PETER KIRSTEN
Cobham, Surrey,
Summary
- Leadership and communication skills to develop successful relationships with key customer and internal stakeholders.
- Proactive approach to coordinate multiple resources to achieve the desired outcome for the customer and business.
- Appetite and ability to learn to make myself an industry expert.
- Making business introductions and presenting value propositions to respectfully challenge, direct and influence customers in their own best interest.
Overview
13
13
years of professional experience
Work history
Real Estate Agent
Realty1 International Property Group
Stilbaai, Western Cape, South Africa
05.2024 - 12.2025
- Face-to-face, consultative sales and lettings of residential and commercial properties.
- Generated new leads through daily outbound telephone calls and emails.
- Scheduled and attended property viewings to progress sales and rental income opportunities.
Business Development Manager
Brakes
London
06.2022 - 04.2024
- Face-to-face, consultative selling of FMCG foodservice supply solutions (ambient, chilled, and frozen food and beverage products) to hotels, restaurants and wholesalers in London.
- Generated own leads and managed full sales cycle of interactions through Salesforce CRM to win new customers and provide clear pipeline/forecasting visibility to the business.
- Built successful partnerships with key stakeholders at all levels of customer businesses (operations, administration and C-level) to ensure customer success and loyalty.
- Achieved 250% of profit margin target in first year and rose to no.1 ranked BDM out of 20 in second year achieving over 200% vs 2023/2024 profit margin target.
- Notable new customers won: Edwardian Hotels London Group, Riu Plaza Hotel London Victoria, and Curzon Cinemas Group.
London Area Sales Manager
Matthew Algie
London
12.2021 - 06.2022
- Face-to-face, B2B, consultative selling of coffee solutions including machines and service plans, coffee, consumables and accessories to independent cafés, small-chain coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, gastro-pubs, sports and leisure centres and corporate offices.
- Winning new business accounts from pipeline of self-generated leads and generating profitable revenue growth from base of existing accounts through proactive customer support.
Career Break From Sales
Part-Time
London
12.2020 - 11.2021
- COVID-19 redundancy from previous role at Nisbets.
- Career break from sales owing to worldwide economic collapse caused by global lock-downs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Part-time employment during this career break from sales included jobs in construction and dog-sitting/dog-walking.
Key Account Manager | Hotels
Nisbets
London
02.2017 - 11.2020
- Face-to-face, B2B, consultative selling of commercial catering equipment and FMCG cleaning and consumable supplies to luxury hotels in London.
- Used the challenger sales methodology to win new business and grow existing accounts.
- Analysed sales data from CRM to identify sales opportunities.
- Coordinated multiple resources internally at Nisbets plus externally with customers, manufacturers and logistics partners to ensure successful delivery/installation of projects.
- Achieved year-over-year revenue growth of 30% and over 100% to annual sales revenue and profit margin targets consecutively in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Rose to no.1 ranked KAM out of 50 in my second year and consistently maintained a top 3 ranking in all 3 years.
- Managed and achieved significant revenue and profit margin growth from the following account groups: Marriott Hotels London Group, Melia Hotels UK Group, Maybourne Hotels UK Group, and Mildreds Restaurant Group.
Account Manager
DHL Express UK
London
04.2016 - 01.2017
- Selling of shipping solutions to manufacturing, retail, e-commerce and service-based businesses across all industries.
- New business development and account management responsibilities.
- Built successful partnerships with key stakeholders at all levels of customer businesses (operations, administration and C-level) to ensure customer success was achieved.
- Analysed usage data from shipping software to identify opportunities to up-sell/cross-sell services to maximise revenue from existing customers.
- Negotiated pricing to maximise revenue and profitability across full range of services.
- Cross-functional coordination with DHL operations departments to ensure customer success through the seamless and efficient delivery of services.
- Daily proficient use of CRM system to track and manage meaningful interactions with leads, prospects and customers.
Account Executive
UPS
London
06.2013 - 03.2016
- Selling of shipping solutions to manufacturing, retail, e-commerce and service-based businesses across all industries.
- New business development and account management responsibilities.
- Built successful partnerships with key stakeholders at all levels of customer businesses (operations, administration and C-level) to ensure customer success was achieved.
- Analysed usage data from shipping software to identify opportunities to up-sell/cross-sell services to maximise revenue from existing customers.
- Negotiated pricing to maximise revenue and profitability across full range of services.
- Cross-functional coordination with UPS operations departments to ensure customer success through the seamless and efficient delivery of services.
- Daily proficient use of CRM system to track and manage meaningful interactions with leads, prospects and customers.
Education
Bachelor of Arts - BA (Honours) Open degree in Economics and Spanish
The Open University
Milton Keynes, England /2021 -
Matriculation Exemption (University Entrance Qualification)
Wynberg Boys' High School
Cape Town, South Africa /1991 - /1995
TEAM MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE
Sales Manager (2011-2012)
Archant , London
- Lead B2B outbound sales team for "daily deals" startup operating in the same marketplace as well-known daily deals companies like Groupon and LivingSocial.
- Team management and business development responsibilities to create partnerships/negotiate profitable revenue share terms with small businesses/online retailers to ensure healthy pipeline of new "daily deals" to offer on our website.
Sales Manager (2008-2010)
Virgin Active Health Clubs , London
- B2C health club membership sales.
- Hire/train/coach/motivate/manage team of Sales Consultants.
- Develop local marketing plan and coordinate sales activity to generate leads.
- Ensure delivery of team targets for sales revenue and activity KPIs.
- Provide 121 support for development of Sales Consultants.
Area Sales Manager (2005-2008)
Ultralife Nutrition Ltd , U.K.
- B2B sales of sports nutrition and lifestyle supplements to specialist retail stores, pharmacies and health clubs in regional territory.
- New business development and account management responsibilities to increase profitable revenue/market share.
- Hire/manage part-time promotions staff to deliver customer support.
WHY HIRE ME?
- I've got 20 years of experience selling goods and services B2B and B2C within multiple industries while based in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
- My previous roles have included a combination of hunting for new logo business as well as account management to increase revenue from an existing account base.
- During my years of working for multinational companies UPS, DHL and Virgin, I benefited from their world-class sales training courses and acquired advanced sales skills including developing sales strategies, value propositions and adopting a consultative sales approach to provide a solution to a complex problem. I'm also well-read in different sales methodologies and consider myself a natural "Challenger".
- I've got well-developed soft skills, my personal interests are wide-ranging and I'm well travelled which means I can almost always find a common interest and understanding with the people I meet and this has always helped me as a sales professional.
- I'm currently studying a BA (Honours) Open degree in Economics and Spanish (part-time distance learning with The Open University) alongside my full-time sales job, so I'm constantly adding new analytical, critical thinking and problem solving skills to my existing sales experience.
Timeline
Real Estate Agent
Realty1 International Property Group
05.2024 - 12.2025
Business Development Manager
Brakes
06.2022 - 04.2024
London Area Sales Manager
Matthew Algie
12.2021 - 06.2022
Career Break From Sales
Part-Time
12.2020 - 11.2021
Key Account Manager | Hotels
Nisbets
02.2017 - 11.2020
Account Manager
DHL Express UK
04.2016 - 01.2017
Account Executive
UPS
06.2013 - 03.2016
Bachelor of Arts - BA (Honours) Open degree in Economics and Spanish
The Open University
/2021 -
Matriculation Exemption (University Entrance Qualification)
Wynberg Boys' High School
/1991 - /1995