Business Development & Account Manager - Manchester

At itison we believe life is about the experience. We match our 1.7 million members with the best local experiences; create our own world class events and donate thousands of experiences to local charities.

We’re the market leader at what we do and we’re looking for the best to join our team to help make us better.

We’re looking for a proven and ambitious Business Development & Account Manager to join our City Team and help us grow our Manchester business sustainably - someone who can build real momentum in the city through sourcing standout experiences with brilliant local businesses, driving commercial growth, and ultimately stepping into a team leader role as the team grows. The role would suit someone who is well connected across Manchester and the North-west and has a strong network of hospitality, leisure and experience-led businesses they can tap into.

What you'll be doing:

• Our City Team (sales team) is at the forefront of delivering growth for itison, responsible for driving double-digit growth every year through sourcing and negotiating an incredible range of experiences in our local areas; from amazing hotel breaks to Michelin-starred dining or the best new spa.
• To begin with, you’ll be focused on developing new business in and around Manchester & the North-west of England - reigniting our presence, securing partnerships with the best operators, and building a pipeline that creates sustained momentum.
• Once you have built up a strong portfolio, your time will then be split between account managing your existing accounts and helping them grow, alongside continuing to generate new business.

To excel at this role, you’ll need to be smart, charming, ambitious, tenacious, diligent, resilient and organised. You will also be motivated by targets, used to working at pace, and thinking strategically to get what you want. You should have experience in B2B sales or strong transferable experience from the hospitality or leisure industries. A network of connections within these sectors would also be beneficial.

The role will be based between our Manchester city centre office and being out and about visiting businesses/venues, along with some regular visits to our Glasgow HQ. To do this role, you'll need to be flexible, have a driving license and your own transport.

What’s the role?

• Growing and develop your pipeline by building amazing relationships with key people.
• Building on established relationships and coming up with ideas for new opportunities for existing accounts.
• Working with senior teams in local and global brands to develop long-term strategies based on their objectives.
• Using research and your own hospitality knowledge to identify the best opportunities within each business to work with itison.
• Maximise your time by combining scheduled meetings with drop-ins to qualified businesses.
• Target based - you will have targets to work to across various metrics.

Key skills & traits:

• A love of sales and business development, backed by a proven track record.
• Intelligent, professional, presentable, and tenacious.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Ambitious, energetic, self-motivated, and driven by KPI’s.
• Resilient and a skilled objection handler/negotiator.
• An emotionally intelligent people person; brilliant at building relationships at all levels.
• Diligent and organised; able to follow processes and manage time effectively.
• Highly connected within Manchester and the surrounding areas, with strong industry relationships.
• Insider knowledge of the hospitality industry and an understanding of industry language and key considerations (i.e. profit margins).

The salary and benefits package:

• Salary £30k - £40k + commission depending on experience (OTE up to £50k).
• Private Health Care.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Salary exchange smart pension scheme.
• 15% itison discount and 50% discount at all itison-owned venues.
• Enhanced maternity/paternity.
• Learning grant.
• Lunchtime Pilates classes.
• Holiday-buy scheme.
• Birthday day off.
• Home & Tech scheme.
• Paid company socials.
• Free tickets to our major events (Drive-In Movies, GlasGLOW, and more to come).
• Charity day – paid time off to volunteer for a charity of your choice.
• Fantastic work environment and the best equipment to do your job.