Business Development Manager

The Business Development Manager is responsible for driving new member acquisition and accelerating Chair group growth across the UK. This is a performance-driven B2B sales role focused on engaging C-level executives and converting marketing-generated and self-sourced leads into qualified, Chair-ready CEO candidates. Using LinkedIn, phone outreach, email and Salesforce, you will secure high-quality initial conversations (Information Exchanges) that directly contribute to:

• Launching new Chairs’ (Executive Coach) first groups
• Filling empty member seats in existing CEO groups
• Supporting Chairs to reach and maintain minimum standard member numbers
• Enabling established Chairs to launch additional groups

You will act as a strategic partner to Chairs, ensuring consistent pipeline traction, reducing time-to-launch, and strengthening overall group sustainability. Success will be measured by MQL → SQL → Chair-ready conversion rates, Information Exchanges secured, pipeline strength, and contribution to group growth targets.

Vistage is the world’s largest CEO coaching and peer advisory organisation for small and medium size business (SME) leaders. We offer the most effective approach for SME enterprises to achieve better results and grow faster as well as for SME leaders to maximise their impact. The 45,000+ members we serve are MDs/CEOs, owners and executives of SMEB organisations located across the UK and around the world. These SME executives typically spend a day or more with Vistage every month to immerse themselves in our comprehensive platform for making better decisions, getting better results and becoming better leaders. Our platform features three core elements: valuable perspectives from a trusted group of peers, professional guidance and meeting facilitation from an accomplished business leader (the Chair), and deep insights from subject matter experts. Vistage was founded more than 65 years ago and we’ve grown every year since then by innovating to stay on the cutting-edge of business and being relentless in delivering value to our members. Our success is demonstrated by the fact that Vistage member companies grow 2.2 times faster than non-Vistage peer companies.

Vistage’s success is anchored by a unique culture which reinforces employee commitment to the Vistage mission. It is a spirit of collective success and achievement which is also reflected in our workplace. Here’s a sample of the employee experience that helps drive our success:

• Welcome to our home. Our UK Office sits in Hedge End, Southampton while our US headquarters sits in San Diego, California. The Hedge End office features an open, modern aesthetic with lots of collaboration spaces and free coffee!
• We invest in your career. Each employee has an actionable career progression plan developed through individual collaboration with their manager. We focus on promoting from within and employee progression plans are complemented by all, we invest in staff development days as well as access to tons of individualised development resources and a tuition reimbursement program.
• We invest in you. Our employee benefits program is incredibly generous! We offer life insurance of 4 times your base salary up to a maximum £1,250,000 benefit. Take care of your financial future with a pension plan where employees are automatically enrolled at a 5% contribution, and matching of 4%. You’ll also start with 20 days annual leave to allow you to relax and recharge . . . employees receive additional annual paid days off based on tenure. All employees also have access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Travel Emergency Service, and more!
• We keep it fun! Whether you’re enjoying office celebrations or toasting your co-workers at our epic annual holiday party, you’ll see that we take having fun as seriously as helping our members succeed! The office vibe is business casual with flexible schedules that take a hybrid approach, splitting time between working in the office and working from home on an agreed cadence. We value mutual respect and laughter . . . we hate stiff formality.

Vistage’s culture and sense of mission drives employee loyalty: more than half of our staff has been with the company for five years or longer. Are you ready to start your Vistage journey?

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Take ownership of marketing-generated leads (MQLs) and convert them into Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) and Chair-ready candidates. Engage inbound and outbound prospects to assess suitability, readiness and timing for Vistage membership. Drive a defined volume of high-quality Information Exchanges for both new and established Chairs. Reduce empty-seat duration and accelerate time-to-launch for new groups.
• Supplement marketing-supplied leads with targeted outbound sourcing via LinkedIn, phone outreach, email campaigns and events. Identify “empty chair” opportunities across the portfolio and prioritise sourcing activity accordingly. Re-engage deferred or dormant prospects to maximise conversion and group capacity.
• Partner closely with Chairs to understand ideal member profiles and capacity goals. Ensure timely handover of qualified prospects and maintain accountability for progression. Support Chairs in reaching and sustaining the member group level standard.
• Provide structured feedback to the Director, UK Growth & Partnerships on lead quality, conversion trends and prospect fit. Share insights on common objections, readiness gaps and targeting opportunities to improve marketing effectiveness. Act as the commercial bridge between Marketing and Chair recruitment activity to ensure continuous optimisation of the funnel.
• Manage pipeline activity across multiple Chairs and group stages. Maintain accurate Salesforce reporting and SLA compliance. Track personal conversion ratios and deliver against agreed KPIs and growth targets.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 5+ years’ experience in B2B sales, business development or lead generation with demonstrable success in outbound prospecting and appointment setting.
• Proven experience engaging and influencing C-level executives and senior decision-makers.
• Strong track record of converting MQLs into SQLs and securing high-quality sales conversations.
• Confident and resilient in proactive outbound phone outreach.
• Experience using LinkedIn Sales Navigator, including advanced Boolean search techniques.
• CRM experience essential (Salesforce preferred) with disciplined pipeline management.
• Comfortable operating in a KPI-driven, performance-focused environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the credibility to represent Vistage professionally.
• Highly organised with excellent follow-through and attention to detail.
• Commercially minded, proactive, resilient and motivated by measurable outcomes.

JOB LOCATION

Remote from London with travel to the Hedge End office required.