Sales Executive - French Speaking

Advancing People; Peterborough; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 35,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Performance-related commission

Job summary

Advancing People is recruiting an Inside Sales Executive to drive lead generation and CRM-led pipeline development across EMEA. You will use phone, email, and LinkedIn to identify opportunities, qualify prospects, and reactivate dormant accounts in a fast-paced, target-driven environment.

The role requires fluent French (English also essential) and a willingness to travel to France occasionally. This hybrid role is based in Peterborough with 3 days in the office and 2 days remote.

Qualifications

• Fluent French and English.
• Confident outbound calling and perseverance.
• Experience in high-volume sales or lead generation helps.
• Strong CRM discipline and attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Generate and qualify B2B sales leads across EMEA.
• Make regular outbound calls to prospects and existing customers.
• Use phone, email, CRM and LinkedIn to support lead generation and reactivation.
• Identify needs, qualify opportunities, and pass strong leads to the sales team.
• Drive win-back campaigns for dormant customers and maintain CRM records.

Skills

French language

English language

Outbound sales

CRM usage

CRM & LinkedIn

Lead generation

Tools

CRM software

LinkedIn

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Job description

Do you speak fluent French?

Do you have sales experience?

Are you looking for your next long term hybrid working sales role, with a well-respected International company?

Are you able to commute to Peterborough in Cambridgeshire?

3 days office based - 2 days working from home

The Role:

We are looking for a high-energy, resilient, and commercially hungry Inside Sales Executive to support sales growth for our client, across EMEA.

This is a phone-led sales role focused on lead generation, lead qualification, customer reactivation, win-back activity and CRM-led pipeline development. The role will support the VP Sales - EMEA by identifying opportunities, contacting prospects, re‑engaging dormant customers and helping move leads through the sales pipeline.

This is not a passive sales support or admin role. We are looking for someone who is confident picking up the phone, comfortable being told no, and motivated to keep going until they create the opportunity. The right person will be thick-skinned, persistent, direct, proactive and able to work at pace.

Industry experience is not essential. We are more interested in attitude, energy, resilience and behaviour.

• This role could suit someone from: Inside sales, telesales, recruitment, a call centre, customer acquisition, lead generation or any other high-volume sales environment where they had to handle rejection, hit targets and keep moving.


• The successful candidate will use phone, email, CRM, and LinkedIn to identify, qualify, and convert opportunities across key European markets. They will need to be proactive, organised, and confident speaking to customers and prospects across different countries, customer types, and levels of seniority.


• Being fluent French is essential, Italian and/or German would also be a strong advantage.


• This hybrid working role is based in Peterborough 3 days per week, with potential travel once per quarter to France to meet with clients.

More Detail:

• Generate and qualify new B2B sales leads across EMEA.


• Make regular outbound calls to prospects, existing customers, and dormant accounts.


• Use phone, email, CRM and LinkedIn to support lead generation and customer reactivation.


• Identify customer needs, qualify opportunities, and pass strong leads to the relevant sales team member.


• Drive structured win-back campaigns for dormant or lapsed customers.


• Maintain accurate CRM records, pipeline updates, customer notes, and activity tracking.


• Follow up quotes, enquiries, samples, and open opportunities to help drive conversion.


• Build and maintain relationships with retailers, designers, architects, studios, and trade customers.


• Stay close to customer feedback, market trends, competitor activity, and buying behaviour across EMEA.


• Support the VP Sales - EMEA with pipeline activity, reporting, customer insight, and market feedback.


• Work closely with sales, marketing, and customer service to ensure opportunities are followed through properly.


• Represent the brand with confidence, energy, and professionalism.

The Person:

• Fluent French and English.


• Italian and/or German would be highly desirable.


• Confident and comfortable making outbound sales calls.


• Thick-skinned, resilient and not easily knocked back.


• High energy, self-motivated and commercially driven.


• Hungry to win, with a strong sense of ownership and urgency.


• Comfortable handling rejection, objections and challenging conversations.


• Excellent communication and listening skills.


• Able to qualify customer needs and identify commercial opportunities.


• Comfortable handling objections and pushing opportunities forward.


• Strong CRM discipline, with excellent attention to detail.


• Organised, methodical, and able to manage multiple follow-ups at once.


• Target-driven and comfortable working to KPIs.


• Proactive, persistent, and confident using phone, email, CRM and LinkedIn as sales tools.

Experience:

• Previous experience in inside sales, lead generation, recruitment, call centre sales, sales development, telesales, customer reactivation, or B2B customer development is preferred.


• Experience in a high-volume outbound calling or target-led environment would be highly relevant.


• Experience using CRM software to manage leads, customer activity, pipeline, and sales opportunities is strongly preferred.


• Experience using LinkedIn Sales Navigator or similar prospecting tools would be advantageous.


• Experience working with European customers or international markets would be beneficial.


• Experience working to targets, KPIs, call volumes, conversion goals, or pipeline measures would be advantageous.


• Must be comfortable in a phone-led, outbound sales environment.

This is a varied, fast-paced and rewarding sales role, utilising your French language skills speaking to International clients. Full training and support is provided with genuine opportunities to progress within the business.

The salary available for this role is £32,000-£35,000 basic, plus performance-related commission.

Advancing People - The Recruitment Specialist

Advancing People Ltd is an Equal Opportunities Employer and acts as both an Employment Business and Employment Agency