Avance

Recruitment of Business Development Managers

Introduction

This brief provides information on Avance and the role of Business Development Managers, to which they are recruiting.

Avance Group

Avance is a business process outsourcing and technology specialist. For more than a decade they have worked with some of the leading names in global business, helping them deliver world-class credit management and customer service performance. Avance is one of a new generation of specialist outsourcing organisations, totally focused on improving the performance of accounts receivable and customer relationship management.

They are not a generalist. Their approach sets great stall in innovation. They do not simply “take out” a process for their partners – they immerse themselves in it, using their cross-sector knowledge to identify and deliver continuous process improvement.

Backed by Sovereign Capital, their offering spans three areas – Customer Relationship Management, Credit Management Outsourcing, IT System Solutions. Clients include Scottish Power, British Gas, Fedex and AT&T as well as a number of organisations in niche markets relating to the credit management business (particularly with regard to the brewery industry including Molson Coors and Carlsberg). With around 500 employees, the business in mainly based on two sites in Glasgow (about 700 staff), and one site in Leeds (100 staff). Turnover is £11 million, and with the arrival of Ian Carrel as Chief Executive at the start of 2009, there are strong growth plans

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for the business, and a drive to instill a one-company feel to the organisation.

More information on the business can be found at:

www.avancegroup.co.uk

Avance’s Service offering

Customer Relationship Management. Highly effective services to help clients acquire, retain or manage existing customer relationships. Their approach is based on working together, to develop real insight into clients’ customers. Their solutions are tailored to their clients’ customer relationship strategy, and they build in service level and performance guarantees to ensure clients’ customers benefit from clients’ improvements.

o Inbound customer contact. They work for many companies renowned the world over for their customer service excellence.  Only by delivering world-class customer service solutions have they been able to thrive at this level. Working as an extension of their partner’s customer service teams, they understand inside out how to deliver world-class customer service, while maximising profit through cross selling and up-selling of often complex products and services. One of the key elements underpinning our customer service excellence is our investment in proprietary technologies.  It means clients’ customers are connected to the person best equipped to handle their inquiry every time, and no customer is left waiting to be served. 

o Outbound telemarketing. They have never offered off the shelf solutions.  They understand the value of customer relationships, and their outbound customer relationship teams have the technology and training they need to exceed ever-growing customer expectations. They can support new product or service launches, specific customer campaigns, or work with their partners to identify and convert new consumer and

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business customers in support of geographic or market expansion. Their experience of handling sensitive issues such as disputes and financial relationships highlights the care they put into dealing with their clients’ customers.

o Customer registration. They have developed a number of secure web-based applications to support field sales agents in their business development activities. Having developed exclusive relationships with both Dun & Bradstreet and Experian, they are able more effectively than any in-house process to put credit risk management at the heart of the sales process without blunting the efforts of the sales team. Account creation, remote realtime credit checking and data capture through secure networks all mean their partners typically see a major improvement in the time taken to register new customers, to the satisfaction of customers and sales teams alike.

o Dispute management. They have made huge strides in the development of their global dispute management process, developing proprietary technologies to increase control and visibility of dispute resolution for some of their biggest global partners. Rather than considering disputes as assigned to a key team or division within a potentially massive global organisation, their approach puts the customer at the heart of the solution, targeting the dispute at the solution holder more effectively than is possible in a traditional hierarchical business environment. Using their unique system, a number of the world’s largest companies have seen dispute resolution reduced on average by more than 75 percent. In one case alone, monthly cashflow was improved by more than $100 million.

Credit management outsourcing. Leading practice solutions that improve cashflows and increase customer satisfaction. They are one of the world’s leading providers of outsourced credit management solutions. Their expertise in credit management covers every stage in the customer credit process, from account opening to closure, with a focus on risk management and innovation.

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o Accounts receivable management. Working seamlessly with their partners’ finance department, their teams improve the performance of the accounts receivable function, while providing enhanced reporting and ongoing process improvement. They provide account management from opening through to invoice settlement, using their proprietary technology and industry-specific expertise to reduce the average time it takes to receive payment. They have unrivalled knowledge of customer expectations and legislative frameworks, built up over a decade providing specialist accounts receivable operations, and reducing their partners’ exposure to trading risk and disputes.

o International credit management. They are one of the world’s leading international credit management specialists. For over a decade, they have operated the most advanced multilingual credit management service in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and in recent years, through their development of key technologies, their global business activity has also reached Asia-Pacific and South America. They manage the cross-border credit process from account opening and credit checking through to invoice settlement, and also offer related telemarketing and business development solutions. Their unparalleled knowledge of legislative frameworks and cultural aspects of multinational business help them bring a local understanding to their global business partners’ work in other countries, helping smooth business transactions and reduce trading risks.

o Process redesign solutions. For over a decade, they have managed credit management and customer relationship processes for many of the world’s most admired companies. With this experience under their belt, they can provide the very best advice on improving customer and credit management processes. Their process management experience covers every stage of the customer lifecycle, from account application and credit checking, through after sales service and telemarketing. And they have delivered redesigned processes for major blue chip companies in sectors as diverse as banking

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and finance, retail, telecoms, utilities and energy providers and licensed leisure.

