Sales Support Lead

To join the UK Institutional and Insurance team as the lead of the sales support team. The sales support team’s function is to assist the sales directors in upselling to clients and prospecting for new clients. Lead is to coordinate and prioritise the work across the team of three (lead plus two) including meeting prep, event prep, data analysis, follow ups, management reporting, etc. Individual must collaborate with the Sales Enablement team to ensure data and insights are used optimally across the Sales team. Role is to work closely with Head of Sales, UK Institutional and Insurance.

Sales team covers a broad array of capabilities, client types including defined benefit (corporate and public sector), defined contribution, insurance, some charities, intermediaries such as independent trustees and field consultants.

In this role you will lead a sales support team to increase the capacity and quality of the UK Institutional sales effort clients across the range of the firm’s investment capabilities.

You will support the sales directors with meeting and event preparation, data queries and follow ups. You will track sales pipelines, ensuring timely follow up and accurate reporting on the status of opportunities.

You will assist with data mining to guide the team’s strategic and tactical execution plans, working in partnership with the Sales Enablement team.

In this role you will co-ordinate and collaborate with colleagues on the investment floor, client management, RFP, marketing, performance measurement and client reporting in order to provide deliverables in a timely manner.

You will help produce management information as required for the heads of the team:

• maintain execution plans
• monitor/update CRM system activities querying exceptions, and maintaining up-to-date lists for marketing and prospecting purposes
• periodic and ad hoc management reporting
• monitoring and reporting of sales team follow ups
• proactively identify needs and propose recommendations
• Grow and develop a high-quality support team supervising the efforts of the two other team members fostering close relationships with key business areas.
• Immediately escalate any risks to meeting required deadlines to the appropriate team member.

Key Capabilities

To be successful in this role you will have...

• Knowledge of Asset Management products (equities, fixed income, alternative investments, etc)
• Prior industry experience
• Proficiency with CRM platforms e.g. Salesforce, Seismic
• Strong organisation skills, ability to handle multiple tasks, project management and coordination experience
• Bachelors degree in Finance, Economics, Business or related field
• Team leadership experience

About Columbia Threadneedle Investments

Working at Columbia Threadneedle Investments you’ll find growth and career opportunities across all of our businesses.

We’re intentionally built to help you succeed. Our reach is expansive with a global team of 2,500 people working together. Our expertise is diverse with more than 650 investment professionals sharing global perspectives across all major asset classes and markets. Our clients have access to a broad array of investment strategies, and we have the capability to create bespoke solutions matched to clients’ specific requirements.

Columbia Threadneedle is a people business and we recognise that our success is due to our talented people, who bring diversity of thought, complementary skills and capabilities. We are committed to providing an inclusive workplace that supports the diversity of our employees and reflects our broader communities and client-base.

We appreciate that work-life balance is an important factor for many when considering their next move so please discuss any flexible working requirements directly with your recruiter.