliefs and we place an obligation upon all staff to respect and act in accordance with the policy.

Services advertised by Ford & Stanley Executive Search are that of an executive search and talent advisory business.