Vacancy - Sales Manager - Boatshed Business Sales

As part of our 2015 initiative to expand the Boatshed Boat Sales Network across our international territories, we shall be recruiting sales personnel to promote, market and sell Boatshed businesses and Boatshed business products, who shall work alongside the Boatshed Business Development Manager.

The first sales role will focus on available territories in the UK and Ireland. We anticipate similar sales roles in due course for territories in Europe, the USA, Asia and the Far East.

The job specification

We encourage all applicants including: those currently known to Boatshed; from within the marine sector; existing members of the Boatshed organisation and from other business sectors, to apply.

  • Vacancy: Sales Manager - Boatshed Business Sales
  • Full time employee
  • £45,000 pa OTE (on target earnings, including commission and bonus)
  • Use of company vehicle. Mobile phone. Uniform provided
  • Based in Gosport, Hampshire. Operating throughout the UK and Ireland
  • Reporting to the Business Development Manager and Managing Director

About Boatshed

Boatshed is one of the largest international yacht brokerages in the world, specialising in the sale and purchase of second-hand sail and motor boats. The original business was set up in Milford Haven Marina 15 years ago and has grown into a major international business and is a cornerstone of the yacht brokerage industry in the UK and overseas. About 10 years ago, the business was re-organised around a franchise model, which has proved highly successful.

  • Today, we have 53 franchises
  • Approx 120 specialist brokers, used boat sales agents and representatives
  • Operating from 63 locations
  • In 18 countries - the UK being the busiest region.
  • Our local franchises are supported by a central Head Office team of 10 professionals.

Boatshed’s physical presence, offices and regional representation is only part of what the company offers. Boatshed’s online sales platform is the very best in the industry. We have pioneered the clear and transparent marketing and sale of used boats online.

Our IT systems are constantly being developed and improved by our team of designers to make it easier, quicker and more cost effective for our boat owners to list and sell boats, and for our customers to find the right boat at the right price as quickly as possible.

Sales Manager - Boatshed Business Sales:

To date we have developed our network of local offices through mainly organic growth of our franchise model, without a dedicated business sales manager, or a proactive approach to selling franchises or recruiting sales agents. Going forward, to support the extensive expansion of our franchise and boats sales network, we are creating the new role of Sales Manager - Boatshed Business Sales, to take on the primary function of selling Boatshed franchise businesses and other Boatshed business products, to the yacht broker market throughout the UK and Ireland.

What this role will involve:

The Sales Manager’s primary focus and activity will be:

  • To identify, search-out, create and develop leads and sales opportunities for Boatshed Business Products & Services [see below] in marine centres in the UK and Ireland, where Boatshed is not already operating, including coastal marinas and inland waterways.
  • To market, promote and ‘sell’ Boatshed Business Products & Services
  • To successfully negotiate the sale of Boatshed Business Products & Services to yacht brokers in those areas.

The Sales Manager shall be based at Boatshed’s head office in Royal Clarence Yard Marina, in Gosport, but it is expected that he/she will spend the majority of his/her time travelling around the UK/attending sales events etc., to meet prospective franchisees and sales agents, and to promote and sell Boatshed Business Products & Services, as a result of leads generated and developed by the Sales Manager.

Required Skills and Experience:

The ideal candidate will come from an established sales/rep. background and have solid experience of successfully developing and implementing strategies and techniques for selling services and products, developing from the ground up worthwhile leads and selling services and products within a marketplace himself/herself.

Be capable and experienced enough to operate alone in a competitive sales environment, representing Boatshed in dealings with potential franchisee yacht brokers and prospective customers of other Boatshed Business.

Products & Services.

Be able to comprehensively take onboard, understand and discuss knowledgeably, Boatshed’s franchise arrangements and standard licensing agreement, contracts and business products that the Sales Manager will be required to sell, after thorough product training that will be provided by the company.

Be familiar and comfortable with IT Systems and resources, plus cloud based products and SaaS platforms, including relevant and commonly used internet terminology and techniques, necessary to support his/her sale of Boatshed’s online business products and services. A keen interest in technology and the internet will be a key part of the position.

Have excellent personal, social and communication skills and be accustomed to dealing with the public, and representing a well-known brand before a wide cross-section of individuals and in differing circumstances, to achieve sales.

Be a dynamic, professional, hard working, results focussed, ambitious person, who is well organised and self-motivated, familiar with the challenges, opportunities and rewards associated with commission based sales.

Have a full UK driving license.

Whilst knowledge and experience of boat sales, or the used boat brokerage sector, would be useful, such experience is not a prerequisite for the ideal candidate. Demonstrating a strong, sustainable, ability to deliver sales will be more important.

Boatshed Business Products & Services:

The Sales Manager will be required to sell various business products and services developed by Boatshed which enable yacht brokers and marine companies to sell new and used motor and sail boats (“Boatshed Business Products & Services”). These products and services currently are:

  • Franchises. The traditional and most popular way for a broker to join the Boatshed network is for that person to become a local franchise business operating in an exclusive territory under license from Boatshed, utilising Boatshed’s entire suite of online boat sales services and products. Franchises retail at £30,000. The Sales Manager will receive a significant commission upon the sale of each franchise.
  • Partnerships. These are similar to franchises but are structured around partial and deferred capital payments, and equity sharing with Boatshed. The Sales Manager will receive a significant commission upon the sale of each Partnership, paid throughout the year from boat sales revenues achieved.
  • Central Sales Agents. As well as operating franchises, Boatshed sells boats direct to customers in various locations in the UK and elsewhere, through its ‘Central Sales’ brand. Recruiting boat sales agents to that brand will be the responsibility of the Sales Manager and the Sales Manager will share in ongoing sales commissions generated by recruited agents.
  • Yacht Broker Pro. This is a new, exciting, Boatshed product, which allows yacht brokers outside the Boatshed network to use and benefit from Boatshed’s industry leading boat sales software and IT upon payment of a monthly fee. The Sales Manager will be responsible for selling Yacht Broker Pro to yacht brokers who want the benefit of Boatshed’s software, but do not yet want to join the Boatshed network, and the Sales Manager will receive ongoing commissions on fees generated.

Training:

The successful candidate will, upon joining Boatshed, undergo extensive training designed to familiarise him/her with the company, its franchise network and software, and introduce the boat sales sector.

Whilst the Sales Manager’s primary and initial focus will be selling Boatshed Business Products & Services in the UK and Ireland, that activity might eventually be extended to areas in Europe and elsewhere.

Remuneration: £45,000 (OTE):
£15,000 pa basic salary.
Significant Commission upon the sale of Boatshed Business Products & Services. Commission will be payable to the Sales Manager as per ‘Boatshed’s Business Sales Commission Arrangements’, which shall form part of his/her employment contract. It is expected that the Sales Manager will earn commission of no less than £30,000 pa (based upon the sale of 5 franchise licenses a year). There is no overall cap on commission payments to the Sales Manager.
Bonus. Boatshed will pay an annual discretionary bonus assessed upon the performance of the Sales Manager and the business.

Applications by email with full cv, covering letter and photo to: chriscapel@boatshed.com

Notes on Commission - This is considered to a conservative, achievable, target, based upon the company’s experience of successfully selling franchise licenses during the previous 10 years without the advantage of a dedicated sales manager or a proactive sales strategy, and without including commissions on sales of the other Boatshed products & services that will also be earned by the sales manager. In practice, a successful sales manager could earn considerably more than this amount by selling the company’s entire range of products and services.