Business Development Manager – National Accounts ZV-KK

Kuehne + Nagel AS; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 80,000

Job description

Are you thinking about accelerating your career with one of the most successful logistics organisations worldwide? Here at Kuehne+Nagel, we are looking for National Key Account Managers to manage some of our most strategic Customer accounts in the UK. If you excel in building strong relationships, managing stakeholders and have a passion for new business sales and growing existing portfolio of customers then this role is perfect for you!

Your Role

Reporting to our National Sales Director, this role will form a key part of our National Account Program and is a strategic key account management role responsible for the end-to-end commercial customer journey with a strong focus on business development activities to bring in new business sales as well as managing an existing dedicated portfolio of accounts. Our Key Account Managers are strategic consultants with the ultimate responsibility to understand our customers’ needs and requirements to enable us to propose solutions that add value and build long lasting partnerships. Acting as a trusted partner to customers, you’ll manage relationships, develop business strategies, and ensure alignment with our logistics services across all business units. Your role will focus on translating customer needs into actionable plans and driving business growth through strategic sales and account management.

Your Responsibilities

• Manage and develop key customer relationships for some of our largest UK multimodal accounts, aligning our logistics services with their needs.
• Drive new business development and sales initiatives by proactively identifying opportunities, ensuring a strong and sustainable pipeline with a high closing ratio.
• Onboard new business effectively to meet customer requirements and Kuehne+Nagel’s commitments. Collaborate with internal teams and specialists to ensure seamless client onboarding and service delivery.
• Plan and execute key account strategies by defining value propositions and solutions, partnering with internal business units to deliver excellent service.
• Be a trusted partner to customers, conducting regular review meetings to fully understand their business models and environments, ensuring alignment on strategy and priorities, and driving continuous improvement and innovation.
• Track and monitor monthly, quarterly, and annual performance by tracking critical KPIs and performance metrics.
• Drive ownership of your personal development utilising internal and external channels to maintain market leading product knowledge and sales skills.
• Work effectively with internal stakeholders to resolve escalations and ensure seamless operations.

Your Skills and Experiences

• Previous experience working in Key Account Management or Business Development within a freight forwarding or logistics environment.
• Proven experience of working in a business development role with a hunting bias and experience bringing on new business sales.
• Multimodal sales experience across Air, Road and Sea with a solid track record of large/national accounts.
• Advantageous to have knowledge and experience of a specialized vertical or sector within various verticals from the following: Aerospace, Defence, Automotive, Healthcare, Industrial, Consumer and Hi-Tech/semiconductor.
• Competitive mindset with excellent negotiation skills and a drive to achieve business goals.
• High customer orientation and strong communication skills for building collaborative and trusting relationships with key influencers within the customer organisation as well as within Kuehne+Nagel.
• Strategic mindset in proactively developing effective, long-term solutions for our customers, incorporating latest industry trends, and delivering continuous improvement.
• Willingness to nurture team engagement in building a strong national community of colleagues and customers that collaborate for mutual success.
• Flexibility for national travel as required.
• Data savvy and maintaining accurate forecasts in our CRM tool.
• Effective communication with the National Management Team and Business Unit leadership teams.

Good Reasons to Join

At Kuehne+Nagel, you can utilise and refine your relationship management skills and specialised business acumen as part of a committed and dynamic sales team. You will have the opportunity to really make an impact, bring strength and depth to the team and ultimately the onward career path could lead to progression to opportunities in our Global Accounts team. We offer extensive trainings and education for professional development, competitive remuneration, and ample opportunity to engage, collaborate and lead with a truly global network. Our employees particularly appreciate the high degree of creative freedom. If you would like to become a valued member of our team, we will make sure that you’re rewarded for your commitment and expertise. You can join the contributory Kuehne+Nagel pension plan and enjoy our Route 2 Rewards scheme which offers everything from discounts, benefit information, recognition and its own wellbeing centre. We care for our colleagues (and their immediate family) with our employee assistance programme providing access to 24/7 GP, legal and financial advice along with mental health counselling. All of this to help you live a happier and healthier life.