Location: Havant - Portsmouth
Reporting To: Sales Director
Salary: £65k OTE (£35,000 basic + OTE £27,000 Uncapped)
About Gravel Hill Car Sales
Gravel Hill Car Sales are a well-established used car dealership specialising in high-quality, competitively priced vehicles. We pride ourselves on having a unique family feel to our operation.
With an extremely strong reputation for customer service and repeat business, we focus on delivering a transparent, relaxed and professional car-buying experience.
Complete with an integrated service workshop, Gravel Hill Service Centre, we provide a fully packaged product to our customers, paired with a unrivalled customer service experience and no-pressure environment.
Role Overview
The Sales Manager is responsible for driving sales performance, supporting and developing a team of Sales Executives, and ensuring an outstanding customer experience. This is a hands-on role requiring both leadership and personal sales contribution.
Our USP is a zero-pressure sales environment focused on retaining an exceptional customer review base - candidates must be able to adhere to the above non-negotiables.
Help us strengthen our position in the race to become the UK’s most positively reviewed independent dealership.
Key Responsibilities
Team Leadership
- Lead, motivate, and manage a team of Sales Executives to achieve and exceed sales targets.
- Support the team in structuring deals and handling complex customer enquiries
- Monitor daily, weekly and monthly key performance indicators (KPIs), taking proactive action to address shortfalls in sales volume, margin, or F&I performance.
- Conduct regular 1:1s, coaching sessions, and performance reviews
Sales / Revenue Management
- Manage the sales process from enquiry through to vehicle handover & follow-ups
- Achieve and exceed agreed monthly and quarterly vehicle sales targets through effective leadership, performance management, and structured sales processes.
- Maximise revenue opportunities through the sale of additional products. Lead and coach the sales team to consistently promote and sell F&I products, ensuring high finance, warranty and service plan penetration, embedding as part of the sales process.
- Drive dealership profitability by limiting discounts, maximising gross profit per unit, and maintaining strong stock turn.
- Ensure compliance with FCA regulations and dealership policies
Customer Experience
- Maintain high standards and ensure a customer-focused sales environment that supports repeat business, strong CSI/Review scores, and long-term retention.
- Handle escalated customer issues professionally and efficiently
Vehicle Preparation & Merchandising
- Work together with the preparation team & service centre to deliver fast turnaround & maximise vehicle profitability
- Ensure all vehicles are presented and merchandised to the highest standards, both on the forecourt and online, with accurate descriptions, high-quality imagery, videos and aligned to our dynamic pricing strategies to attract and convert customers.
Key Requirements
Beliefs
- Believes the automotive retail landscape is fundamentally changing, driven by evolving consumer expectations, digital disruption, and increased demand for transparency and convenience.
- Recognises that the traditional, negotiation-heavy sales model is often seen as stressful, time-consuming, and frictional for customers—and is committed to moving away from this approach.
- Values a customer-first mindset, hospitality- led customer experience where delivering a modern, enjoyable experience is just as important as achieving commercial outcomes.
Experience
- Proven experience in a used car or automotive retail environment, with a strong track record of delivering against sales and profitability targets within a low-pressure sales, customer experience driven environment
- Demonstrable experience leading, coaching, and developing high-performing sales teams; including setting clear objectives, driving accountability against KPIs, conducting regular 1:1s and performance reviews, and providing hands-on support with deal structuring, objection handling, and margin protection techniques to consistently improve individual and team performance.
- Proven experience driving the sale of value-added products, with a strong track record of improving penetration across finance, warranty, and service plans; including embedding F&I seamlessly into the sales journey, coaching teams to present products confidently and compliantly, and using data and KPI tracking to consistently increase conversion rates while maintaining a customer-first approach.
Skills
- Excellent commercial and analytical skills, with the ability to interpret KPIs and drive performance across sales volume, margin, and F&I.
- Customer experience focus, with the ability to create a seamless, low-friction buying journey both in-store and digitally.
- Strong organisational, problem-solving and process management skills, ensuring consistent execution of the sales journey from enquiry to handover.
- Digital literacy, including experience with CRM systems, online merchandising platforms, and performance tracking tools.
- High attention to detail, particularly around compliance (FCA), vehicle presentation, and accuracy of online listings.
- Full UK driving licence
Traits
- Proactive and driven, with a strong sense of ownership over customer enquiries, ensuring no opportunity is missed and every lead is followed through to conclusion.
- Highly responsive, with a natural urgency around customer follow-up, maintaining consistent communication to build trust and keep momentum in the sales journey.
- Customer-centric, with a genuine desire to create a positive, low-pressure experience that prioritises the customer’s needs over a hard sell.
- Results-oriented, with a strong focus on achieving targets while maintaining quality and compliance.
- Hands-on and supportive, willing to lead from the front and assist the team in closing deals and overcoming challenges.
- Adaptable and forward-thinking, open to new ways of working and embracing change in a fast-evolving retail environment.
- Detail-oriented and organised, ensuring nothing is missed across customer communication, deal progression, or vehicle presentation.
Working Hours
- 5 days per week, including Saturday
- 8:30am – 6:00pm (weekdays) 8:30am - 5:00pm (Saturdays)
- Day off during the week
Benefits
- Competitive basic salary with uncapped commission
- Pension scheme
- 23 days + bank holidays
- Staff discounts on vehicles and servicing
- Ongoing training and career development opportunities