Sales & Event Planner in Manchester

Location: Imperial War Museum North

Salary: Up to £30,000 per annum

Contract: Full Time, 40 hours, Permanent, 5 days over 7

Working at the award-winning IWM North, you will showcase the museum's unique event spaces, helping to create memorable experiences for a diverse range of clients. As a Sales & Event Planner, you will be at the heart of the venue's commercial operation, driving enquiries, securing bookings and delivering exceptional customer service from initial enquiry through to event delivery.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and organised individual who shares our passion for creating outstanding events and growing revenue opportunities. Working as part of a dedicated team, you will build strong client relationships, coordinate event requirements, conduct venue showrounds and ensure every event exceeds expectations. This is an exciting opportunity to combine sales and event planning in a role where no two days are the same, while contributing to the success of one of Manchester's most distinctive venues.

What can we offer you:

• Competitive salary with bonus and a comprehensive company benefits package
• 20 days annual leave, plus bank and public holiday and your birthday off
• Free parking
• Free meals whilst on duty
• Holiday purchase scheme
• Contributory pension scheme
• Aviva Digicare healthcare and wellbeing support
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme providing confidential mental health and wellbeing support
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• 2 additional days' leave following your return from maternity leave
• A day off to celebrate your baby's first birthday
• Enhanced family-friendly policies and support
• Shopping, entertainment and travel discounts
• Ongoing training, mentoring and development opportunities
• Structured career pathways to support your long-term progression
• A collaborative and inclusive culture where your ideas are valued and creativity is encouraged

Responsibilities:

• Undertaking reactive sales activities including handling voice and email enquiries.
• Producing professional and accurate proposals, providing best options first time to customers, within agreed response times.
• Following up on all enquiries within agreed timescales with the aim to convert to confirmed bookings and ensuring conversion rates of incoming sales enquiries and bookings are optimised.
• Managing venue diaries and coordinating internal client bookings.
• Conducting customer showrounds and showcasing the venue for current and future event opportunities.
• Issuing contracts and invoices in line with agreed sales processes and timelines.
• Planning and coordinating all event details from confirmation through to delivery.
• Maintaining accurate, up-to-date customer booking information and event records.
• Producing detailed event orders and supporting event documentation.
• Ensuring invoices are issued accurately and on time, with payments received in line with company terms and conditions.
• Liaising closely with operational teams to ensure successful event delivery and leading weekly BEO meetings.
• Achieving agreed sales, conversion and upselling targets.
• Building and maintaining strong client relationships to maximise repeat business opportunities.
• Conducting post-event follow-up calls to secure future bookings and gather customer feedback.
• Supporting proactive sales activity targeting past bookers, lapsed accounts and lost opportunities.
• Participating in venue showcase events, FAM trips, sales campaigns and marketing initiatives.
• Monitoring competitor activity, promotions and market trends to support venue sales performance and market share.
• Maintaining Delphi compliance benchmarks and achieving mystery shopper standards.
• Attending and contributing to sales meetings, forecasting calls and business reviews.
• Performing ad hoc tasks as required.

The Ideal Candidate:

• Minimum 2 years' experience in a sales and/or event planning role, preferably within a conference, events, hospitality or venue environment.
• Proven track record of achieving sales, conversion and customer service targets.
• Experience working to KPIs including sales targets, conversion rates, response times and customer satisfaction measures.
• Experience managing events from enquiry through to delivery.
• Demonstrate a positive, flexible and customer-focused "can do" approach.
• Strong commercial awareness with an understanding of sales, revenue and profitability.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong organisational and time management abilities, with excellent attention to detail.
• Experience preparing proposals, contracts and event documentation.
• Confident conducting venue showrounds and building client relationships.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously.
• Enthusiastic, proactive and customer focused.
• Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Experience using CRM and event management systems, ideally Salesforce Delphi, is advantageous.

About Us:

Restaurant Associates is a leading premium hospitality provider with an ethos drawn from our history of fine and high-quality dining in London and New York. Within our venues team, we provide catering and hospitality services to some of the most iconic visitor attractions and destinations in the UK including the Imperial War Museum London, Glyndebourne Opera House, Knebworth House, Design Museum, Whipsnade Zoo and many more. Within these amazing venues we operate a host of bespoke cafés and restaurants, as well as delivering private events ranging from small meetings to large-scale ground events of up to 1000 people. You can find a full list of our venues on our website. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive, diverse, fun, and dynamic place to work with opportunities to collaborate with a wide range of teams plus a commitment to putting our people first. Restaurant Associates is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from candidates of all backgrounds. As a business, we are committed to sustainability led practices and are proud to have achieved 3 stars with the Sustainable Restaurant Association’s Food Made Good Programme.