Sales Specialist

About the role

Smithbucklin is a 650-person, employee-owned professional services company with over 70 years of success serving the association market. We have primary offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Responsibilities

• Drive membership growth by identifying, prospecting, and converting new individual and organizational members across association clients
• Own and manage membership sales pipelines, consistently meeting or exceeding recruitment and revenue goals
• Conduct outbound prospecting through phone, email, LinkedIn, referrals, conferences, and other lead generation strategies
• Execute consultative sales conversations that communicate the value of membership and recommend the best membership options
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with prospective, current, and lapsed members throughout the membership lifecycle
• Collaborate with client team, marketing, and membership operations to execute recruitment and retention campaigns
• Provide creative input on new membership recruitment strategies, referral programs, promotional campaigns, and member value propositions to drive growth
• Utilize Salesforce and other CRM tools to manage opportunities, forecast revenue, document activity, and maintain accurate pipeline reporting
• Analyze sales performance and membership trends to identify new business opportunities and improve conversion rates
• Represent client organizations at conferences, webinars, and networking events to promote membership opportunities
• Partner with membership coordinators and support staff to ensure a seamless onboarding experience and outstanding member service

Requirements

• Consistently achieves or exceeds membership sales and recruitment goals
• Passionate about building relationships and helping organizations grow
• Thrives in a consultative sales environment focused on delivering value
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, ensuring an exceptional member experience
• Leverages a proven sales process to generate leads, nurture prospects, and close memberships
• Motivated by solving unique business challenges, and being rewarded for performance

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited four-year institution or equivalent experience
• 3–5 years of experience in membership sales, business development, account management, customer success, association membership, or a related sales role

Skills

• Proficiency with basic computer programs, including the Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• Proven success in lead generation, prospecting, and consistently achieving or exceeding sales goals
• Experience selling membership programs, professional services, subscriptions, or other recurring revenue offerings
• Experience engaging executive-level decision makers and cultivating long-term client relationships
• Experience using Salesforce or similar CRM platforms to manage sales pipelines and forecasting
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook)

Benefits

• Hybrid work environment with in-office days established as Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday
• Standard 40-hour workweek with the possibility of additional hours based on project deadlines
• On-Target Earnings (OTE) compensation range of $60,000–$80,000

Pay

• On-Target Earnings (OTE) compensation range of $60,000–$80,000

Schedule

• Hybrid work environment with in-office days established as Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday
• Standard 40-hour workweek with the possibility of additional hours based on project deadlines