Job Description

Business Development Senior Manager

Grade - B

Location - Glasgow/Edinburgh

This is an enormously exciting opportunity for a sales professional to represent KPMG across the Private Enterprise market in Scotland. Privately owned businesses – including start-ups, private equity backed, owner-managed, family-owned, inbound, and AIM listed – represent some of the most dynamic and impactful enterprises in the UK market. In this role you will be facing into that market on behalf of the firm, understanding businesses’ challenges and strategies, convening client contacts with KPMG professionals, and bringing a creative and entrepreneurial mindset to join the dots within our firm to deliver solutions of real value.

Market information

KPMG goes to market via the following market coverage groups across the UK: Financial Services, Corporates, Government, and Regions. The firm delivers services and solutions across three key capabilities: Audit, Tax, and Advisory. Forming a key part of our Regions group, KPE (“KPMG Private Enterprise”) in Scotland offers a full range of services to private capital businesses from our offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen.

The Business Development (“BD”) team in Scotland represent all KPMG capabilities and industry sectors. In this role you will have a geographical coverage area across Scotland.

Role and Responsibilities

Business development is a high-profile role within KPMG. Within the BD function we identify, target, and grow client accounts, and pursue and win new opportunities for the firm. The team’s priorities are client and opportunity origination, conversion, profitability and retention.

Our BD Managers engage on a daily basis with clients from pre-revenue scale-up, to multi-billion pound businesses. The team meets with contacts across the C-Suite and below to understand client focus areas, introduce KPMG’s expertise and ultimately generate new revenue for the firm. It is a dynamic, varied, challenging and fulfilling role.

You will play a crucial role in helping to drive the KPE business growth and will be part of a dynamic team with strong internal networks and support. Your role will be to define and manage a diverse portfolio of targets across the coverage area in order to drive opportunities and revenue for the firm. You will develop your own network and relationships at the clients, understand their issues and, from that, develop solutions and drive revenue.

Key internal stakeholders will be the Scotland Senior Partner, Client Lead Partners, Office Senior Partners, and heads of capability in Scotland. You will report to the Scotland Senior Partner.

Client relationships

• Spend 70-80% of time ‘in the market’ with contacts, identifying and gathering information on new client issues and opportunities, and introducing KPMG expertise accordingly
• Lead the targeting of businesses where KPMG has no existing relationship
• Deepen and broaden relationships at existing accounts to drive service line penetration
• Co-ordinate client relationship events and deliver return on investment through deepened relationships and increased opportunities
• Identify and build relationships with regional influencers: raising your profile with key businesses and multipliers, including sector specialists, lawyers, banks, etc

Sales excellence

• Work with Office Senior Partners to create and execute a focused targeting plan to develop relationships and optimise revenues
• Understand KPMG’s approach to managing the sales pipeline and converting opportunities
• Work with capability teams to develop effective, compelling propositions to meet clients’ needs
• Deploy rigorous sales processes, pricing, contracting and negotiation to support conversion
• Lead on account strategies, planning processes, client service meetings, client service reviews etc and ensure actions are completed
• Ensure CRM and pipeline management systems are kept up to date
• Support and champion initiatives to engage clients, upskill colleagues and drive sales opportunities
• Manage tenders and the pitch process, providing challenge and support. Ensure that our client knowledge is represented and inject the client perspective to develop clear USPs

Knowledge/communication/coaching

• Coach teams in sales/proposal best practice
• Share knowledge of sales and relationship management by seeking informal opportunities to coach and mentor colleagues at all levels
• Support Sales Activation Weeks and other knowledge sharing initiatives in the firm.
• Share best practice, market intelligence and understanding of ‘hot topics’ and how to broach them
• Understand the wider offerings of the firm and broader sector / client trends, issues and needs, as relevant across your portfolio
• Provide sales forecasts by involving all functions that can add value to the account, including regular meetings with all functions involved with, or targeting the account.

Measures of success

• Net sales by client / office revenue growth
• Pipeline and client meeting volumes
• New relationships and strengthened relationships
• Feedback from clients, partners and colleagues
• Performance relative to the BDM ‘gold standard’ behaviours
• Wider contribution to the regional sales effort

Qualifications, competencies and skills

• Good academics (degree level or equivalent) / professional qualification an advantage
• Strong experience of client-facing consultative sales and ability to drive value-adding business conversations with clients
• Tangible income generation evidence
• Demonstrable ability to deliver insights using knowledge of client issues and company solutions
• Confidence interacting at all levels internally and externally
• Good interpersonal, organisational and communication skills
• Effective networking skills
• Ability to understand complex client needs and KPMG propositions
• Gravitas, strong influencing skills and diplomacy
• Organised, pro-active, tenacious, and resilient