Sales & Events Executive

JOB SUMMARY

The position is accountable for proactively soliciting all business segments (Transient, Group, and Catering) and handling sales & catering opportunities both locally and internationally.  Ensures business is turned over properly and in a timely fashion for proper service delivery.  Assists in leading all day-to-day activities related to sales with a focus on building long-term, value-based customer relationships that enable achievement of sales objectives.  Achieves personal sales goals. Proactively soliciting all local business segments; to include new business from small business accounts, sourcing new accounts, identifying new targets, and re-soliciting past business leads. Ensure compliance with Ritz-Carlton Standard Operating Procedures to maintain brand integrity. 

CANDIDATE PROFILE 

Education and Experience

Required:

High school diploma or GED; 2 years experience in the sales and marketing, guest services, front desk, or related professional area.

OR

2-year degree from an accredited university in Business Administration, Marketing, Hotel and Restaurant Management, or related major; no work experience required.

Preferred:

Previous experience in proactive lead generation in hospitality and sales discipline; knowledge of property-specific business segments (e.g. group, catering, transient); knowledge the hospitality industry.

Previous experience selling luxury brands and experiential services preferred.

CORE WORK ACTIVITIES

Managing Sales Activities

Solicits new business from non-deployed small local business accounts, and leads sent through internal referral mechanisms.

Solicits potential new accounts or business opportunities by leveraging business intelligence provided by Sales & Marketing Planning and Support or other third-party data sources to generate leads.

Re-solicits non-deployed realized opportunities, including turndowns, lost opportunities, and actualized business when appropriate.

Drives customer satisfaction through daily interactions (e.g., solicitations, re-solicitations, account calls, site inspections, new business calls, face to face activities, Sales Blitz, etc.).

Conducts customer facing sales activities on behalf of the hotels in partnership with Property Coordinator/Resource as appropriate. (e.g., lunch and learns, social hours, company of the month activities, local industry events, Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) Activities, etc.). 

Conducts site inspections for customer accounts as appropriate.

Designs, develops and sells creative catered events.

Maximizes revenue by up-selling packages and creative food and beverage.

Develops menus that drive sales.           

Assists with selling, implementation and follow-through of catering promotions.

Maintains complete and up-to-date lead information on each account in Opera System to verify accurate reporting and customer base information.

Attend BEO meeting to ensure operational alignment of all attending departments for next events. Attend weekly Customer Engagement Meeting.

Qualifies and maintains customer’s long-term business potential and refers customers to market, field, hotel or national sales office, as required.

Verifies accurate and timely lead turnover to other Sales Channels and partners closely with the Multi-Hotel Sales to ensure qualified leads are entered into Opera System.

Leverages MI Leads for Out of Org, Non-Deployed Accounts.

Presents stakeholder hotel benefits and features based on customer needs.

Understands and utilizes all business processes written in support of the sales organization. 

Utilizes negotiation skills and creative selling abilities to uncover new business.

Uses all information systems (e.g., Opera, MRDW, MarRFP-SAPP, Hoteligence, Account Relationship Management (ARM) to research the deployment and value of the accounts deemed important for stakeholder hotel.

Understands the overall market (e.g., competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, economic trends, supply and demand etc.) to sell effectively against the competition. 

Communicates trends, opportunities, and market changes to appropriate parties, as needed.

Leverages all available sales channels, (e.g., marriott.com, group and transient intermediaries, field sales, worldwide reservation offices, etc.), to optimize sales revenues.

Understands and actively utilizes company marketing initiatives/incentives to convert cold leads to warm leads.

Tracks weekly activities and relationship to revenue and room night production.

Sets day-today priorities to complete assigned responsibilities

Actively participates and contributes to Sales Strategy Meetings as appropriate. 

Adjusts to significant variation in daily workload through independent prioritization. 

Drives revenue from local non-deployed accounts for the hotels the Sales Executive represents by proactively soliciting new business from small business accounts, sourcing new accounts, identifying new targets, and re-soliciting past business leads.

Activate local tactics for deployed accounts to pull-through local buyer needs. Communicate best practices for generating creative revenue opportunities.   

Performs other duties as appropriate.

Building Successful Relationships 

Leverage deployed account resources to drive business for properties for identified hotels to pull-through business to grow account share.

Participates in community and hotel networking events (e.g., Rotary Clubs, Social Hours, Chamber of Commerce, etc).

