Laura J Hassett
Trentham,Staffordshire
Summary
Career-focused professional specialising in strategic account management and sales growth. Known for fostering strong client relationships and maximising business opportunities. Skills include innovative problem-solving, leadership, and strategic planning, ensuring consistent delivery of high-quality outcomes that exceed client expectations.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
6
6
years of post-secondary education
Work History
Strategic Account Manager
Unipart Rail
Crewe, Cheshire East
01.2014 - 05.2025
- Responsible for £9m+ turnover across five Tier 1 accounts
- Lead the strategic planning and management of five strategic customer accounts, delivering over £9 million in annual turnover.
- Manage and develop two Key Account Managers, ensuring high standards of customer engagement and team performance.
- Implement tailored Customer Engagement Plans to drive business growth through sales expansion and new business acquisition.
- Deliver consistent sales growth and profit improvement aligned with business strategy via proactive, data-driven account management.
- Conduct quarterly reviews with internal stakeholders and key customer contacts to align goals and enhance collaboration.
- Monitor and review customer KPIs, working closely with Supply Chain Operations to implement service improvements and exceed expectations.
- Oversee end-to-end Bid Management process—from PQQ through to contract award—including P&L modelling and Board Paper submissions.
- Support Finance in preparing P&L statements, ensuring accurate forecasting and achievement of target margins (PBIT).
- Hold commercial accountability for signing off quotes over £50k, focusing on margin improvement while securing sales.
- Introduce strategic business propositions to strengthen customer relationships and unlock opportunities across other business units.
- Collaborate with Procurement and Inventory teams on demand forecasting and new product launches.
- Work closely with the Commercial Team to develop bid propositions tailored to customer requirements and future opportunities.
- Perform financial analysis on sales performance to identify margin enhancement and sales protection opportunities through strategic pricing actions.
- Coordinated cross-functional teams, ensuring streamlined execution of projects.
- Negotiated favourable contract terms with strategic planning and effective communication skills.
- Performed detailed data analysis to drive strategic decision making.
- Streamlined customer communication channels, enhancing overall responsiveness.
- Identified new business opportunities by analysing market trends and competitor activities.
Commercial Account Manager- Network Rail
Unipart Rail
09.2011 - 12.2013
- Main responsibilities were to ensure excellence for all account activities including delivery performance, customer satisfaction, monitoring and making essential improvements.
- Using knowledge from developed customer relationships understood requirements and transferred these in to daily operational tasks.
- Worked closely with Customers and internal teams to improve account performance to ensure SLAs were achieved.
- Successfully completed a Standard Work Project for the development of KPl reports, by streamlining the processes this saw cost savings and time savings to the company.
- Analysed financial data to identify and maximise opportunities, resulting in extra sales and protected existing sales.
- Supported the compilation of tender responses for commercial bids/propositions and preparation of associated business cases.
- Used and maintained the CRM system to manage opportunities and bids also using Achilles for research for bid submission.
Key Account Manager - Network Rail
Unipart Rail
12.2009 - 08.2011
Helpdesk and Cable Team Senior
Unipart Rail
01.2008 - 11.2009
Customer Service Team Senior
Pipex Homecall Ltd
09.2006 - 12.2007
- Company Overview: Communications Service Provider
- Main responsibilities were to oversee all aspects of the team, to achieve sales targets and to provide high standards of customer care, ensure 'best practice' for all customers.
- Approached to undertake and lead a new project 'improving internal and interdepartmental communications', with the objective of raising standards and methods of communication within the business.
- After successfully achieving this, asked to help to implement this new process within the departments of the company, whilst maintaining customer care service levels and sales within the team.
- Communications Service Provider
Screwfix Contract
Lynx Express Ltd
06.2005 - 09.2006
- Main responsibilities were to ensure a high standard of customer care and maintain service levels for one of the company's biggest customer- Screwfix Ltd.
- Dealing with customer delivery enquiries and liaising with 32 delivery branches across the Lynx network.
- Identifying the cause of delivery failures, resolved escalated complaints and promptly dealing with 'sameday' enquiries.
- Maintaining high standards of customer care and 'best practice' to exceed company and customers set KPI target.
Education
A-Levels - Psychology, History, English Literature, General Studies
Newcastle-u-Lyme College of Further Education
09.2003 - 05.2005
GCSEs - Drama,Religious Ed.,English Lang/Lit,History,Textiles,French, Science, I.C.T, Maths
Clayton High School
09.1998 - 05.2003
Skills
- Knowledge of Word/Excel and Access
- SAP user
- Contract Literacy and experience of bid submission
- Ability to assess profit margin and loss analysis
- Capability to communicate at all levels
- SPIN and Sales excellence Core Skills
- Qualified in First Line Management and EXPECT training course
- Communication with basic understanding of French
- Emergency First Aid at work Qualified – Level 3 Award (RQF)
Accomplishments
· Achieved a Mark In Action Award 2019 – Presented by John Neil
· Awarded a Leadership Award for excellence in Customer Service nominated by Exec board 2015
· Developed and implemented Digital customer solution which offers savings to both Company & Customer c. £28k p/a
· Presented to CEO and gained group recognition for Digital solution
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Strategic Account Manager
Unipart Rail
01.2014 - 05.2025
Commercial Account Manager- Network Rail
Unipart Rail
09.2011 - 12.2013
Key Account Manager - Network Rail
Unipart Rail
12.2009 - 08.2011
Helpdesk and Cable Team Senior
Unipart Rail
01.2008 - 11.2009
Customer Service Team Senior
Pipex Homecall Ltd
09.2006 - 12.2007
Screwfix Contract
Lynx Express Ltd
06.2005 - 09.2006
A-Levels - Psychology, History, English Literature, General Studies
Newcastle-u-Lyme College of Further Education
09.2003 - 05.2005
GCSEs - Drama,Religious Ed.,English Lang/Lit,History,Textiles,French, Science, I.C.T, Maths
Clayton High School
09.1998 - 05.2003
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