Retail Account Manager

• Job Title:: Retail Key Account Manager
• Name of Employer: DK Tools
• Industry: Hand Tools and DIY Products
• City/Town: Nationwide (Home Based with UK Travel)
• Type of Employment: Permanent
• Annual Salary: £50,000 + company vehicle
• Bonus: OTE £62,500, uncapped

About You

You believe great account management is about creating opportunities, not simply maintaining relationships.

You enjoy understanding how your customers make money, where they’re losing opportunities and how you can help them improve.

Rather than waiting for customers to call, you proactively identify opportunities, ask commercially intelligent questions and bring ideas that genuinely add value.

You enjoy building trusted relationships, but you’re equally comfortable challenging customers when there’s a better commercial approach.

You’re organised, commercially curious and comfortable managing your accounts through CRM rather than memory.

Most importantly, you see yourself as part of a wider commercial team. You understand that the best outcomes come from bringing together marketing, sourcing, operations and customer insight—not simply carrying a catalogue and taking orders.

If your idea of account management is visiting customers for a coffee and processing repeat orders, this isn’t the role for you.

About the RoleYou are joining the team to

Become the trusted commercial partner for a portfolio of strategically important customers, helping them grow their businesses through insight, collaboration and proactive account development so that sustainable growth becomes a natural outcome for both your customers and DK Tools.

Your average customer may include

• Independent hardware retailers
• DIY retailers
• Cash & Carry operators
• Growing regional retail groups
• High-potential independent merchantsYour portfolio will typically consist of approximately 30–50 strategically important customers, selected because of their existing value or future growth potential. Your accounts run from roughly £20–30k a year up to £100-200k.

Success in your first year looks like

• Growing profitable growth across your portfolio through proactive commercial account management.
• Building relationships with key decision makers across your customer accounts.
• Creating measurable opportunities through structured account reviews rather than reactive visits.
• Becoming a trusted source of market intelligence for both your customers and the wider DK Tools business.
• Building strong internal relationships with Marketing, Sourcing, Customer Service and Operations to create tailored customer solutions.
• Maintaining excellent CRM discipline with accurate forecasting and pipeline visibility.To achieve this, you will
• Take ownership of a portfolio of approximately 30–50 strategic customer accounts.
• Develop meaningful commercial account plans for every customer.
• Identify opportunities to increase sales, improve product mix and strengthen customer performance.
• Conduct structured business reviews focused on commercial growth.
• Build relationships with key decision makers across customer organisations.
• Use HubSpot to manage opportunities, forecasting and account activity.
• Work closely with Marketing to support promotions, campaigns and customer engagement.
• Collaborate with internal teams to develop tailored commercial solutions.
• Capture market intelligence and competitor activity that influences wider business decisions.
• Add value during every customer interaction by bringing insight rather than simply taking orders.Activity Expectations

Success in this role comes from purposeful commercial activity, not simply maintaining relationships.

You’ll manage your diary independently, balancing customer visits with telephone, video and CRM-based account development.

Every customer interaction should have a commercial objective—whether identifying new opportunities, reviewing performance, introducing new products, improving merchandising or sharing market insight.

You’ll be expected to maintain an accurate HubSpot pipeline, forecast confidently and proactively identify opportunities before customers ask for them.

The strongest performers won’t rely solely on face-to-face meetings. They’ll know when a visit adds value and when technology provides a faster, more effective solution.

Reward

• Basic: £50,000 + company vehicle
• On-target bonus: £12,500
• OTE £62,500, uncapped
• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, pension, employee discount, structured onboarding
• Home-based, nationwide, with UK travelEssential Criteria
• Experience managing and growing business-to-business customer accounts.
• Demonstrable evidence of growing existing customer revenue.
• Strong consultative selling and questioning skills.
• Experience managing opportunities using a CRM system.
• Excellent commercial planning and forecasting ability.
• Comfortable travelling nationally and managing your own diary.
• Strong communication skills across telephone, video and face-to-face meetings.
• A proactive, ownership-driven approach to account management.Advantageous Criteria
• Experience selling into independent retail, merchant or distribution channels.
• Experience using HubSpot.
• Experience working with product promotions or merchandising.
• Knowledge of hand tools, hardware or DIY sectors.
• Experience working closely with marketing or cross-functional commercial teams.About Us

DK Tools designs, sources and supplies hand tools and DIY products to retailers throughout the UK. Working with independent retailers, regional groups and national customers, we combine product expertise with marketing support, customer service and operational excellence to help our customers grow.

As the business continues investing in CRM, technology and commercial capability, we’re building a modern sales organisation focused on long-term customer success rather than transactional selling.

Our Culture

We’re building a sales team that embraces change.

We value curiosity, ownership and continuous improvement. We expect people to use technology, collaborate across departments and constantly look for better ways of serving customers.

You’ll receive coaching, feedback and support—but we’ll also expect you to challenge yourself, adopt new ideas and continually improve how you work.

Helping our customers grow is at the centre of every commercial decision we make.

Your Team

You’ll report into the sales leadership team and work closely with Marketing, Customer Service, Operations and Sourcing.

You’ll receive structured onboarding, regular coaching and ongoing support to help you continually improve your commercial effectiveness while contributing insight back into the wider business.

Benefits

• Company vehicle
• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays
• Pension scheme
• Employee discount
• Structured onboarding programme
• Ongoing coaching and mentoring
• Modern CRM, marketing and technology support
• Opportunity to shape the future of a growing commercial sales teamPay: From £50,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Company car
• Company pension
• Work from homeWork Location: Hybrid remote in England