o Loan process management. They have developed a risk-managed front end to allow non-financial businesses to launch financial vehicles such as trade loans to their customers. Their commercial loans management process is underpinned by their industry leadership in credit risk management and customer contact expertise. It means they can provide their partners with the risk management and customer relationship experience they require to launch loan products. Providing a front-end for the service, they provide enquiry handling, credit checking and account opening decisions, followed up by full lifecycle customer management through to account closure. Limiting the risk of default is the key to driving profit, and their experience in proactive credit management ensures their partners remain in close control of financial risk throughout the lifetime of the loan.

o Business turnaround. They operate a highly specialised field based support team that works with publicans suffering trading difficulties, with the aim of regenerating businesses wherever feasible. Their team of turnaround experts, each with more than 10 years’ experience in credit management, have prime responsibility for protecting value in the customer base of their major brewing, pub company and banking/finance clients. This hands-on team have rescued literally hundreds of businesses from failure, returning them as viable going concerns.  They support businesses to improve trading performance through identifying the root cause of issues and putting in place effective recovery action plans, monitored by them. Their innovative approach has significantly reduced litigation and insolvency costs while having a spectacular impact on the livelihoods of business owners, as they work constructively with them to improve trading performance.  This, in turn, yields major long-term revenue benefits for their brewing and pub company partners.

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IT systems solutions. Their specialist IT development team are experts in developing bespoke IT solutions geared to improving processes or bridging system or information gaps. Their total focus on customer relationship and credit management processes means their systems deliver greater performance, interoperabilty and reporting than larger, off the shelf solutions.  Examples of their proprietary leading edge systems are:

o Theorem – proprietary workflow management tool.

o Invoice Dispute Management System.

o e-Bill Central Buying System – special purpose billing system for Best Western Hotels’ franchisees.

o PubNET Tenanted Management System.

o Account Opening System.

Nature and purpose of the roles

These vacancies have arisen as a result of a desire to upskill the business development capability of the business, and also the hiring of a new Sales Director. In this role, you will be part of a small team driving the sales effort in identified markets and companies, ensuring clients in these markets are well served, and identifying and progressing further opportunities for Avance’s key service offerings.

More specifically, Avance are looking to hire people into these roles who can take a lead in key areas such as:

Energy and renewables – taking the Avance offering further into the utilities sector, and in particular supporting clients with process outsourcing and call centre support as they fulfill Government obligations and funding requirements relating to renewable energy initiatives.

Technology solutions – taking Avance’s proprietary technology solutions on customer analytics (including cloud computing platforms) to existing and new customers.

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Flexible resource / resourcing – taking Avance’s partnership with LiveOps that enables remote working to be carried out and that opens up new opportunities for contact centre support around higher technical / professional skills.

Credit management – taking Avance’s existing capabilities in credit management developed for the brewing industry to clients in a range of sectors and clients where there are considerable volumes of credit arrangements that can be outsourced.

Role description

This role description is meant as a guideline to outline the key areas of responsibility related to the role of Business Development Manager. The duties outlined are not exhaustive and may change from time to time.

Identify and develop new business leads amongst organisations in target markets.

Play a pro-active sales and account management role Avance amongst defined clients.

Contribute to the overall sales effort for Avance to enhance the Avance profile and brand.

Ensure sell-on opportunities amongst existing clients are identified and progressed effectively.

Develop and refine Avance’s client propositions to targeted existing and prospective clients in line with the priorities set out above.

Monitor and report on sales figures for the business on targeted accounts against the agreed expectations for those accounts.

Act as an advocate of best practice from the perspective of fostering cross-sector and cross-discipline working across the organisation.

Person specification

Proven experience of sales in a B2B environment, ideally in the outsourcing arena and in an industry where there are sales cycles of about 6-8 months.

Strong track record in personally driving and winning large deals.

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Ability to work collaboratively in a sales team at both product and a solutions sales level, and with colleagues across the business.

Ability to develop client propositions involving a range of offerings, interventions and capabilities.

Act as a role model with regard to exhibiting a values-based approach to leadership, client engagement and people management.

Strong commercial acumen that can be readily applied to an outsourcing environment.

Excellent relationship building skills. Possessing a sleeves-rolled up style as reflects working on day to day

sales activity. Strongly self-motivated and able to work in a virtual environment

traveling as required across the UK.

Reporting arrangements

This role will report to Avance’s Business Development Director.

Location

The business is largely based at two sites in Glasgow and at a site in Leeds. It is expected that you will be based ideally in London, will travel as required for the role, and be able to be present as required in any of the Avance offices in London Beaconsfield and Leeds.

Remuneration

There is flexibility with regard to remuneration. This will be discussed with potentially interested and suitable candidates as part of the hire process.

Further information

Avance has retained Rockpools to recruit to this role. For a further discussion, please contact one of the following consultants:

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Mohan YogendranTel. 020 3137 3404Tel. 07786 190671Mohan.Yogendran@rockpools.co.uk

Nancy ScottTel. 020 3137 3408Tel. 07908 670443Nancy.Scott@rockpools.co.uk

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Richard PooleyTel. 020 3137 3405Tel. 07984 172291Richard.Pooley@rockpools.co.uk

Michael DobsonTel. 020 3137 3404Tel. 07793 606015Michael.Dobson@rockpools.co.uk

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