Sales Manager

We are currently recruiting a Sales Manager, for our client based in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Our client is a luxury exclusive-use venue set within a spectacular private estate in the heart of the Scottish countryside.
Hosting weddings, private celebrations, corporate events and exclusive stays, our client offers something genuinely different: a beautiful historic property, exceptional surroundings and the opportunity to create highly personalised experiences for our guests.
As we continue to grow and diversify the business, we are looking for an ambitious and commercially driven Sales Manager to join our team.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who loves hospitality but, importantly, loves sales.

The Role
As part of our plans to grow and diversify the business, we are expanding our sales team with the appointment of a second Sales Manager.

Working alongside our existing Sales Manager and reporting to the General Manager, you will form part of a collaborative commercial team responsible for driving sales across weddings, corporate events, private hire and our holiday cottages.

Our wedding market is already well established, and a key priority will be continuing this strong performance while creating the capacity to significantly develop other areas of the business.
In particular, we see considerable opportunity to grow our corporate events and exclusive private hire markets, which will be a major focus of this appointment.

While both Sales Managers will work closely together and provide support across the wider sales function, we are looking for someone who will bring a particularly proactive approach to business development, identifying new opportunities, building relationships, networking and actively taking our client to the market rather than relying solely on inbound enquiries.

You will work closely with the General Manager and existing Sales Manager against shared commercial objectives, while having the autonomy and accountability to develop your own relationships, pipeline and areas of opportunity.

This isn't a role for someone who wants to sit behind a desk waiting for the phone to ring.
Dedicated time each week will be expected for business development, networking and proactive outreach. This could include meeting prospective clients, attending networking events, visiting partners, arranging appointments, making introductions, picking up the phone and developing relationships with agencies and other potential sources of business.

There will also be opportunities to represent our client further afield, including attendance at selected exhibitions, networking opportunities and industry events in London, Europe and the United States.

Private Viewings & Working Pattern

As a luxury exclusive-use venue, providing prospective clients with a highly personalised experience from their very first visit is extremely important to us.

The role will therefore work alternate weekends, providing greater flexibility for private wedding and event viewings.

Weekend working will form part of the normal five-day working week, with corresponding days off during the week.

You will work alongside our existing Sales Manager to ensure prospective clients have excellent flexibility when arranging their visit and receive a warm, professional and highly personalised experience throughout their sales journey.

Key Responsibilities
• Work alongside the existing Sales Manager to deliver the overall sales strategy.
• Take ownership of an active sales pipeline across weddings, corporate events, private hire and leisure stays.
• Maintain and grow our strong wedding business, from initial enquiry and private viewing through to conversion.
• Host engaging and highly personalised private viewings for prospective wedding, corporate and private clients.
• Develop corporate events and exclusive private hire into significant and sustainable revenue streams for the business.
• Proactively identify and approach prospective clients rather than relying solely on inbound enquiries.
• Dedicate regular time each week to sales outreach, appointments, relationship building and networking.
• Build relationships with corporate decision-makers, PAs and EAs, event agencies, DMCs, luxury travel professionals, wedding agents and other potential partners.
• Represent our client at relevant networking events, trade shows, exhibitions, familiarisation trips and sales events.
• Represent our client at selected UK and international events, with potential travel to London, Europe and the USA.
• Arrange and host site visits, familiarisation trips and client appointments
• Confidently follow up opportunities, overcome objections, negotiate where appropriate and ask for the business.
• Identify and develop new partnerships and routes to market.
• Develop new packages and commercial opportunities in conjunction with the General Manager, existing Sales Manager and operational team.
• Maintain an accurate and active sales pipeline, ensuring every opportunity has a clear next action.
• Monitor conversion rates, booking pace, revenue performance and other agreed sales KPIs.
• Provide regular commercial updates, identifying where performance is ahead or behind target and recommending action accordingly.
• Work within an agreed sales and marketing budget, ensuring expenditure has a clear commercial rationale and reviewing return on investment.

Holiday Cottage Sales & Revenue Management
Alongside the wider sales team, the role will also have commercial responsibility for developing the performance of our estate holiday cottages.
This will include:
• Driving year-round occupancy while protecting and growing average daily rate.
• Regularly reviewing rates, availability, booking pace and market demand.
• Managing weekday, weekend and seasonal pricing strategies.
• Identifying opportunities to improve performance during quieter periods.
• Reviewing OTA performance while developing strategies to increase direct bookings.
• Benchmarking our pricing and positioning against the wider market.
• Developing packages and partnerships which encourage longer stays and give guests a reason to choose our client beyond price alone.
• Identifying opportunities to cross-sell cottage accommodation alongside appropriate events and experiences.
• Monitoring occupancy, ADR and revenue performance and taking proactive action where required.

About You
We’re looking for someone who will complement the strengths of our existing sales team, combining excellent enquiry conversion with a particular focus on proactive business development, networking and new market opportunities. You will ideally be:
• Commercially driven and motivated by achieving targets.
• A confident salesperson with a genuine desire to win business.
• Proactive, resilient and comfortable creating your own opportunities.
• Confident picking up the phone, making introductions and approaching prospective clients.
• An excellent relationship builder who understands that luxury sales requires warmth, discretion and authenticity.
• Comfortable networking and representing our client professionally at a senior level.
• Able to demonstrate previous success in converting enquiries and developing new business.
• Organised and confident managing multiple sales pipelines and priorities simultaneously.
• Comfortable working with budgets, revenue targets, KPIs and performance data.
• Able to work collaboratively as part of a sales team while taking individual ownership and accountability for results.
• Able to think strategically while still being prepared to get involved in the day-to-day activity required to deliver results.
• Creative and willing to bring forward new ideas, partnerships, packages and potential markets.
• Comfortable working independently and taking ownership of your areas of the business.
• Flexible to work alternate weekends as part of the normal working week.
• Willing and able to travel within the UK and internationally when required.
Previous experience within luxury hospitality, hotels, exclusive-use venues, events, weddings, corporate hospitality, luxury travel or a similar sales environment would be advantageous.
However, attitude and commercial instinct are equally important. If you have a strong track record in sales and believe your skills would transfer successfully into luxury hospitality, we would still be very interested in hearing from you.

What We Offer
• Genuine ownership and accountability for developing new business.
• Significant scope to develop new markets and contribute to the future commercial direction of the client.
• The opportunity to work closely with the General Manager, existing Sales Manager and wider management team.
• UK and international travel opportunities, including selected events in London, Europe and the United States.
• The freedom to develop new relationships, partnerships and commercial ideas.
• The opportunity to build relationships across the luxury hospitality, corporate events and travel sectors.
• A varied role where no two weeks are likely to look exactly the same.
• The opportunity to represent a truly unique Scottish property to clients and partners in the UK and internationally.

The Person We're Looking For
Ultimately, we're looking for someone with energy, ambition and a strong sales instinct.
Someone who can build excellent long-term relationships while never losing sight of the commercial objective.

Someone who enjoys being out meeting people, networking and developing relationships, but is equally comfortable picking up the phone, following up an opportunity and asking for the sale.

Someone who sees an empty date in the diary and thinks, “How do I fill it?”

If this sounds like you, we want to hear from you.

Contact us now at Major Recruitment Aberdeen on 01224 454070

INDFS