Director, Sports and Entertainment Sales

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Requirements:

• 5+ years of sales management experience required
• Ability to demonstrate progressive career growth and a pattern of exceptional performance
• Must have in-depth knowledge of sales techniques and broad base business acumen, including robust analytical, communication, and presentation skills
• Must have exceptional leadership skills. Includes ability to create a compelling vision, demonstrate flexibility in approach, define/lead change, influence and motivate others to achieve desired results
• Ability to evaluate business trends and develop successful solutions that enhance business performance
• Ability to build, actively develop, and effectively manage diverse, geographically dispersed teams
• Strong consultative skills and the ability to achieve corporate business objectives across functional boundaries
• An energized initiative-taker who can work independently; ability to lead and direct multiple projects simultaneously
• Salesforce.com and/or CRM productivity systems experience highly desired
• Must be willing to travel throughout the U.S. regularly.

Responsibilities:

• Provide exceptional business leadership to drive superior results.
• Develop and oversee implementation of market-based sales plans and strategies to bolster current account acquisition and market penetration to secure individual and volume opportunities.
• Coordinate deployment of Corporate Sales Managers resources to achieve room night, revenue, and share shift objectives; regularly review priorities and adjust as required
• Support a disciplined cadence across the organization, including a consistent focus on their new business pipeline and proactive thinking; track, manage and achieve revenue and pipeline objectives
• Focus Corporate Market Sales Managers on the strongest potential and target locations; coach team to develop deeper relationships and networking opportunities
• Champion business transformation and change efforts in support of Sales and Marketing strategies
• Collaborate with Sales Strategy and Operations to establish and maintain Corporate Sales empowerment standards to streamline acquisition and approval of Sales preferred agreements; promote compliance with program review standards and processes
• With Sales Strategy, operationalize and maintain an analytics-based targeting process (e.g., look-alike profiles, low margin businesses, etc.) to leverage the Choice value proposition more aggressively
• Collaborate with Insides Sales to fully leverage Choice’s Client Service Support organization; develop and implement techniques to decrease Corporate Sales Manager’s time spent on service-related tasks, and increase time spent on high value/customer facing activities (including sales calls/presentations and related follow-ups/debriefs, sales call strategy and planning time, lead identification and qualification, and pipeline management)
• Work cross-functionally across Choice to help drive corporate sales program results; focus on removing barriers while consistently monitoring corporate activities for potential leads
• Aggressively promote sales resource utilization to foster a consultative and insights-based selling approach
• Collaborate with Marketing Programs and Sales Strategy to ensure the Corporate Sales team is equipped with the right messaging, tools, and knowledge to be successful
• Collaborate with Global Sales leadership to periodically review/refine sales territories and key account assignments
• Conduct frequent joint sales calls with new and existing Corporate Market Sales Managers to determine areas for development and replicable best practices
• Stay current on sales effectiveness best practices and competitive positioning; provide thought leadership on deal structuring and ways to leverage Choice resources to bolster performance; identify ways to break down selling barriers to increase Choice share
• Participate in industry associations, preferably in a leadership role, to foster awareness of Choice and cultivate lead opportunities
• Support special projects and strategic initiatives as required
• Hire, retain and continually develop diverse, high caliber talent who can contribute positively to the organization
• Develop clear and measurable goals; manage relative to shared accountability standards; address performance issues promptly and consistently
• Motivate associates and utilize Choice engagement results to measure effectiveness
• Create personal development plans with each Corporate Sales Rep to foster individual growth and engagement; work to evolve Corporate Sales Rep skills to fit Choice’s sales model and focus going forward (i.e., value and acquisition oriented; ability to balance analytical and relationship skills)
• Leverage Global Sales career pathing guidelines to create and maintain succession plans; develop a pipeline of talent for key positions