Sales Support Executive at ALML Group

Role Purpose

• Provide the highest level of consistent customer service to internal and external customers to ensure that all sales and marketing queries and issues are dealt with in a timely manner to engender customer loyalty and drive revenue.  Support and assist corporate and trade accounts by responding to their queries within a set Service Level Agreement and ensuring that customer satisfaction in call handling is high.
• Support the Sales and Marketing Team in order that they are able to deliver the target revenue budget and market share defined in the business plan by protecting and growing the revenue including evaluating new business opportunities.
• Ensure that all marketing events, road shows, and familiarisation trips are managed within budget and in an efficient manner.

Main responsibilities

• Manage sales support requests and fare queries via telephone and email for corporate, trade, and regional customers and ensure that all inquiries are acknowledged, directed to the correct person, and responded to within a set SLA.
• Manage the VCorp, Regional, and general email accounts and ensure that queries are responded to, in a timely manner set by the SLA.
• Manage new business pipelines; qualify new business leads and provide information for the Sales Managers so that they are able to take full advantage of the best opportunities to grow revenue for the LOS POS.
• Manage the end-to-end process for arranging agent and corporate familiarisation trips.
• With the Sales Manager, ensure flight space is agreed and held off and that all accommodation, transfers, and entertainment are arranged within budget. Liaise with LOS and UK Duty Managers, Clubhouse, and Revivals Team of any FAM trip and access requests and update all bookings if all are confirmed.  Ensure that this is done within Finance guidelines.
• Manage the end-to-end process for arranging national and regional road shows.  Book accommodation & and venues for road shows within an agreed budget& and ensure all is confirmed and paid by Finance & and print confirmations for the Sales team.  Ensure this is completed within Finance guidelines.  Send follow-up / re-confirmation emails to all invited Agents on Road shows.
• Ensure that all LOS PCC are filed and updated, so that all Contracted Agents have access to VS Nett fares, and update the Monthly Corporate sheet, to ensure that Revenue Management has all the info required so that our Viggo reports are accurate. Communicate with GDS to ensure that they Link these Agents on their GDS to access our Private fares.  Ensure all Galileo fares add-ons/combinations are tested to ensure that all are filled correctly before sending them to relevant agents.
• Complete fare filing sheet for LOS Nett fares & and always update and email any fare structure changes to Agents.
• Update VS Corporate account sheet to ensure all Corporate accounts are updated with correct IATA no’s, PCCs, extensions, and new accounts and for Rev Mgt to have all info required to run the Viggo Report and advise Deal code department of the extensions & and new accounts.
• Test and ensure any new /Sale fares are filed correctly and report any errors to  LOS Pricing
• Check Competitors’ published fares against VS and advise the UK Pricing Sales and Marketing team in LOS.
• Prepare Forward Loads & and fare comparisons every two weeks for the Sales meeting.
• Liaise with Agents & and Reservations of any invalid deal code & report back to the deal code queries dept.  Forward all ADM’s queries to the UK and report back to Agents.
• Authorize any fares, and waivers depending on the matter and update the Authorisation file.
• Manage the Sales database and ensure that it is up-to-date and easy to access, use, and update.
• In conjunction with the Pricing / Fares analyst and Sales Managers, send out the monthly data to the Agencies and Corporations.
• Have a clear understanding of all departmental SLAs and ensure adherence to the required response times for each component.
• Manage the event planning, venue sourcing, coordination of guest list support, and post-event analysis and ensure maximum brand exposure at all events.
• Manage the brief, production, and budget for materials required for marketing events (e.g. invitations, merchandise) in conjunction with the Sales Managers/Marketing/PR Exec once the business case has been signed off.
• Manage to update the consumer (www.virginatlantic.com) with respect to special fares, conditions, and consumer and trade websites (www.vsflyinghub.com) with respect to competition and trade-specific information (including product and service updates, flight delays, etc).
• Distribute logos and imagery to trade and third-party suppliers using relevant info from ‘the hub’ – VAA logo and marketing information repository.
• Assist the Marketing /PR Exec with managing and analyzing the tracking information for both the consumer and trade websites in terms of e.g. bookings from the consumer website and vsflyinghub competitions.
• Evaluate and respond to all sponsorship requests in conjunction with the Marketing / PR Exec in accordance with the sponsorship strategy.  Additionally, maximize revenue opportunities from sponsorship requests.  Evaluate all sponsorship opportunities in relation to revenue and exposure.
• Issue the prize-winner letters in accordance with the Country Managers’ direction.  Record all sales and marketing prize-winners and taxes on a standard spreadsheet for budget purposes.  Manage all prize-winner bookings and send a monthly report of all issued prize-winner tickets and new prize-winner letters to Finance.
• Manage all merchandise requests in conjunction with the Marketing/   PR executive and sales team requirements.  Ensure that there is the right mix of merchandise for different requirements/audiences and there is enough to fulfill requirements for events, desk drops, road shows, etc.  Ensure this is done within the required budget and Finance Processes and sourced locally if the quality is acceptable to save transport costs from the UK.
• Ensure that Sales Account Managers are fully aware of the queries and trends of the requests coming through to the sales and marketing support team.
• Ensure that all market and sales support activities are done within the Finance Guidelines.  Ensure that purchase orders are raised where appropriate, check the accuracy of invoices, liaise with the Supplier and Finance department, and keep an accurate record of all marketing expenditures to ensure expenditure is in budget.
• Train Agents on VS Corp Ticketing Instructions ADM policy TTL & Call Centre on Nett fares/rules.
• Prepare fare presentations for national and regional road shows, carry out the presentation to the agents, or ensure the Sales managers/Sales Reps have the required information to deliver the presentation.
• Identify relevant development opportunities for personal and role growth incorporated in PDP and discuss with the Sales and Marketing Manager.
• Collectively manage internal communications and ensure newsworthy sales and marketing activity is communicated to Verb and internally and Coordinate monthly activity updates to the Country Manager.
• Assisting the Marketing / PR Executive in sending out PR releases and with basic Journalist information queries.
• Seek out, evaluate, and respond to all CSR requests in accordance with the CSR strategy and the brand.  Additionally, maximize revenue opportunities from CSR requests and ensure that the VAA CSR strategy is consistently communicated. Evaluate all CSR opportunities in relation to revenue and exposure.
• Monitor the competition on a regular basis to ensure Virgin fares are competitive in the market for both published and net fares.
• Prepare comparison sheets of the Virgin fares and of our main competitor’s fares on a weekly and/or monthly basis for the sales team.
• Ensure all GDS systems quote and display Virgin fares correctly in each area and also check all GDS quotations received from travel agents are correct.
• Report all fare errors in Shares and various GDSs to Pricing and/or Private Fares Department to rectify and test once done
• Prepare weekly and monthly reports on forward loads
• Handle all net agent queries and help with net ticketing details and problems.
• Liaise with the Pricing Department on day-to-day activities.

Required skills, qualifications, and experience

• Minimum qualification of 1st degree or its equivalent with 5 years working experience in relevant role.
• Mandatory Youth Service Certificate or Exemption Letter
• Good time management and prioritization skills
• Flexibility to change
• Good negotiating /people skills
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
• Excellent organisational skills
• Ability to work on many projects simultaneously
• Passion and enthusiasm
• Flexible working hours
• Self-motivated
• Confident, energetic, optimistic
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Team Player