Specialist, Business Development & Sales Administration

The Specialist, Business Development and Sales Administration is responsible for managing the account expansion and sales growth of an assigned portfolio of travel agency accounts.  Specialist is responsible for identifying areas of business opportunity via 2-way conversations and developing customized support to grow brand engagement, brand exposure and ultimately sales growth within targeted accounts.  Role includes a combination of customer product training, selling, and customer engagement/support to drive long-term account success. 

Essential Functions:

• Manages existing account growth via outbound sales program:  Responsible for a dedicated portfolio of travel agency accounts and driving incremental growth from that portfolio.  Responsible for conducting account research to identify performance history and patterns, understanding customer purchase motivations and creating customized account management approaches to ensure growth. Specialist is tasked with achieving sales and performance targets within their assigned portfolio.

• Manages B2B customer engagement channels:  Oversees community engagement and responsible for comment management for 5+ Facebook groups + inbound emails from portfolio accounts.  Provides guidance to trade partners on topics ranging from commission management to booking policies. Collaborates closely with Carnival contact center coaches and other sales colleagues to ensure positioning balances customer-centricity with CCL's business needs and priorities in way that drives NPS and supports future business expansion.

• Travel Agency Product Knowledge:  Responsible for successfully onboarding newer and growing travel agencies assigned to portfolio.  Consolidate CCL content + agency interests, performance stats & any objections to create content that is compelling and drives incremental interest and sales from partner accounts and their employee groups.  Responsible for guiding and supporting agency partners -- via digital/remote tools (eg Teams, Zoom etc.) -- to increase customer engagement with the brand and grow bookings.

• Act as SME for industry and company trends:  Stay updated on news, announcements and positioning. Research and incorporate into sales techniques and materials and share tools and knowledge across the Business Development team to ensure all colleagues are similarly informed.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Scope:  Position is part of Carnival's Global Sales and Trade Marketing organization and supports sales and customer support efforts for the trade distribution channel.  This role works closely with Carnival’s Travel Agency partners, the Carnival Sales team, digital systems teams and Carnival's internal contact centers.  The role supports shoreside business activities with limited exposure or activities with Carnival shipboard colleagues. 

• Problem solving:  Examples of some expected contributions include:

• Gaining access/appointments to travel agency accounts who have not actively worked with Carnival recently. Changing opinions and mindsets on Carnival brand from travel agencies who have brand affinity to a competitor. Adjusting sales message/script based on customer responses.

• Impact:  Specialist oversees substantial portfolio of Carnival's newer/growth-potential travel agencies and is responsible for ensuring that these customers grow and outperform prior years.  This role has significant impact on ticket revenue and travel agent NPS scores. 

• Leadership:  No direct reports. Significant collaboration and influence leadership with colleagues in Field Sales, Strategic Partner Sales, IT, Carnival Contact Center and Trade Marketing. 

Qualifications:

• 3+ years phone-based sales or customer service 

• High School or GED;  Bachelor's degree preferred in Business or related field but not required.

• Excellent customer service skills

• High degree of accuracy and attention to detail

• Strong communication skills to clearly and accurately respond in person, via email, and phone with business 

• professionalism

• Ability to multi‐task and work efficiently in a fast‐paced environment

• Ability to continuously prioritize own workload with minimal direction

• Excellent interpersonal skills and a promoter of teamwork

• Ability to use a web browser and search the Internet

• Proven ability to build cross‐functional relationships and collaboration

• Flexible to adapt to changes and cross‐training of job requirements

• Strong work ethic

• Technical knowledge to troubleshoot, coordinate and leverage internal IT applications and databases and to 

• maintain and create supporting data (policy/procedure) within Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

Travel:  No or very little travel likely

Work Conditions: Work primarily in a climate-controlled environment with minimal safety/health hazard potential.

Physical Demands: Must be able to remain in a stationary position at a desk and/or computer for extended periods of time. 

This position is classified as “in-office.”  As an in-office role, it requires employees to work from a designated Carnival office in South Florida Monday through Thursday each week. Employees may work from their homes on Fridays.  Candidates must be located in (or willing to relocate to) the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. 

Offers to selected candidates will be made on a fair and equitable basis, taking into account specific job-related skills and experience.   

At Carnival, your total rewards package is much more than your base salary. All non-sales roles participate in an annual cash bonus program, while sales roles have an incentive plan. Director and above roles may also be eligible to participate in Carnival’s discretionary equity incentive plan. Plus, Carnival provides comprehensive and innovative benefits to meet your needs, including: 

• Health Benefits: 
  • Cost-effective medical, dental and vision plans 
  • Employee Assistance Program and other mental health resources 
  • Additional programs include company paid term life insurance and disability coverage  
• Financial Benefits: 
  • 401(k) plan that includes a company match 
  • Employee Stock Purchase plan 
• Paid Time Off 
  • Holidays – All full-time and part-time with benefits employees receive days off for 8 company-wide holidays, plus 2 additional floating holidays to be taken at the employee’s discretion.  
  • Vacation Time – All full-time employees at the manager and below level start with 14 days/year; director and above level start with 19 days/year.  Part-time with benefits employees receive time off based on the number of hours they work, with a minimum of 84 hours/year.  All employees gain additional vacation time with further tenure. 
  • Sick Time – All full-time employees receive 80 hours of sick time each year.  Part-time with benefits employees receive time off based on the number of hours they work, with a minimum of 60 hours each year.   
• Other Benefits 
  • Complementary stand-by cruises, employee discounts on confirmed cruises, plus special rates for family and friends 
  • Personal and professional learning and development resources including tuition reimbursement  
  • On-site Fitness center at our Miami campus 

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