Kitchen Sales Designer
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Join Howdens where our trade depots are recruiting Kitchen Sales Designers who thrive in a fast-paced sales environment. We’re looking for commercially minded individuals who can build strong relationships, influence buying decisions and exceed sales targets.
We can offer you a successful career as a Kitchen Sales Designer, and you don’t need previous design experience. We’ll provide you with comprehensive design and sales training to create exceptional kitchens for our trade customers and their clients.
What we can offer you:
- Competitive salary, brilliant bonuses and outstanding depot incentives
- Full CAD, product and sales training via our Ready to Trade Programme
- Competitive Pension Plan up to 12% company contribution
- Up to 32 days annual leave per year including bank holidays, rising with service
- Generous staff discount on Howdens products
- Buy-as-you-earn share scheme
- 40 hour working week working every other Saturday morning.
- No Sunday or Bank Holiday working
- Career progression opportunities into sales management roles
- Virtual GP access and wellbeing support for you and your family
What we are looking for:
- Results driven with experience of reaching sales targets and KPI
- Ability to build trusted relationships with our trade customers and their client
- Excellent communication skills, able to convey your ideas clearly and effectively
- Full UK Driving license with access to your own vehicle for home visits
- Strong attention to detail and an eye for design
- CAD skills are preferred, but not essential as you will receive training
What you will be doing:
- Driving sales performance and profit by achieving your depot targets
- Building strong customer relationships through professional design support
- Delivering exceptional customer service throughout the project
- Conducting home visits to measure, assess and understand your client’s needs
- Negotiating prices confidently while protecting margin and design integrity
- Planning and creating inspirational and practical designs utilising your strong product knowledge to advise customers and resolve queries throughout the process
About Us:
Howdens Joinery is the UK’s number one trade kitchen supplier providing thousands of products across kitchens, joinery, and hardware. We have over 950 depots throughout the UK and Europe, making us the first choice for more than 460,000 loyal trade professionals. With an ambitious and credible growth plan, we continue to build on our £2.4 billion turnover.
How to apply:
If Howdens sounds like the kind of place where you can build and develop your career as a Kitchen Sales Designer, then we are keen to hear from you.
Howdens is founded on the principle of being Worthwhile for ALL concerned. We’re working hard to ensure we provide an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome. We will do everything we can to support you during your application. If you need us to make any adjustments to our recruitment process, please email with the job title and location, and we will be happy to help you.
#LI-LO1 #CVL INDKSD #Reed
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Lead your CV personal statement with a specific sales achievement (e.g. "Exceeded quarterly targets by 22%") — the advert explicitly demands results-driven candidates with KPI experience.
📊 Quantify your sales track record throughout your CV: "Grew account base by 35 trade clients over 6 months" rather than listing duties, as the role centres on depot target delivery.
🎯 Mention any CAD or design software experience (even basic) near the top of your skills section — the advert lists CAD as preferred, and it signals you'll reach productivity faster on the Ready to Trade Programme.
🚗 Confirm your full UK driving licence and vehicle access explicitly in your CV header or profile — the advert flags home visits as a core duty and lists this as a firm requirement.
🤝 Include a bullet for each role demonstrating relationship management with trade professionals, contractors, or B2B clients — Howdens' 460,000 trade customer base means this is central to the position.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Exceeded annual depot sales target by 18% across a 12-month period by developing a pipeline of 45 active trade accounts through structured follow-up and design consultations.
- •Conducted 120+ home visits annually to measure and assess client requirements, converting 74% into confirmed kitchen orders with an average project value of £6,500.
- •Utilised CAD planning software to produce 30+ kitchen designs per month, reducing revision cycles by 25% through accurate initial briefs and proactive client communication.
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
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We've drafted a cover letter for Howdens Joinery. Preview the opening, then unlock the full personalised version.
Letter preview — tailored to Howdens Joinery
Dear Hiring Manager,
Howdens Joinery's reputation as the UK's number-one trade kitchen supplier — serving over 460,000 trade professionals from 950+ depots — makes this Kitchen Sales Designer role in Frome a natural next step for me. Your focus on driving depot sales performance through trusted trade relationships and practical kitchen design aligns precisely with the skills I have developed throughout my sales career.
My background in trade sales and customer relationship management has equipped me to exceed KPI targets consistently while delivering a high standard of service at every stage of the customer journey. I am comfortable conducting home visits to assess client needs, translating measurements and briefs into compelling kitchen designs, and negotiating confidently to protect both margin and design integrity. I look forward to building on this through Howdens' Ready to Trade Programme.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk me through how you would use CAD software to produce a kitchen layout from a client's room measurements taken during a home visit.
- ›How would you calculate margin when negotiating a discount with a trade customer on a high-value kitchen order?
- ›Describe the process you would follow from initial customer enquiry through to finalising a kitchen design and closing the sale.
- ›How do you use product knowledge to upsell or cross-sell joinery and hardware alongside a kitchen package?
- ›What steps would you take if a customer's measurements revealed structural constraints that conflicted with their chosen kitchen design?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you exceeded a sales target under pressure — what did you do differently to achieve it?
- ›Describe a situation where you had to manage a difficult trade customer relationship and bring it back on track.
- ›Give an example of when you had to negotiate on price while protecting your company's margin — what was the outcome?
- ›Tell me about a time you had to learn a new product range or tool quickly and apply it in a customer-facing situation.
- ›Describe a time when attention to detail in a project prevented a costly mistake for a customer or your employer.
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you exceeded a sales target under pressure — what did you do differently to achieve it?
Give an example of when you had to negotiate on price while protecting your company's margin — what was the outcome?