CANDIDATE PROFILE
Education and Experience
- High school diploma or GED with 2 years of experience in sales and marketing, guest services, front desk, or a related professional area.
- OR a 2-year degree from an accredited university in Business Administration, Marketing, Hotel and Restaurant Management, or a related major, with no work experience required.
CORE WORK ACTIVITIES
Understanding Market Opportunities & Driving Revenue
- Targets group and catering accounts, markets, or segments with a strong emphasis on proactive solicitation and account saturation.
- Partners with a group or catering counterpart to effectively manage business opportunities.
- Responds to incoming group and catering opportunities that fall outside property parameters.
- Handles all opportunities if the property does not participate in an Event Booking Center (EBC).
- Identifies, qualifies, and solicits new group and catering business to achieve personal and property revenue goals.
- Focuses efforts on group and catering accounts with significant potential sales revenue.
- Develops effective group and catering sales plans and actions.
- Designs, develops, and sells creative catered events.
- Maximizes revenue by upselling packages and creative food and beverage options.
- Understands the overall market, including competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, economic trends, supply and demand, and knows how to sell against them.
- Closes the best opportunities for each property based on market conditions and individual property needs.
- Utilizes negotiating skills and creative selling abilities to close business and negotiate contracts.
Providing Exceptional Customer Service
- Manages complex business with significant revenue potential and customer expectations.
- Builds and strengthens relationships with both existing and new customers to facilitate future bookings through activities such as sales calls, entertainment, FAM trips, and trade shows.
- Develops relationships within the community to strengthen and expand the customer base for group and catering sales opportunities.
- Supports the brand’s Service and Relationship Strategy by delivering service excellence throughout each customer experience.
- Provides excellent customer service to grow share of the account.
- Executes the brand’s Customer Service Standards and the property’s Brand Standards.
- Participates in and practices the daily service basics of the brand.
- Provides exemplary customer service to drive satisfaction and loyalty by assisting customers and ensuring their needs are met before and during their program or event.
- Understands and recommends features and services that meet or exceed customer needs, building relationships and loyalty to the property and brand.
- Gains an understanding of the property’s primary target customers and their service expectations to offer better business solutions both before and during the program or event.
Building Successful Relationships
- Works collaboratively with off-property sales channels (e.g., Market Sales, Strategic Accounts) to ensure that sales efforts are coordinated, complementary, and not duplicative.
- Manages and develops relationships with key internal and external stakeholders.
- Utilizes sales resources and administrative/support staff effectively.
Additional Responsibilities
- Utilizes the intranet for resources and information.
- Conducts site inspections.
- Creates contracts as required.
- Executes and supports the operational aspects of business booked, including generating proposals, writing contracts, and managing customer correspondence.