Visits neighborhood target and local small business accounts and coordinate follow up efforts.

Coordinates with Property Sales Leader to understand needs and priorities of stakeholder hotels to identify focus areas.

Works collaboratively with all sales channels (e.g. the Multi-Hotel Sales, Account Sales and Global Sales) to establish coordinated sales efforts that are complementary, and not duplicative.

Handles customer care issues and as necessary, refers them to the appropriate owner.

Supports the company’s service and relationship strategy, driving customer loyalty by delivering service excellence throughout each customer experience.

Services customers to obtain and grow share of the account.

Executes and supports the company’s customer service standards. 

Engages in property related events that support the development of new accounts (e.g., General Manager (GM) Reception etc.).

Performs other duties, as assigned, to meet business needs.

MANAGEMENT COMPETENCIES 

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.

Managing Execution

Building and Contributing to Teams - Actively participates as a member of a team to move the team toward the completion of goals.

Driving for Results - Sets high standards of performance for self and/or others; assumes responsibility for work objectives; initiates, focuses, and monitors the efforts of self and/or others toward the accomplishment goals; proactively takes action and goes beyond what is required.

Planning and Organizing - Gathers information and resources required to set a plan of action for self and/or others; prioritizes and arranges work requirements to accomplish goals and ensure work is completed.

Building Relationships

Coworker Relationships - Interacts with others in a way that builds openness, trust, and confidence in the pursuit of organizational goals and lasting relationships. 

Customer Relationships - Develops and sustains relationships based on an understanding of customer needs and actions consistent with the company’s service standards. 

Global Mindset - Supports employees and business partners with diverse styles, abilities, motivations, and/or cultural perspectives; utilizes differences to drive innovation, engagement and enhance business results; and ensures employees are given the opportunity to contribute to their full potential.

Generating Talent and Organizational Capability 

Organizational Capability - Evaluates and adapts the structure of own assignments and suggests improvements to work processes to best fit the needs and/or support the goals of an organizational unit. 

Talent Management - Provides support and feedback to help individuals develop and strengthen skills and abilities needed to accomplish work objectives.

Learning and Applying Professional Expertise

Applied Learning - Seeks and makes the most of learning opportunities to improve performance of self and/or others.

Business Acumen - Understands and utilizes business information to manage everyday operations.

Technical Acumen - Understands and utilizes professional skills and knowledge in a specific functional area to conduct.

General Hotel Operations - Knowledge of the operating principles and practices of all brand/hotel-specific functions to support successful operations of the overall property (e.g., Engineering/Maintenance, Event Management, Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, Legal/Contracting, Food and Beverage, Guest Services/Front Desk, Sales & Marketing, Security/Loss Prevention, Retail/Gift Shops, Spa, and Recreation/Health Club).

Basic Competencies - Fundamental competencies required for accomplishing basic work activities. 

Basic Computer Skills - Uses basic computer hardware and software (e.g., personal computers, word processing software, Internet browsers, etc.).

Mathematical Reasoning - Demonstrates ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly, correctly, and in a way that allows one to solve work-related issues.

Oral Comprehension - Demonstrates ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Reading Comprehension - Demonstrates understanding of written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.

Writing - Communicates effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

Skills and Knowledge

Fluent in Arabic language, an advantage. 

Aggressive negotiating skills and creative selling abilities to close on business with a high conversion ratio. 

Possesses software knowledge (Microsoft Office, etc).

Possesses systems knowledge (OPERA Sales & Catering, Meeting Matrix) and building business blocks.

Must be able to “Knock on doors” to get the business

Knows how to conduct research on the Internet.

Weekly prospecting and soliciting  goals

Uncovering new customers (Local and Social)

Effective sales skills to up-sell products and services

Ability to manage guest room and meeting space inventories

Broad understanding of facility management (sanitation, maintenance, operations)

Strong customer development and relationship management skills

Knowledge of overall hotel operations as they affect department

Knowledge of Event Technology products and services

Knowledge of contract management and legalities

Strong communication skills (verbal, listening, writing)

Strong problem-solving skills 

Strong customer and associate relation skills

Strong presentation and platform skills

Strong organization skills

Strong “Closing skills”

Strong “persuasion” skills

Effective decision making skills

Valid Driving License (Preferably in GCC)