Group Sales Manager

Job Overview

You will be an integral member of the team that actively solicits and handles inquiries of groups that exceed 10 guestrooms per night and below 50 guestrooms per night. You will participate in the continuing effort to deliver distinctively different guest experiences and nurture lasting relationships with our customers with a focus on building long-term, value-based customer relationships that enable the achievement of optimum sales objectives.

Responsibilities

• With an innovative mindset, identify and enthusiastically create new contacts and develop sales leads through phone solicitation/prospecting, sales calls, trade shows, etc.
• Respond to sales inquiries and contact potential clients to build and nurture lasting business relationships.
• Understand the overall market – competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, economic trends, supply, and demand, etc. and strategically sell against our competition.
• Take the initiative to go beyond the ordinary to differentiate us from the competition and create loyalty.
• Understand fully the hotel amenities, venues, and options and provide recommendations to create authentic and distinctively different experiences for our groups.
• Anticipate our guests' needs and respond promptly.
• Create, execute, and support the operational aspects of business booked (e.g., generating proposals, writing contracts, and customer correspondence).
• Produce quotes and written confirmation to all clients.
• Maintain timely and accurate recording of activity to include appointments, calls made, and business leads.
• Foster positive and productive relationships with all team members of Lake Nona Hotels, particularly on the Sales, Marketing and Events Teams as well as the Executive Committee members and hotel leadership.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree preferred in hospitality, sales & marketing, or business administration.
• Work Experience. Minimum of three years in a Hotel Group Sales Manager position with proven successful track record of closing sales and effectively negotiating high volume financial contracts and consistently achieving or exceeding sales goals.
• We are in the business of bringing dreams to life and it requires operational understanding and innovative thinking to result in the flexibility to produce those dreams.
• Previous experience and enthusiasm selling passionate people, authentic experiences, and distinctively different service to others in a team-oriented environment.
• A people person. The best part of selling is creating and building lasting relationships with our guests and team members.
• A great communicator. Verbally creating a picture of the amazing experiences, we can create for a group requires excellent listening skills, attention to detail, and the ability to communicate effectively in English both verbally and through excellent written communication.
• An excellent administrator. Paperwork may not be the most fun part of the job but organization and the ability to create, implement, and analyze manual and automated reports coupled with a comprehensive knowledge of technical and managerial applications of PMS, Delphi, and appropriate PC applications will keep you organized and ensure you have more time to sell!
• A qualified applicant is a proven closer and thrives on the challenge of finding new business but understands the operation and the administrative requirements and ensures he/she is fulfilling those needs as an integral part of the team.
• Working Environment/Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a team member to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the team member will experience temperature fluctuations (rain, wind, heat, humidity), and moderate to high noise levels.