Victoria Lee

Dovecote Park are a complex business producing high quality Beef, Veal and Venison. My key responsibility is to deliver sales growth in Waitrose through coordinating all functions on site to deliver market leading products and volume driving promotions - all while giving focus to carcass balance and profit maximisation.

Navigating optimal sales performance while dealing with a struggling retailer, global pandemic and a product area under increasing pressure has been a welcomed challenge, growing the account from £122m in 2018 to £205m in 2025.

• Working autonomously managing the £205m Waitrose account
• Managing a large Own Label product portfolio across various product areas in Fresh and Frozen
• Responsible for all JBP planning along with agreeing £9m+ promotional spend
• Liaise with the finance department for accurate budget planning and control
• Improved profit margins with effective pricing strategies and recovery of inflation
• Fostered a collaborative work environment to encourage team productivity, attending product submissions with the team and supporting links between Production, Technical and NPD
• Pivotal in Continuous Improvement projects and driving these forward both internally and with the customer
• Addressed customer issues with compassion and professionalism, ensuring swift, successful resolution

Working through turbulent trading conditions and battling a declining market, the key within this role was to primarily protect and maintain the existing business with Sainsbury’s and develop the product portfolio to cultivate growth.

• Responsible for the management, motivation and development of the trading partnership between Greencore and Sainsbury’s and Waitrose whilst developing and delivering sustained profitable growth
• Identified and developed new business opportunities while maximising benefits for both parties through the development, negotiation and delivery of Joint Business Plans
• Managed a successful tender across multiple product areas securing a £10.6 million business with Sainsbury’s - I negotiated terms, pricing and expenditure within budget and agreed parameters
• Successfully won highly profitable £500k business with Waitrose, bringing a new customer to site. Managed the full process from costings and product development through to site sign off from both a Commercial and Technical perspective
• Work closely with all functions including NPD, Technical and Operations to ensure first class service to our customers

Responsible for the full account management of the Tesco Fresh Pork, Counters, Sausage and Scotch & Savoury business, with a combined turnover of £63m. Dealing directly with buyers and buying directors, duties include full commercial management, creating and signing off trade plans, category management, product development, budget planning, forecasting, market analysis and contract negotiation.

Key targets were to deliver volume, value and profitability through negotiation skills, promotional activity and establishing a credible working relationship with the buyer and other key departments. I am directly involved in the NPD process, category and technical functions.

• Recruited to manage Fresh Pork, but within a short time my responsibilities were extended across various product areas
• Despite business loss across the Tesco account, my product areas outperformed at 12% growth
• Managed 10 week turnaround on complete range relaunch
• Gained agreement on price increases which were equal or above the expected requirement
• Introduced new models for sales analysis, forecasting and promotional planning
• Identified, developed, and implemented new business opportunities

As NAM I focussed on achievement of all targeted KPI’s - Volume, Profitability, Market Share, Sales – and delivering Marketing and Commercial objectives with the customer to achieve the JBP. I worked closely with the Category and NPD Managers to drive incremental listings and distribution as a team while also implementing a promotional plan to increase sales and profitability

• Co-op Account growth of 18%
• Morrisons Bacon in growth of 32%
• Recovered failing tender for Morrisons Sausage business – additional £6m per annum
• Improved profitability due to effective delists and new listings
• Brand growth of 92% through listing of 2 additional lines and replacement of failing product
• Successfully delivered a cost price increase on key unprofitable lines
• Increased The Co-op’s share of trade within the Premium Sausage Category

Working at the Asda dedicated site I progressed through the Supply team into Category and Commercial roles. Highly pressured work environment which pushed me to my potential consistently.

• National Account Executive reporting directly to the Commercial Manager
• Worked autonomously on Counters (£6.5m business) dealing with the buyer in Asda
• Supported the Commercial Manager and SNAM across Beef, Sausage and Frozen
• Delivered +300% growth over Christmas on Counters Beef Joint, managing limited RM availability

• A role within the Sausage team, I worked across two sites. As category champions, I was the key Category contact for the Sausage buyer
• Fully literate with Kantar and the various metrics reviewed in Category work
• Developed key skills required for working in a commercial environment and gave me a wider industry and customer understanding

• Key link between the Supply and Commercial team both internally and in Asda
• My main focus was the control of availability and waste across all Asda stores for the full product range
• Reviewing current forecasts and suggesting changes as required
• I lead daily multi-supplier conference calls around availability – reviewed any issues/actions taken by suppliers and report this back to the supply base and traders

NAE reporting to the Asda and Tesco National Account Managers. Responsibilities across both Supply and Sales on these Accounts dealing with Supply Chain and the Buying Teams at H/O.

• Developed high capability on both TescoLink and Retail Link – Advanced Excel skills also resulted due to highly analytical nature of the role
• Data used daily to influence and analyse forecasts, review stock levels and analyse EPOS
• Promotional Analysis was also a large part of the role - Reviewing sales uplifts, promotional orders, Regional trends and performances above/below forecast

Northern Sales Representative for this tiling company, dealing with a wide range of products. I furthered my marketing knowledge and the role taught me a great deal about Business to Business sales both from a consultative and hard sell perspective.

Working on the Black & Decker account with CPM, I was fully accountable and responsible for driving and delivering sales and the in-store profile of Black & Decker products within key customers including DIY sheds and selected high street/electrical retailers.

Sales position within the Kitchen, Bathroom, Bedroom and Conservatory departments. I had to qualify leads, optimise sales and achieve weekly targets – reaching the Top 20 performing Showroom Sales Advisors

Working in this retail outlet gave me an excellent chance to improve my customer service skills and to increase my confidence in terms of dealing with people.