Local Trade Sales Manager (Maternity Cover London & Dublin)

Big Bus Tours LTD London United Kingdom Sales
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Company Description

Big Bus Tours is the world’s largest operator of open-top sightseeing tours, fueling the spirit of adventure in 23 world-famous cities across four continents. Beginning its journey 28 years’ ago, with a fleet of only three buses, Big Bus Tours has swiftly expanded to a global fleet of over 400 hundred open-top buses, turning 5 million tourists into explorers, every year. Big Bus Tours operates in London, Dubai, Hong Kong, New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, Abu Dhabi, Budapest, Istanbul, Miami, Muscat, Rome, Paris, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Darwin, Sydney, Vienna, Washington DC, Dublin, Singapore, Los Angeles and Berlin with a sightseeing concept designed to provide a flexible approach to city discovery. Each open-top bus tour provides a hop-on, hop-off facility at a variety of interesting locations, with complimentary additions to enhance the visitor sightseeing experience. In February 2015, private equity firm Exponent purchased Big Bus Tours, with a shared vision to make Big Bus Tours the number 1 thing to do in each world-famous city. In 2016, Merlin Entertainments PLC became a shareholder, offering a natural synergy with Big Bus Tours and Merlin attractions and experiences around the world. With entertaining guides and commentary and knowledge of the latest events in each city, the Big Bus City Crew leaves every passenger with a story to tell.

Position

Overall Purpose

  • The Local Trade Sales Manager will lead all local trade sales activities for both London and Dublin, which include planning, prospecting and account management, whilst leveraging best practices to ensure that we maximise trade sales.  This role has commercial responsibility for the performance of the local trade channel.
  • To work closely with and in conjunction with the central trade sales team, to proactively set the London and Dublin trade sales strategies and direction, taking in to account local market dynamics and competitive forces, and to deliver all elements of the trade sales plan to budget.
  • To deliver all local trade sales initiatives to achieve and exceed the targets on revenue, net profitability by channel, passenger volume, and customer satisfaction.
  • To play a key role with key strategic relationships including Merlin and Leisure Pass Group.
  • Responsible for contracting and relationship management of third-party product providers to achieve London cross-sell targets.

Key Areas of Accountability and Responsibility

Local Trade Sales Planning

  • Devise a sales plan for both London and Dublin to include growth from existing partners as well as recruitment of new partners with timescales, sales projections and costs.
  • Identify opportunities to enter new sources of demand and sectors.
  • Ensure alignment with the central trade team’s strategic agenda.

Local Trade Sales Budget

  • Work with the London and Dublin General Managers and Central Trade Team to set the Local Trade Sales budget for the year, broken down by month and account/partner, and manage all activity within this budget.

Delivery of Revenue, Net Profitability by Channel, and Passenger Volume

  • To deliver the City Local Trade revenue, net profitability, and passenger budget.
  • To build the Account Plans for top B2B customers and drive great relationships.
  • To analyse daily and weekly sales performance vs. budget and put corrective actions and plans in place as needed.
  • To proactively identify and implement initiatives to exceed targets.
  • To lead the Trade “customer investment” and commission plans.
  • To be the local trade expert and input to the global project to drive consistent improvement in our local trade operations.

Reporting

  • Reporting and tracking of sales performance by account/partner as required (daily, weekly, monthly, ad hoc – as relevant).
  • Monitoring of commission costs, ATP (average ticket price), and performance vs. budget and YoY.
  • Reporting on competitor activity and proactive recommendations on changes as needed to compete.

Prospecting

  • Actively attend relevant trade events, representing Big Bus and, where relevant, its attraction partners.
  • Negotiate deals with partners to either increase sales or reduce costs, ultimately leading to business growth.

Account Management

  • Establish a reporting process in conjunction with the partner to monitor and identify growth opportunities.
  • Drive a “pursuit of excellence” culture & motivate trade partners in order to exceed goals and maximize the sales execution.
  • Develop a trusted advisor relationship with key accounts, customer stakeholders and executive sponsors.
  • In conjunction with other city teams and the central global team, ensure the timely and successful delivery of information to partners according to their needs and objectives.
  • Assist with high severity requests or issue escalations as needed.

