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Location: Field Based (We have vacancies in various territories across the UK)
Business Area: UK Nutritional Healthcare

Accountabilities
The main focus of the BDE role is to maximise the sales and availability of Lucozade and Ribena brands and this is done through developing client specific sales strategies, including coming up with innovative ways to boost their turnover and through initiating new client relationships.

On a day to day basis my role involves account and outlet management, where the focus is on driving sales through the implementation of equipment (coolers and vendors). This is achieved by ensuring that the fundamentals such as appropriate category space, the right range and effective promotions are activated within outlets, meeting the needs of both the customer and the end consumer.

We do have an industry leading system to manage our My Customer profile, which is state of the art and helps to cut down on paperwork. Customers love our presentation formats too and we have a highly professional presenter tool to use in accounts. Our customers really appreciate the fact that we are not only experts in our own field but act as Category Captains too, focusing on a holistic total soft drinks approach.

There is administration too so I need to be organised in my day to day workings and ensure I am good at following processes too, but I can always count on help and guidance and ultimately its just great to work your own routine!

I also manage the implementation of national agreements within my designated sales territory, and have the responsibility of developing and implementing proposals with local customers.

Structure of the role
There are two divisions of BDE teams, one division of four area teams and one of five. In each area team there are eight BDE’s. BDE’s manage customers across a range of targetted channels including the workplace, hospitals, gyms/leisure clubs and colleges/universities. Within these calls, I use core skills such as negotiating, influencing and building rapport which are key to making the most of my time with the buyers.

Targets
The targets are largely focused around driving sales and availability of GSK brands through our asset base (coolers and vendors) to manage existing business and identifying new opportunities.

Career path

GSK believes in promoting people internally, rewarding high performance and this can be seen through other successful BDEs progression through the business to other roles such as Key Accounts and subsequently National Accounts roles. Broader experience can also be gained through opportunities in Shopper Marketing and Category Management. Some of our senior managers have originated from BDE roles. This gives me great confidence in the business to support my future career and development.

TotalReward and the GSK experience:

• The job itself is very varied, as each day brings a different challenge with different people.
• There’s a real sense of team togetherness, where we are all galvanised through regular meetings and briefings to ensure we are all kept fully up to date with business developments.
• Strong team spirit is also inspired through team builds and the business rates this very highly in terms of importance. The job itself builds a real sense of fun on a day to day level.
• Different bonus incentives including the annual holiday incentive each year which has a different exotic destination making it all the more exciting.

The business culture is multi faceted and we are encouraged to focus on various aspects within our day to day behaviour such as high performance and interdependent teamwork. All these are very much underpinned by our company ethos; Helping people enjoy active lives. The best way to describe not only our culture but an average day for a GSK BDE would be Work Hard, which is coupled with the fun Play Hard side of the business.

This information is being presented as of 12th June 2008 and is subject to change at the discretion of GSK

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