Senior Events Sales Manager

Senior Events Sales Manager

Job title:

Senior Events Sales Manager

Reports to:

Head of Events and Commercial Partnerships
Responsible for:
Events Team
Salary: £40,000
Conditions:
Permanent position, full time

Hours:

40 hours per week (inclusive of breaks), some evening and weekend work required
Annual Leave: 22 days + bank holidays

Our client is more than just a cultural space; it is a vibrant community hub where creativity thrives, voices are heard, and everyone is welcomed and celebrated. They invite you to join them in their mission to enrich lives through the power of the arts.
Their vision is to empower the undervalued, unheard, and excluded communities through their creative and cultural spaces. They believe in creating a haven where every voice matters, where stories from all walks of life can be shared and celebrated. Their mission is rooted in a rich and influential theatre history, from which they have emerged as a dynamic new cultural hub.

They are dedicated to presenting and collaborating with voices and perspectives that are often marginalised in mainstream funded culture.
Their commitment to building a strong connection with their community is reflected in their core values:

The Senior Events Sales Manager is the senior sales lead within our client's commercial team, responsible for building a proactive sales operation that creates opportunities, develops pipeline and converts business into sustainable earned income. The role will lead the proactive sales strategy, with particular responsibility for growing their core hires business across rehearsals, auditions and workshops, while developing corporate, commercial and strategic venue relationships.

The postholder will line-manage the Events Sales Manager and work closely with the Event Manager to ensure a strong transition from sales to delivery.

• Lead and develop our client's proactive sales strategy, moving the team from a predominantly reactive model to planned outbound sales activity.
• Own the commercial sales pipeline and ensure sufficient quality and value to support income targets.
• Identify, target and develop new markets, clients and commercial opportunities across cultural, creative, corporate and other relevant sectors.
• Lead proactive prospecting and develop relationships that increase repeat, block and higher-value bookings.
• Work with the Head of Events and Commercial Partnerships to develop opportunities for multi-year venue partnerships and other forms of predictable, longer-term income.
• Use customer insight, market intelligence and sales performance data to identify opportunities and improve conversion.

• Own the strategy for growing rehearsals, auditions and workshops, identifying priority client groups and markets.
• Develop targeted prospecting and sales activity to increase utilisation and visibility of the organisation's spaces.
• Develop compelling propositions and work with Marketing on campaigns, assets and case studies that generate qualified leads.
• Identify repeat and block-booking opportunities and monitor performance to improve results.

• Line-manage and develop the Events Sales Manager, setting clear objectives, priorities and performance expectations.
• Review pipeline, activity and conversion regularly and take action where performance or income is at risk.
• Coach and support the Events Sales Manager to develop strong prospecting, enquiry management, negotiation and conversion skills.
• Ensure clear processes are in place for enquiries, opportunities, quotes, follow-up and confirmed bookings.
• Build a culture of proactive sales, accountability, pace and excellent customer service.

• Own the development of pricing and packaging with relevant colleagues, balancing demand, capacity, market position, value and profitability.
• Develop higher-value propositions that move beyond basic room hire and encourage package and ancillary income.
• Use customer feedback and commercial performance to improve the offer.
• Work with Marketing to ensure propositions are clearly communicated through effective sales and marketing assets.

• Work closely with Marketing to identify priority markets, audiences and opportunities.
• Brief and contribute to campaigns that support the sales strategy and generate qualified leads.
• Identify the content, assets, case studies and testimonials needed to support proactive sales.
• Share customer insight and market intelligence to strengthen the organisation's commercial positioning.

• Take responsibility for the commercial sales budget and sales…