Sales Agent / Vice President of Sales

Reports to: Chief Operating Officer / Chief People and Culture Officer

FLSA Classification: Exempt

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Since 1980, the Washington Speakers Bureau (WSB) has represented former U.S. presidents, American and world leaders, business visionaries, journalists, authors and sports legends.  WSB has revolutionized the lecture industry by setting the standard for commitment, trust and care, and has become the leading lecture agency.  Today, it is part of Omnicom Group, Inc (Omnicom)., the American-based global marketing and corporate communications company.

The Sales Agent develops, maintains and strengthens relationships with customers and speakers. The Sales Agent is expected to meet or exceed their annual sales goal and to consistently act in company’s best interest. The Agent increases WSB’s ‘share of wallet’ with existing customers while continuing to find new customers. The person in this role must maintain a positive attitude, exhibit a consistent sense of urgency to close sales, build lasting, loyal relationships with customers, assist marketing in the understanding of customer trends, and create an awareness of issues that might impact the successful execution of events.

A successful Agent will be perceived by speakers, customers, and WSB team members as experienced professionals who understand the speaking market and who are passionate advocates for WSB speakers in the marketplace. Agents are critical to both sales and the recruitment and retention of the company’s exclusive speakers.

Essential Functions:

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the Essential Responsibilities.

• Achieve or exceed sales goals on a monthly and annual basis
• Commit to continuous learning about speakers, customers, competitors and markets and apply learning to help the organization improve
• Continuously improve knowledge of industry marketplace, trends and product knowledge
• Effectively use the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system (Salesforce) to enter all sales, opportunities, customer, and speaker information for accurate tracking, reporting and follow-up
• Effectively recommend speakers that are most likely to fill customer requirements and distinguish those speakers from others in the marketplace
• Direct the customer and speaker firm offer and contract negotiation process
• Ensure contracts are approved and signed and that deposits are executed
• Maintain strong customer relationships via phone and email and increase the number of contacts within existing organizations
• Manage escalated customer issues/concerns and speaker cancellations and postponements
• Coach, mentor and train Sales Associates in the effective conduct of their roles in coordination with other Agents
• Act as collaborative team members with people in other departments
• Gather and report data and competitive information to marketing and other departments
• Lead email marketing initiatives to your customer base

Competencies:

• Critical Analysis
• Self-motivation
• Problem resolution
• Strategic thinking
• Integrity
• Empathy
• Relationship Management
• Detail orientation
• Communication
• Judgement and discretion

Supervisory Responsibility:

This position assists in the supervision of a Sales Associate.

Work Environment:

This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.

Physical Demands:

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. This position requires the ability to occasionally lift office products and supplies, up to 20 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

Position Type and Expected Work Hours:

This is a full-time position. Some flexibility in hours is allowed; however, employee must be available during the core work hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Occasional evening and weekend work are be required as job duties demand.

Travel:

Travel is minimal in this role (usually less than 10%).

Required Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Management/Administration, Sales and Marketing or related field. An additional +4 years may be substituted in lieu of degree
• 4+ years of combined experience selling services/products, contract negotiation, and demonstrated track record of sales success within the lecture/speaking industry
• Strong ability in consultative sales and connecting organizational business needs to speaker engagements and learning solutions
• Demonstrated success managing large account relationships and interacting with senior level executives
• Exceptional written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills
• Basic to intermediate proficiency in Microsoft (Word, Excel, and Outlook)
• Basic to intermediate proficiency in a Salesforce or similar CRM system

Preferred Education and Experience:

• 4+ years of direct experience in the lecture/speaking industry

Other Duties:

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities will likely change routinely as the organization changes to improve performance and innovate in the future.

EEO Statement:

Washington Speakers Bureau (WSB) provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.