Phone: +44-783*-******

Email: ac7nou@r.postjobfree.com

Date of birth: 10/11/1981

Nationality: British

MIKE BRIGGS

Objective

I am looking to further advance my career in account management and sales management, using the wealth of experience I have gained within consumer goods industries for an emerging or established brand. My previous roles included launching the International Sales Division for a new CPG brand. This proved a challenging and exciting role, that relied upon strong organizational skills, effective communication and a motivation to establish and advance our brand recognition within an already crowded and highly competitive market. Other roles have involved growing existing international distributor and retail accounts whilst entering and expanding into new territories, which I find both exciting and rewarding. I possess an analytical nature and enjoy forging long term partnerships through close collaboration.

Experience

September 2017 - Present Custom Accessories Europe Ltd

International Account Manager

●Responsible for international sales to EMEA, Asia Pacific and Latin America of licensed automotive accessories, working with reputed brands including Energizer, Jelly Belly, Michelin and Little Tikes.

●Added 8 distributers within the first 6 months to various new markets including India, China, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Chile and established CAE as an Amazon vendor across Europe.

●Increased sales by 112% in 12 months to existing distributors in UAE, South Africa, Thailand Finland and Switzerland by increasing marketing support and working with distributors to secure listings with new customers and additional product lines.

●Created a database of target retailers and buyer details for all key sales channels in over 20 European markets for each license, increasing European market presence through direct-to-retail approach in strategic markets by acquiring international retail customers including Kaufland, Spar & OBI.

●Reduced company-wide shipping costs by over 25% by introducing and utilizing online comparison tool.

January 2012 – December 2016 Suki Gifts International Ltd

(part of the IS Group Ltd)

Director of International Sales

●Responsible for establishing the International Sales Division and all export sales (excluding Germany and North America) of Suki products from our UK DC & on an FOB China basis.

●Successfully developed long-term partnerships with a variety of customers, including distributors, multinational chains such as The Toy Store and Hallmark, online retailers including Amazon Italy and Amazon France, and independent retailers.

●Within 12 months of Suki Gifts being established, Suki products were in over 40 markets through distributors and retailers, spanning EMEA, Asia Pacific and Latin America, exceeding sales of $1m.

●Actively managed partners in over 70 countries, achieving consistent YoY sales growth.

●Through our rapid export growth, we were awarded 24th in the Sunday Times BT Business SME Export Track 100 in 2015.

●Member of the Trading Team overseeing all product development, sales initiatives and marketing activity.

November 2010– December 2011 Russ Berrie (UK) Ltd

Regional Export Sales Manager – Latin America

●Responsible for the export sales and growth of the RUSS brand to Latin America and the Caribbean, plus India, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and other key markets from our UK and US distribution centres, and on an FOB China basis, achieving sales target of $2.1m for 2011

●Successfully negotiated with key distributors in the region, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru, and Ecuador, to ship from our UK DC instead of US, to increase our profitability and sales to these markets.

●Increased sales in Peru by 320% in the first five months of 2011 versus 2010 through our existing distributor, and in Ecuador by 377% through our partner and their retail chain of 25 Hallmark stores.

●As Line Manager, oversaw a team of Export Account Managers who all exceeded their sales targets of $1.4m, and sales administrators.

February 2006 – November 2010 Russ Berrie (UK) Ltd

Export Account Manager – EMEA & AP

●Responsible for key international markets throughout EMEA and parts of Asia, with annual sales consistently exceeding over $1.5m.

●Sourced and initiated successful ongoing partnerships with numerous European distributors, including Czech Republic, which became one of our biggest markets with an annual turnover exceeding $250,000.

●Grew annual sales to India from $55,000 to $330,000 in four years, through our partner Archies who owned 200 retail stores, 30 Hallmark stores and over 300 franchise stores.

●Designed and developed new collections of bespoke items for the Icelandic tourist market increasing annual sales by more than 500%, and a bespoke soft toy for the South African Hush Puppies licensee, to tie in with the 2010 football World Cup.

●Produced quarterly newsletter for all worldwide distributors, updating them with new product/business information, promoting a ‘distributor community’ with best-practices and successes of other partners.

●Assisted in the organisation of two Global Distributor Conferences in 2009 and in the tri-annual Open House events in Shekou, China.

●Developed an excel-based ordering system for all export customers, encompassing details from a multitude of different computer systems, which streamlined the sales order process.

September 2003 - February 2006 Russ Berrie (UK) Ltd

Imports Co-ordinator

●Managed successful importing, customs clearance & delivery of over 500 containers a year. Part of a committee tasked with assessing the viability and implementation of a flexi-time system.

August 2003 – January 2006 University of Southampton Business Services

Bar Manager (formerly Duty Manager & Bar staff)

●Responsible for 30 staff and duty managers, including their recruitment and training.

●Doubled weekly sales turn-over by running a variety of different events.

Education

2000–2003 University of Southampton Southampton, Hants

B.Sc. (Hons), 3.7 GPA/2:1, Management Sciences. Modules included Project Management, Marketing, Managerial Decisions, Risk Management, Strategy, Information Systems, and Accounting.

Interests

I enjoy travelling, going to the gym, taking my dog on long walks and running. In 2002 and 2005 I ran the London Marathon, raising over £2,000 for the charities Children with Leukaemia and CLIC Sargent.

References

Available upon request

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