Key Account Manager

Overview

Working from home covering the South & South East (Including West Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and South West London and Surrounding areas).

The apetito Care Homes division is an award-winning team, partnering with 550+ care homes with over 21,000 residents enjoying our food every day. We are dedicated experts in the provision of food for older people, with chefs that create great food that we are all proud of.

Key Account Managers (KAMs) are responsible for winning new Care Homes business from smaller groups or homes that are independently owned. As Key Accounts make up approximately half of the UK market, our KAM team play a really important role in growing our business by attracting new partners.

The sales process will include food tastings where the KAM will show-off our simple ‘product-system-service’ solution. KAMs will also work closely with our Client Development Managers to mobilise new business and make sure that our partnership with new customers gets off to a positive and successful start.

As we pride ourselves on genuine partnerships, it is important that KAMs have excellent listening and questioning skills. This will give an important insight into the specific needs of potential partners and how the apetito system can best help them. KAMs will have excellent interpersonal skills and be able to quickly win the trust of a range of people that include Care Home owners, residents, loved ones and care & catering staff.

The KAM team has historically been a great introduction to apetito with successful KAMs going on to win promotion both within the Care Homes team and other apetito divisions.

Who we are

apetito is the UK’s leading food supplier to the health and social care sectors serving more than 1,300 care homes, health care and education settings.

Our meals are expertly crafted by our dieticians and chefs, and then frozen to lock in the goodness.

Wiltshire Farm Foods, our sister company, is the UK’s largest ready meal supplier cooking and delivering over 330 different delicious frozen ready meals across the UK.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities:

• New Business Development – individually responsible for generating new business growth with a personal sales target of £400k per annum. This equates to approx. 24 new accounts a year leads, converting new customers and winning new business.
• Generate and convert leads in local area in accordance with our business strategic targets (care home size, delivery efficiency and profitability).
• Identify, create, pursue and maintain a detailed database of prospects via CRM.
• Promote apetito throughout the Care Homes marketplace through extensive networking and events.
• Assist and support your colleagues (Client Development Managers) in achieving 95% account retention.
• Create strong internal working relationships with supporting departments and divisions.

Qualifications/Personal Qualities

Essential:

• Proven experience of achieving and exceeding sales targets through generating leads, converting new customers and winning new business.
• Consultative, solutions-led sales experience.
• Able to manage objections and negotiate profitable agreements.
• Proven experience of developing and managing an account relationship.
• Good O Levels / GCSEs to support a high standard of business communication skills and numerical analysis.
• Full UK driving licence for at least 2 years.

Desirable:

• Catering experience.
• Experience of the care sector.
• Food Hygiene training.

Personal Qualities:

• Able to demonstrate gravitas and credibility with senior level stakeholders.
• Resilient, tenacious and determined - persistent in pursuit of achievement.
• Strong influencing, negotiating, listening and communicating skills.
• Strong team working skills at all levels within an organisation, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and excellence in delivery.
• Must display a passion for this role and the business that we operate.

Due to the geography of this role and the nature of working with customers in care home settings, flexibility with working hours will be needed.

Travel to customers across the region and to national events, including overnight stays, will be a regular requirement - typically 1 night per week.

A company car is provided to facilitate this and a clean (or virtually clean) driving licence is essential.

As this role involves working with elderly and vulnerable customers, it is exempt from The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and requires a Standard DBS Disclosure.

Company Benefits

• Competitive salary – accredited Living Wage employer.
• Company car.
• 25 days holiday per year, plus bank holidays.
• Option to purchase up to 5 additional days holiday per year.
• Generous annual bonus scheme.
• Pension scheme - employer matched contributions up to 5%.
• Life assurance scheme worth 2x annual salary.
• Free turkey or voucher at Christmas.
• apetito perks scheme including salary sacrifice options and retail discounts.

Our Values

As a family-owned business, we take great pride in being a company that makes a real difference and is dedicated to creating outstanding meals to be proud of.

We develop a range of products designed to enhance health and well-being for all our customers.

We are driven by a passion for service and dedicated to feeding some of the UK’s most vulnerable people.

We proudly support British food and farming, focusing on using the best ethical and sustainable produce in alignment with our goal to reach Net Zero by 2040.

Our ethical standards are recognised by the ETI and we are an accredited Living Wage employer.

We embrace inclusion, empowering individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Our commitment to making a real difference extends to customers, communities, and staff and we're on a mission to build an inclusive workplace where everyone reaches their full potential.