Sales & Events Executive

POSITION SUMMARY

The position is accountable for proactively soliciting all business segments (Transient, Group, and Catering) and handling sales & catering opportunities both locally and internationally. Ensures business is turned over properly and in a timely fashion for proper service delivery. Assists in leading all day‑to‑day activities related to sales with a focus on building long‑term, value‑based customer relationships that enable achievement of sales objectives.

Achieves personal sales goals. Proactively soliciting all local business segments; to include new business from small business accounts, sourcing new accounts, identifying new targets, and re‑soliciting past business leads. Ensure compliance with Ritz‑Carlton Standard Operating Procedures to maintain brand integrity.

Education and Experience

• High school diploma or GED; 2 years experience in the sales and marketing, guest services, front desk, or related professional area.
• 2‑year degree from an accredited university in Business Administration, Marketing, Hotel and Restaurant Management, or related major; no work experience required.

Preferred:

• Previous experience in proactive lead generation in hospitality and sales discipline; knowledge of property‑specific business segments (e.g. group, catering, transient); knowledge the hospitality industry.
• Previous experience selling luxury brands and experiential services preferred.

Managing Sales Activities

• Solicits new business from non‑deployed small local business accounts, and leads sent through internal referral mechanisms.
• Solicits potential new accounts or business opportunities by leveraging business intelligence provided by Sales & Marketing Planning and Support or other third‑party data sources to generate leads.
• Re‑solicits non‑deployed realized opportunities, including turndowns, lost opportunities, and actualized business when appropriate.
• Drives customer satisfaction through daily interactions (e.g., solicitations, re‑solicitations, account calls, site inspections, new business calls, face to face activities, Sales Blitz, etc.).
• Conducts customer facing sales activities on behalf of the hotels in partnership with Property Coordinator/Resource as appropriate (e.g., lunch and learns, social hours, company of the month activities, local industry events, Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) Activities, etc.).
• Conducts site inspections for customer accounts as appropriate.
• Designs, develops and sells creative catered events.
• Maximizes revenue by up‑selling packages and creative food and beverage.
• Develops menus that drive sales.
• Assists with selling, implementation and follow‑through of catering promotions.
• Maintains complete and up‑to‑date lead information on each account in Opera System to verify accurate reporting and customer base information.
• Attend BEO meeting to ensure operational alignment of all attending departments for next events. Attend weekly Customer Engagement Meeting.
• Qualifies and maintains customer's long‑term business potential and refers customers to market, field, hotel or national sales office, as required.
• Verifies accurate and timely lead turnover to other Sales Channels and partners closely with the Multi‑Hotel Sales to ensure qualified leads are entered into Opera System.
• Leverages MI Leads for Out of Org, Non‑Deployed Accounts.
• Presents stakeholder hotel benefits and features based on customer needs.
• Understands and utilizes all business processes written in support of the sales organization.
• Utilizes negotiation skills and creative selling abilities to uncover new business.
• Uses all information systems (e.g., Opera, MRDW, MarRFP‑SAPP, Hoteligence, Account Relationship Management (ARM)) to research the deployment and value of the accounts deemed important for stakeholder hotel.
• Understands the overall market (e.g., competitors' strengths and weaknesses, economic trends, supply and demand etc.) to sell effectively against the competition.
• Communicates trends, opportunities, and market changes to appropriate parties, as needed.
• Leverages all available sales channels, (e.g., , group and transient intermediaries, field sales, worldwide…