Trade Sales Coordinator

About Us

At Nkuku we create beautifully handmade homewares and furniture. We work with makers throughout the world, combining timeless design with traditional skills and natural materials.

Our brand is built on three core values: Natural, Ethical and Crafted, which guide everything we do. Committed to ethical practices from the start, we are proud to be a B Corp, part of a growing community of businesses that balance purpose and profit.

We are a commercially ambitious business with a collaborative and down-to-earth culture, where ownership, creativity and accountability are valued at every level.

Role Purpose

The Trade Sales Coordinator is at the operational heart of our UK Trade business, ensuring our customers receive an exceptional service and that the administration behind every order is accurate, timely and well managed.

This is an ownership role. From a new customer enquiry or incoming sales order through to stock allocation, delivery, payment and any subsequent query, the Trade Sales Coordinator is responsible for making sure the detail is right, actions are followed through and issues do not fall between teams.

The role also has an important commercial responsibility. Every interaction with a Trade customer is an opportunity to strengthen relationships, understand their business, recommend relevant products and identify opportunities to generate additional sales.

Working closely with our Trade Account Managers, Key Account Support, Finance, Supply Chain, Warehouse and Customer Care teams, the role provides the strong administrative backbone that allows the wider Trade team to focus on developing customer relationships and growing sales.

In addition, the role will support the development of an agreed portfolio of smaller Trade accounts through regular, proactive contact, helping to increase engagement, retention and sales.

A key part of the role is not simply resolving individual problems, but recognising when something has gone wrong more than once, understanding why and helping prevent it happening again.

Key Responsibilities

Trade Inbox, Telephone & Customer Support

• Take day-to-day ownership of the UK Trade inbox and incoming Trade telephone calls, ensuring enquiries are responded to promptly, professionally and accurately.
• Act as a knowledgeable first point of contact for existing Trade customers across orders, products, stock availability, deliveries, invoices, payments and account queries.
• Own customer queries through to resolution rather than simply passing them between departments.
• Proactively keep customers informed where an order, delivery or other issue changes.
• Ensure communication consistently reflects the high level of service expected from Nkuku.
• Recognise opportunities within customer interactions to recommend complementary products, new collections, alternative products or additional purchases, where relevant.
• Gather and maintain useful customer information, including buying preferences, product interests, business requirements and future purchasing opportunities.
• Build positive relationships with customers through knowledgeable, helpful and commercially aware communication.
• Identify and pass significant sales opportunities or leads to the relevant Trade Account Manager for follow-up.
• Manage first-line enquiries from prospective new Trade accounts, gathering the appropriate information and progressing these to the relevant member of the Sales team.
• Maintain clear and accurate records of customer contact, commercial opportunities and actions within the relevant systems.
• Attendance at trade events may also be required, which may require overnight stays.

Sales Order Management

• Manage Trade sales orders from receipt through to successful despatch, ensuring they are entered, checked and progressed accurately.
• Ensure stock is correctly assigned to orders and investigate discrepancies before they create fulfilment or duplicate-order issues.
• Monitor outstanding and back orders and ensure expected delivery dates are accurate and kept up to date.
• Manage pro forma orders, including proactively chasing customers for payment and progressing orders once payment is received.
• Upload and process customer orders where required.
• Manage discontinued, unavailable or delayed products, working with Account Managers and customers to agree appropriate alternatives or next steps.
• Where appropriate, offer alternative or complementary products to maintain or increase order value whilst meeting customer needs.
• Check for order failures, exceptions or incomplete processes and take action before they become customer issues.
• Maintain accurate customer, order and delivery information within Khaos and other relevant systems.

Credits, Refunds & Financial Administration

• Manage first-line requests for Trade credits and refunds, ensuring each request is properly investigated and supported by the correct information.
• Prepare credits and refunds for approval in accordance with the agreed authorisation process, ensuring appropriate sign-off is obtained before processing.
• Maintain accurate records and an appropriate audit trail for credits, refunds and adjustments.
• Support Trade invoicing and payment administration, including taking customer payments securely by telephone where required.
• Investigate invoice and payment discrepancies with Finance and other relevant teams.
• Ensure pro forma payments and other receipts are correctly matched and allocated.

Issue Resolution & Operational Accuracy

• Take ownership of operational issues affecting Trade customers, investigating the root cause rather than treating individual symptoms.
• Identify repeat failures or recurring customer issues and escalate these with clear evidence and recommended actions.
• Maintain and contribute to the team's operational issues log, ensuring problems, actions and outcomes are recorded accurately.
• Regularly review recurring issues with the wider team to help improve processes and reduce avoidable errors.
• Ensure customer queries and operational issues are properly closed rather than left unresolved.
• Develop a strong working knowledge of Khaos and other relevant systems, using their functionality effectively rather than relying on manual workarounds.
• Support improvements to processes, system use and team knowledge where opportunities are identified.

Account Development & Proactive Sales

Alongside the core administrative responsibilities, the Trade Sales Coordinator will play an active role in developing sales from existing customers, particularly smaller accounts that benefit from regular, proactive engagement.

