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Sales Executive – Publishing

Division: Advertising, Commercial

Location: 7 Playhouse Court, 62 Southwark Bridge Road, London, SE1 0AT

First Group Enterprises Ltd is a children’s media company whose vision is to enhance the lives of young people. The brands within the group are :

First News – the weekly children’s newspaper.
First News Education – learning resources linked to the newspaper
First Wonder Box – subscription boxes for 4-8 year olds
First Careers – a free website showcasing a huge variety of careers and work experience opportunities

This sales role is predominantly focused on First News and our exciting new digital proposition due to launch soon.

FIRST NEWS

The UK’s only weekly national newspaper for children, delivering news to 7–14 year olds in both print and digital form, the paper now boasts more than 2.2 million readers in homes and schools across the country each week.

Throughout its thirteen-year history, the ever-growing company has been at the forefront of exciting new developments in the publishing industry. The fast-paced, dynamic and lively working environment attracts people who are passionate about the work they do and driving the First News brand from strength to strength.

This is an excellent opportunity to join our progressive organisation offering ongoing career development with incentives for great performance in a fun and supportive environment. A great work-life balance is encouraged allowing you to enjoy and excel at what you do with a competitive salary.

The role: Sales Executive for First News

The successful candidate has the core objective to develop and grow revenue of new and existing advertisers through the effective management of an agency and client portfolio. The position provides an excellent opportunity to sell across a variety of revenue streams (partnerships, creative solutions, digital, display, direct marketing, video).

Attributes required

Experience selling to agencies and clients in a highly competitive market
Experience preparing sales material and proposals
Self-motivation coupled with a genuine desire to work in a B2B sales environment to enable you to hit the ground running and achieve targets
Experience in selling face to face and formal presentations
Creative solutions experience preferable
Digital ad sales experience beneficial
Sound understanding of the flat-plan & production process
Experience of the publishing sector is a plus, passion a must
Ability to construct different sales arguments for different audiences and to multi-task between portfolios
Good communication and excellent time management skills are essential
Strong team player
Can-do attitude
Confidence, self-assured personality with a strong commercial sense to ensure that you take ownership and ultimate responsibility of your success

The Sales Executive will:

be responsible for achieving and exceeding team monthly targets
develop and grow revenue
pro-actively sell the First Group Enterprises proposition in to agencies, clients and PRs – specifically First News.
effectively manage all personal agency/client portfolio through a fully integrated strategy
have active relationships with all key contacts across portfolio including key buying and planning agency contacts and direct clients
have specific, measurable performance improvement targets/goals for new, existing and lapsed advertisers
effectively adapt selling technique according to market conditions.
generate new business via telephone and meetings using a consultative approach
build a portfolio of clients to add to the ever-expanding client base
ensure that all competitor leads are chased and followed up at all times.

Presentation:

To create and present effective pitches showcasing First Group Enterprises products potential to maximum effect.
To confidently present on both a 1:1 basis or within a group.
To effectively prepare for all meetings and presentations.
To ensure all platforms are considered and where appropriate included in pitches.

Market knowledge:

To fully articulate First Group Enterprises proposition and its relevance to advertisers.
To be seen as an expert within the competitive set.
To demonstrate a broad knowledge of the market and have a sound understanding of trends.
To comprehend, interpret and present sales data to maximise advertising potential

To apply please send your CV and covering letter to [email protected]