Sales Manager

Job description

Ninian and Lester (Pty) Ltd Clothing Division

An exciting Durban-based opportunity at a leading manufacturer of ladies’ and men’s underwear, sleepwear, and athleisure.

Sales Manager 

Be part of a brand that moves with purpose. Do you thrive in a dynamic sales environment where strong customer relationships, commercial discipline, and growth matter? Are you an experienced sales person with a proven track record in clothing, apparel, or manufacturing sales - ready to lead a team, unlock opportunities, and strengthen customer partnerships?

Ninian and Lester’s clothing division is looking for a commercially minded sales person to help drive the next chapter of growth across our customer base, product categories, and market channels. This role suits someone who blends sales strategy with hands-on execution, understands the importance of customer intimacy, and knows how to lead a team with clarity, energy, and accountability.

What you’ll do

Reporting to the National Sales Manager, you’ll drive revenue growth, strengthening key customer relationships, and ensuring sales activity is aligned with production capacity, product availability, pricing, margins, and customer expectations. You’ll work closely with internal teams to ensure the right product reaches the right customer, at the right time, with the right commercial outcome. Key responsibilities include:

• Develop and implement sales strategies that support business growth, customer retention, and market expansion.
• Lead, coach, and motivate the sales team to achieve targets and build strong customer relationships.
• Manage key accounts and strengthen partnerships with customers, retailers, and relevant stakeholders.
• Identify new business, product, and growth channels in the clothing and apparel market.
• Set targets, monitor performance, and use sales data to guide decisions, priorities, and corrective action.
• Analyse customer trends, competitor activity, market shifts, and product performance to inform sales planning.
• Work closely with planning, production, design, finance, and administration to align customer demand with operational capacity.
• Manage customer orders, pricing discussions, quotations, and commercial negotiations.
• Monitor sales margins, budgets, profitability, and cost recovery to ensure commercially sound growth.
• Ensure high levels of customer satisfaction and respond effectively to escalated customer issues.
• Support accurate forecasting, demand planning, and stock alignment to reduce risk and improve service delivery.
• Build a sales culture rooted in accountability, initiative, customer focus, and continuous improvement.

Requirements

You’re commercially sharp, people-oriented, and energised by growth - known for delivering results through relationships, discipline, and follow-through.

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, sales, marketing, or a related commercial field.
• Minimum 8 years' experience in sales, preferably within clothing, apparel, manufacturing, retail supply, or a related industry.
• Proven track record in achieving sales targets, growing accounts, and managing customer relationships.
• Strong understanding of sales strategy, key account management, pricing, forecasting, and market analysis.
• Experience leading, coaching, and developing a sales team.
• Strong commercial awareness, with the ability to balance revenue growth, profitability, service, and operational realities.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, planning, and relationship-building skills.
• Highly organised, customer-focused, and comfortable working under pressure to meet deadlines and targets.
• Confident working across functions to align sales promises with production, planning, stock availability, and delivery capability.
• Comfortable leading with clarity, consistency, and a coaching mindset.
• Experience in autonomous, empowered, or self-managed work environments would be advantageous.
• A self-starter with a strong achievement orientation and growth mindset.
• A confident, relationship-driven leader who enjoys building customer trust.
• Commercially disciplined, target-focused, and energised by measurable results.
• Comfortable leading through influence, coaching, and accountability.
• Able to balance opportunity-seeking with structured follow-through.
• Motivated by growth, customer success, team development, and long-term partnerships.
• Someone who sees both the numbers and the people behind the numbers.

Posted on 12 Jun 10:40, Closing date 11 Aug