Customer Satisfaction

  • Maintain and improve our B2B customer service satisfaction levels, for trade customers.

Brand Management

  • Be a brand ambassador for Big Bus Tours in the B2B environment.
  • Be responsible for consistent delivery of the brand to external partners, and consistent understanding of the brand from all team members.

Third-Party Product and Cross Sell Performance

  • Responsible for contracting and relationship management of third-party product providers to achieve London and Dublin cross-sell targets.
  • Support the optimisation of performance in cross sell and upsell revenue through all channels, as a result of strong commercial deals and excellent relationships.

Strategic Relationships: e.g. Merlin, Smart Destinations

  • To play a key role with key strategic relationships including Merlin and Leisure Pass Group, working on commercial deals and performance.
  • Membership and attendance of Working Groups as required to optimise performance.

Communications

  • Use a proactive approach, and positive and enthusiastic communication style, to deliver the London and Dublin goals.
  • Keep the wider London team in the communication loop on key issues and be a key player in a culture of continuous improvement.

Requirements

Knowledge

  • Excellent sales knowledge and experience is essential, particularly B2B.
  • A good understanding of the travel industry is essential, with an ability to assess demand thus ensuring that we plan sales activities in a timely manner
  • Knowledge of the London market is desirable.
  • Excellent commercial business acumen.

Skills

  • The ability to work under pressure and to strict deadlines.
  • Ability to “flex and pivot” quickly and effectively depending on the strategy and requirements of the business.
  • Creativity and imagination.
  • Excellent writing skills, with the ability to express a message clearly and persuasively.
  • Excellent communication and team working skills.
  • Demonstrate ability to present and influence credibly and effectively at all levels of the organisation, including executive and C-level.
  • Strong negotiation and presentation skills.
  • Management experience is a bonus.
  • Analysis. Ability to work with data to find insights/trends.
  • Fluent in English.
  • Proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word).
  • Working knowledge of Microsoft Dynamics (or similar CRM tool) and Google Analytics is desired.

Experience/Qualifications

  • University degree preferred but not required.
  • At least 3 years’ experience in a sales or marketing function within the travel industry, with a proven track record in managing partner relationships.
  • Experience in delivering partner-focused solutions based on customer needs and ability to solve complex problems effectively.
  • Proven ability to manage multiple projects at a time while paying strict attention to detail.
  • Budget management & reporting experience in managing budgets and ensuring diligent use of budgets to attain maximum impact.

Competencies

  • Communication – Ability to express ideas or facts in a clear and persuasive manner. Convince others to own expressed viewpoint.
  • Customer Focus – Exceeding customer expectations by displaying a total commitment to identifying and providing solutions of the highest possible standards aimed at addressing customer needs.
  • Strategic and Critical Thinking – Takes account of a wide range of longer-term issues, opportunities and contingencies. Identifies the means of implementing plans in line with the vision and direction.
  • Analytical – Effectiveness in identifying problems, seeking pertinent data, recognising important information and identifying possible causes of problems.
  • Technical Knowledge – Possesses an in-depth knowledge of the area and can effectively apply that knowledge to solve a range of problems.
  • Results Orientated – Consistently delivers required business results; sets and achieves achievable, but aggressive, goals; consistently complies with quality and service standards and meets deadlines; maintains focus on company goals.
  • Planning and Budgeting – Ability to establish efficiently an appropriate course of action for self/others to accomplish a goal.
  • Commercial Awareness – Able to understand the key business issues that affect the profitability and growth of an enterprise and takes appropriate action to maximise success.

Other information

Working Hours and Conditions

Monday – Friday 9am to 5.30pm; however due to the nature of the role there is a requirement to be available outside these hours depending on business requirements.  Mobility and the need to work flexible hours is an integral part of the role.

Physical Requirements

Regular travel between the two cities will be required. Occasional travel to other city offices or events may also be required.