Assistant Director of Sales - Market Sales Melbourne

JOB SUMMARY

Responsible for proactively soliciting and managing all group and catering opportunities. Manages reactive group and catering opportunities. Actively up-sells each business opportunity to maximize revenue opportunity. Leads and manages all day-to-day activities related to the sales function with a focus on building long-term, value-based customer relationships that enable achievement of property sales objectives. Achieves personal booking goals and makes recommendations on booking goals of direct reports.

Ensures business is turned over to properly and in a timely fashion for proper service delivery. Responsible for driving customer/guest loyalty by delivering service excellence throughout each customer/guest experience. Provides service to customers in order to grow the account on behalf of the company.

CANDIDATE PROFILE 

Education and Experience

• 2-year degree from an accredited university in Business Administration, Marketing, Hotel and Restaurant Management, or related major; 3 years experience in the sales and marketing or related professional area.

OR

• 4-year bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Hotel and Restaurant Management, or related major; 1 year experience in the sales and marketing or related professional area.

CORE WORK ACTIVITIES

Understanding Market Opportunities & Driving Revenue

· Reactively handles all group and catering opportunities with a strong emphasis on increasing conversion rates.

· Partners with group/catering counterparts; Market Sales, GSO, to effectively manage the business opportunity.

· Responds to all incoming group/catering opportunities for the property in line with MI response time guidelines.

· Identifies, qualifies and solicits new and repeat group/catering business to achieve personal, team and each property’s revenue goals.

· Focuses efforts on group/catering accounts with significant potential sales revenue.

· In conjunction with the Snr. Director, Sales & Distribution, develops effective group/catering sales plans and actions.

· Working with the individual properties, designs, develops and sells creative catered events.

· Maximizes revenue by upselling packages and creative food and beverage.

· Understands the overall market - competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, economic trends, supply and demand etc. and knows how to sell against them.

· Closes the best opportunities for each property based on market conditions and individual property needs.

· Effectively cross sells to maximise market share for the participating hotels.

· Uses negotiating skills and creative selling abilities to close on business and negotiate contracts.

· Hotel Communication – coordinates with hotels for site inspections and entertainment. Updates hotels on their accounts and pending business status and ensures follow-through and property “buy-in” on customers’ service needs.

· Maintains accurate and up-to-date account data and reporting using an account management system.

Maximizing Revenue

• Provides positive and aggressive leadership to ensure maximum revenue potential (e.g., sets example with personal booking goals).

• Recommends booking goals for sales team members.

Managing Sales Activities

• Approves space release for catering to maximize revenue (DOS, Group) in the absence of a Business Evaluation Manager.

• Participates in sales calls with members of sales team to acquire new business and/or close on business.

• Executes and supports the operational aspects of business booked (e.g., generating proposal, writing contract, customer correspondence).

Analyzing & Reporting on Sales and Financial Data

• Analyzes market information by using sales systems and implements strategy to achieve property’s financial room and catering goals.

• Assists Revenue Management with completing accurate six period projections.

• Reviews sales and catering guest satisfaction results to identify areas of improvement.

Leadership

· Adaptability - Maintains performance level under pressure or when experiencing changes or challenges in the workplace.

· Communication - Conveys information and ideas to others in a convincing and engaging manner through a variety of methods.

· Problem Solving and Decision Making - Identifies and understands issues, problems, and opportunities; obtains and compares information from different sources to draw conclusions, develop and evaluate alternatives and solutions, solve problems, and choose a course of action.

· Professional Demeanor - Exhibits behavioral styles that convey confidence and command respect from others; makes a good first impression and represents the company in alignment with its values.

Ensuring Exceptional Customer Service

• Displays leadership in guest hospitality, exemplifies customer service and creates a positive example for guest relations.

• Interacts with guests to obtain feedback on product quality and service levels.

• Meets with guests during pre- and post-convention meetings to obtain feedback on quality of product (e.g., rooms, meeting facilities and equipment, food and beverage), service levels, execution against contract and overall satisfaction.

• Empowers employees to provide excellent customer service.

• Observes service behaviors of employees and provides feedback to individuals and/or managers.

• Incorporates guest satisfaction as a component of department meetings with a focus on continuous improvement.

• Ensures that a customer recognition program is in effect throughout Sales.

• Executes and supports the company’s Customer Service Standards and property’s Brand Standards.

• Participates in and practices daily service basics of the brand.

• Executes exemplary customer service to drive customer satisfaction and loyalty by assisting the customer and ensuring their satisfaction before and during their program/event.

• Serves the customer by understanding their needs and recommending the appropriate features and services that best meet their needs and exceed their expectations, while building a relationship and loyalty to the company.

• Gains understanding of the property’s primary target customer and service expectations; serves the customer by understanding their business, business issues and concerns, to offer better business solution both prior to, and during the program/event.

Building Successful Relationships

• Develops and manages relationships with key stakeholders, both internal and external.

• Works collaboratively with off-property sales channels (e.g., Event Booking Center, Market Sales, GSO) to ensure the property needs are being achieved and the sales efforts are complementary, not duplicative.

• Works with Human Resources, Engineering and Loss Prevention to ensure compliance with local, state and federal regulations and/or union requirements.

• Attends customer events, trade shows and sales missions to maintain, build or develop key relationships with GSO Managers and customers.