New Business Sales Manager

Universal Business Team; Hemel Hempstead; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Car allowance

Generous commission structure

Benefits package

Job summary

Universal Business Team seeks a senior New Business Sales Manager to open doors and shape opportunities in education sector across the UK. You will lead two BD operatives and personally pursue large, multi-stakeholder opportunities.

This is a national role with a heavy travel element, primarily London and Home Counties, offering £80,000–£100,000 base plus generous commission and car allowance.

Qualifications

• Senior business development or consultative sales experience with a demonstrable record of opening significant new accounts from cold.
• Experience selling high-value, long-cycle purchases (£250k–£2m+) to organisations with multiple stakeholders.
• Experience directing or coaching a small BD or appointment-setting team.

Responsibilities

• Target a list of schools, MATs, independent groups and PE-backed operators across the UK.
• Conduct first meetings with bursars, estates/facilities directors, heads and group-level leaders to secure meetings.
• Work direct outreach, LinkedIn, sector bodies, conferences, introducers and advisory network to create opportunities.
• Establish client budgets, funding routes, timelines and key dates.
• Set weekly target lists and call plans to feed the right opportunities to the team.
• Coach and develop the BD team through reviews and joint sessions.

Skills

Senior business development

Consultative sales

Stakeholder engagement

Cold outreach

Coaching & team leadership

Tools

LinkedIn

Job description

Our client is a profitable, owner-managed contractor delivering interior fit-out and modular new-build projects, principally for the private education sector. Under a new CEO, the business is building the leadership team and operating disciplines required to scale materially over the next five years.

A dedicated business development unit is central to that plan: the business has historically relied on a small number of large, relationship-led opportunities and needs a repeatable, forecastable flow of new ones.

The New Business Sales Manager opens the doors the business is not currently through, and shapes what is behind them into opportunities the sales team can convert.

This is a senior, client-facing role. It means getting in front of bursars, estates directors, heads and group-level decision makers at schools and building credibility in the room and creating opportunities where none existed.

You will lead 2 operatives generating and setting appointments, alongside personally opening and shaping the larger and more complex opportunities.

The New Business Sales Manager creates and qualifies, the sales team then converts.

PLEASE NOTE- This is a National Role, with the majority of your time spent across London and the Home Counties.

Responsibilities

• Target a list of schools, MATs, independent groups and PE-backed operators across the UK
• Conduct first meetings -secure meetings with bursars, estates and facilities directors, heads, COOs and group-level property or investment leads

• Work direct outreach, LinkedIn, sector bodies such as ISBA and AGBIS, conferences, introducers and the advisory network
• Establish what the client is actually trying to achieve, not simply what they say they want to buy.
• Establish the budget range, funding route, timescale and any fixed date such as summer works, term start, inspection or opening.
• Set the weekly target list, call plan and appointment priorities for the internal BD operatives, so their activity feeds the right doors rather than filling a diary.
• Coaching, develop capability in the team through call reviews, joint sessions and feedback, building a BD function rather than an appointment-setting desk.
• Bid input, contribute to pitches and bids where the relationship warrants it.

• Experienced in a senior business development or consultative sales role, with a demonstrable record of opening significant new accounts from cold.
• Experience selling a considered, high-value, long-cycle purchase, typically £250k to £2m+ into an organisation with multiple stakeholders and a committee approval process.
• Experience directing or coaching a small business development or appointment-setting resource.
• Comfortable in front of a bursar, finance director, COO, head, governor or group executive Education sector experience, independent schools, MATs, higher education, or the groups and investors behind them (desirable)
• Exposure to construction, fit-out, FF&E, modular or professional services environments.
• Full UK driving licence and genuine appetite for travel. This is a road role, not a desk role.

• Salary- £80,000- £100,000 basic salary
• Generous Commission Structure
• Car Allowance and benefits package