• Take responsibility for maintaining relationships with an agreed portfolio of C-grade Trade accounts, working within the account management approach set by the UK Trade Sales Manager.
• Make proactive outbound calls and customer contacts, with an agreed quarterly activity target, to understand customer needs, encourage repeat purchases and maintain engagement with Nkuku.
• Introduce customers to new collections, relevant products, seasonal opportunities and promotional activity.
• Identify opportunities to increase order value through appropriate upselling and cross-selling.
• Re-engage accounts that have not ordered recently, understanding any barriers to purchasing and identifying opportunities to reactivate them.
• Gather information about customer buying patterns, business developments and future requirements, ensuring this is recorded and shared appropriately.
• Identify accounts with stronger growth potential and refer these to the relevant Account Manager.
• Track customer contact, outcomes, sales opportunities and follow-up actions to support the ongoing development of the account portfolio.
• Work with the UK Trade Sales Manager to review account performance, customer engagement and commercial opportunities.

Account & Sales Team Support

• Provide proactive administrative support to the UK Trade Account Managers, helping them spend more of their time developing customers and driving sales.
• Support customer account administration, including product information, pricing, stock information, order histories and other day-to-day requirements.
• Complete and maintain Product Information Forms (PIFs) as requested by members of the Trade team, supporting accurate and timely uploads.
• Ensure important information is accurate, current and readily available to the Account Management team.
• Share customer insights, product feedback and potential sales opportunities with the wider Trade team.
• Provide broader sales administration support during peak trading periods and as business needs require.

Key Account Support & Cross-Cover

The Trade Sales Coordinator will work particularly closely with our Key Account Support team member, operating as a highly collaborative pair across the wider Sales function.

• Develop sufficient knowledge of Key Account administration and processes to provide effective cover during holidays, absence and particularly busy periods.
• Ensure the Key Account Support team member is similarly familiar with core UK Trade administration and processes.
• Maintain clear procedures, shared information and handover notes so that neither area is dependent upon one individual.
• Work together to manage priorities and provide flexible support across UK Trade and Key Accounts when required.

The ambition is simple: two highly capable, cross-trained team members who can rely on one another and ensure excellent support continues regardless of absence or workload.

Systems, Process & Continuous Improvement

• Become a confident and knowledgeable user of Khaos and the other systems required to manage Trade customers and orders.
• Follow agreed processes for stock assignment, customer communications, order management, credits and refunds.
• Support structured system training and the documentation of key processes so that knowledge is shared rather than held by individuals.
• Identify gaps in process, system knowledge or training and raise these constructively.
• Ensure customer information, contact history and sales opportunities are captured accurately to support effective relationship management.
• Look for opportunities to simplify administration, improve accuracy and make it easier for the Sales team to serve customers effectively.

Working Relationships

The role works particularly closely with:

• UK Trade Account Managers
• Key Account Support
• Finance
• Supply Chain and Stock
• Warehouse and Operations
• Customer Care
• Digital and Systems teams where required

Although customer service is an important part of the role, this position sits within the Sales/Trade function and is focused on enabling the successful operation and growth of our Trade business.

What Good Looks Like

• Success in this role is visible in both the operational detail and the commercial contribution.
• Orders are right first time. Stock is correctly allocated. Delivery dates are accurate. Pro formas are followed up. Customers know what is happening. Credits and refunds are properly controlled. The Trade inbox and telephone are well managed. Account Managers can trust the information they receive and spend their time developing customers rather than chasing administration.Customer interactions are knowledgeable, personal and commercially aware. Opportunities to recommend products, increase sales and learn more about customers are recognised and acted upon.
• Smaller Trade accounts receive regular, proactive contact rather than only hearing from Nkuku when they place an order or encounter a problem. Relationships are maintained, opportunities are identified and dormant customers are encouraged to return.
• When something does go wrong, it is owned and resolved quickly. When the same thing goes wrong twice, we ask why and do something about it.
• The Trade Sales Coordinator and Key Account Support team member operate as a strong, cross-trained team, able to cover for one another and maintain continuity across the Sales function.
• Ultimately, the role should make Trade easier to buy from, easier to sell through and easier to operate internally, whilst making a measurable contribution to customer retention and sales growth.

Skills & Experience

We are looking for someone who combines excellent administration with a genuine instinct for customer service, commercial opportunity and problem solving.

You will be:

• Exceptionally organised, accurate and comfortable managing a high volume of detail.
• Confident communicating with customers by telephone and email.
• Naturally inclined to take ownership and follow something through to completion.
• Comfortable working with sales orders, stock, invoices, payments, credits and customer data.
• Able to prioritise effectively when several customers or team members need support at the same time.
• Curious when something does not look right and willing to investigate rather than simply work around it.
• Confident using business systems and willing to develop strong knowledge of an ERP/order management platform.
• Collaborative and comfortable working closely with others and sharing knowledge.
• Commercially aware, with the confidence to identify sales opportunities and recommend relevant products to customers.
• Comfortable making proactive outbound customer calls and developing positive business relationships.
• Able to balance the requirements of accurate administration with proactive sales and customer development.
• Confident with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and Outlook.

Previous experience in sales administration, wholesale, customer operations, order management or a similar role would be highly desirable. Experience of an ERP or order management system would also be advantageous, although attitude, aptitude and attention to detail are just as important.

Experience in account management, outbound customer contact or sales support would be beneficial.

Working Pattern

This is a hybrid role, with a minimum of three days per week based in our Devon office once the initial training period has been successfully completed.

During an initial training and onboarding period of up to three months, the successful candidate may be required to work from the office five days per week.

This will allow the individual to develop a thorough understanding of our systems, processes, products and customers, whilst working closely with the wider Sales team.

The transition to hybrid working will be agreed with the line manager once they are satisfied that the required training has been completed and the individual is able to work effectively and independently.

We believe the role works best when it is close to the Sales team, particularly Key Account Support, allowing the two roles to work together, share knowledge and provide effective cover for one another.