UK Employer of the Year 2024: Silver (250) - Investors in People Awards Role Forbes Solicitors are looking for a Business Development Executive to join our Marketing and Business Development team. This role will be based from our Central Lancashire office in Preston, Walton Summit. This is a full-time role working 36.25 hours per week, Monday - Friday, 9am until 5pm. This is an excellent opportunity for a motivated professional seeking a new challenge to join our award winning Marketing and Business Development team as a Business Development Executive. The role offers the chance to develop your career, utilise your business development expertise, and contribute to a collaborative, high-performing team. Working in a fast-paced, client-focused environment, you ll play a key role in driving growth and supporting strategic initiatives, while benefiting from a supportive culture that values work-life balance and strong regional connections. As a key member of our team, you will be responsible for achieving successful outcomes such as: Supporting with strategic business development plans for the Commercial Division, ensuring a detailed understanding of what all of the departments do; Researching potential new targets and opportunities to help drive growth across the Commercial Division, linked to ideal target profiles to support in winning 3 significant new clients per commercial division team each year; Producing proposals and capability documents to support in the winning of new clients/ retention of existing clients; Targeting event touchpoints and hot leads to drive growth across the Commercial Division; Supporting with developing and maintaining our referrer relationships and strategic partnerships, leading to an increase in referrals into the firm; Supporting with the Commercial Division s internal cross-selling strategies to maximise client opportunities, leading to increase in billing; Supporting with the planning of business development events such as roundtables or hospitality; Developing and supporting advisors in the Commercial Division with their key client programme, developing relationships and monitoring client feedback on an ongoing basis, ensuring bi-annual client review meetings; Monitoring and supporting in resurrecting of dormant clients across the Commercial Division; Developing and monitoring systems to track, follow up and record progress for all of the above, reporting weekly to our Executive Committee; Reviewing and monitoring our products/ services, including competitor analysis; Attending and contributing to the Commercial Division s business development meetings; The Person We will be progressing applicants to the next stage based on their demonstrated knowledge, experience, and skills in: Essential: Hold a Business Management Degree or similar Business Studies qualification Demonstrates excellent attention to detail and commitment to maintaining accuracy and quality in all outputs; Demonstrates analytical and research skills with the ability to identify trends, targets, and competitor activity. Demonstrates knowledge of marketing and business development best practices, including proposal development, client engagement strategies, and event marketing. Demonstrates the ability to prioritise tasks, manage time effectively, and coordinate multiple activities simultaneously to meet deadlines; Have good commercial awareness; Demonstrates the ability to work as part of a team; Demonstrates the ability to build and maintain positive relationships with confidence to liaise with clients, partners, and internal stakeholders at all levels; Demonstrates excellent IT skills and the ability to use multiple platforms such as word, excel, outlook and other case management systems/databases; Demonstrates excellent written and verbal communication skills for interacting with clients, colleagues, and external parties; Aligns with the Firm s values. Desirable: Previous experience working within a similar Business Development role, preferably in a professional services environment; Previous experience of developing or working on business development plans and proposals; Familiarity with CRM systems and maintaining accurate business development data and pipelines. Have an understanding of how to align business development activity with strategic objectives. The Firm At Forbes Solicitors, we believe in creating a supportive and collaborative environment where our team members can thrive and develop themselves and others. We offer a comprehensive range of legal services and have offices across the North, with deep roots in Lancashire. Our team are known for its genuine, practical advice and passion for achieving the best results. We are real people who listen to each other and work together to deliver exceptional service. We are proud to have been awarded UK Employer of the Year: Silver (250) at the Investors in People Awards 2024 and the Firm is ranked as a Legal 500 Top Tier Firm and a Chambers and Partners Leading Firm. We are a value led Firm and are looking for people who embody our values: authenticity, striving for exceptional results, and unity in teamwork to join our award-winning Firm. The Benefits We are dedicated to supporting our people and offer a range of benefits, including: 33 days annual leave, including bank holidays, increasing with length of service; Annual leave purchase scheme (Subject to T&Cs); Enhanced family friendly policies and pay for Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Leave; Enhanced sick pay; Celebration and Volunteering leave; Ongoing professional development and progression opportunities; Profit share scheme; Additional long service awards; Subsidised tuck shops; Staff discount on Firm services; Health care benefits (Health Cash Back Plan and Mental Health Counselling Services); BUPA (Solicitor positions only, for self, not dependants); Retail and gym membership discounts; Recruitment and legal department referrals (Subject to T&Cs); Annual Events. Forbes is an Equal Opportunities and Disability Confident employer, accredited by Investors in People and ISO 9001 Quality Management certified. We are committed to equal opportunities in employment, service provision, and supplier engagement, and strive to maintain a workforce that reflects the local community. We kindly remind all recruitment agencies to respect our policy which prohibits the acceptance of speculative CVs, and not submit candidates for a role that we advertise, unless explicitly instructed to do so. Any candidates that are submitted on a speculative basis will not be considered an introduction. Our dedication to this process is part of our commitment to equal opportunities for all applicants.