Retention Executive

Department: Sales 

Status: Full time, permanent                                

Location: Sheffield or Talbot Green, 3 days office, 2 days from home

Reporting to: Retention Director

Works with: Customer Success, Sales Management, Software Sales Specialists

Direct reports: N/A

Our Vision

We power schools and enable great teaching worldwide, by creating intelligent online products and services to make the greatest difference in education.

Basic scope and primary objectives:

This is a fast-paced customer facing role with 2 key objectives:

1) improving the levels of retention of our customer base – a) by rapidly engaging with customers that have decided to cancel one or more of the services they receive from Tes, you will seek to understand their reasons for cancellation, identify customer pain points and propose solutions to retain them and b) by proactively winning-back lapsed/lost customers

2) increasing revenues by upgrading customers to higher-end, higher value products to meet the needs of their school - by understanding and targeting our existing customers, understanding their needs and demonstrating the value of higher value packages. In 2023 and 2024 you will also be responsible for transitioning any legacy contract Recruitment customers on to the Staff Management solution, achieving revenue targets for these.

On 1) you will be assigned accounts on a rotation basis with the other Retention & Growth Executives and on 2) you work within a within a defined account base.

Your focus will be on customer and revenue retention and growth of revenues, and this is where performance and reward will be focused.

You will have expertise in one or multiple software products and will be part of a Software sales team, which is one of the sales teams within the Tes sales structure selling our range of software solutions. Your product focus may change from time to time.

Key role responsibilities

• Meet revenue and customer retention targets and key performance indicators set by the business.
• Meet customer and revenue growth targets and key performance indicators set by the business.
• Make a high number of daily calls with customers who have served notice of cancellation.  
• Make a high number of daily calls to engage in Discovery conversations with targeted accounts and build a pipeline of upgrade opportunities. 
• Build and manage a pipeline of sales growth opportunities through the sales funnel applying consistent sales process and methodology.
• Accurate retention and revenue growth forecasting.
• Maintain the CRM at all times, ensuring detailed notes are captured for use by the Customer Success team (for retained customers) and Software Executives (for future win-back).
• Maintain a high of level market and product knowledge, including competitor offerings and product positioning.
• Apply consistent sales process and methodology to retain customers.
• Work with the Customer Success team to create plans to drive value for retained customers.

Education and experience requirements

• Experience in a high-paced telesales customer retention/account growth management role.
• Drive for Results – you will strive to achieve and exceed targets set by the business. You will be motivated by this. You will take personal responsibility for delivering your own performance. You will honestly appraise your own performance recognising what needs to be done differently and taking appropriate action.
• Tenacity and dogged determination – the ability to keep going in the face of rejection.
• Excellent oral communication and verbal reasoning skills – an ability to build rapport quickly, ask insightful questions, great listening skills, the ability to be able to handle and deflect objections and the ability to demonstrate Tes’s software solutions expertly.
• Good influencing skills – you will make an immediate and lasting impression on others, you will be able to adjust your communication and selling style to meet the needs of different customers.
• The ability to quickly understand the market, customer base, competition and Tes software solutions - allowing you to understand what keeps different stakeholders up at night and be able to position tailored value propositions to prospective customers.
• The ability to close in a sales environment – asking for and gaining commitment to a next step.
• Aptitude and confidence to deal with different types of stakeholder and varying degrees of seniority.
• Detail oriented – you will plan and use your time effectively, ensure records in the CRM are always maintained and provide accurate revenue and opportunity forecasts. 
• Good team player – you will participate actively in the team.
• Strategic thinking – you will be able to explain how your role contributes to the overall business goals/success.
• Passion for Customers – You will demonstrate a sense of pride in the organisation, brand and products.

Tes Values:

We work together

We share a common goal to deliver our Tes Vision, working together in a transparent and open way, to solve problems rather than to apportion blame

We include everyone

We believe in the diversity of people, ideas and cultures, providing everyone with the opportunity to contribute and grow, and to make our business better

We take ownership

We all have a vital role to deliver our vision and a responsibility to make the biggest difference possible to our customers and to Tes

We never stand still

In everything we do, we work to improve our products and services, and to deliver on both our individual and our common goals

We do it for them

We’re committed to providing schools and teachers with the tools they need to improve children’s lives through education