Business Development Manager

At Apple Leisure Group, we care for people so they can be their best. We deliver distinctive experiences for our guests, while providing a world of understanding and care. We strive to be the first choice in vacation travel, enriching lives and uniting the world.

Grow your career as a successful Business Development Manager within ALG Vacations. In this role, you will be responsible for representing and selling Travel Impressions, Apple Vacations, Funjet Vacations, United Vacations, Southwest Vacations, Blue Sky Tours in your respective territory to the travel agency community. You will develop and enhance strong agency relationships and mutually beneficial partnerships with the objective to grow incremental revenue and profitability.  You will take a consultative selling approach with travel agencies to identify share shift opportunities from our competition, leverage preferred relationships and execute engagement plans to grow incremental revenue. The territory today is MI. Territory is subject to change.

A successful Business Development Manager will:

• Develop strategic alliances with travel agents and agencies.

• Leverage preferred relationships of APPLE LEISURE GROUP in order to gain commitment, incremental revenue growth with travel agencies.

• Utilize a consultative sales approach to match the needs of the agency with the product offering of APPLE LEISURE GROUP.

• Gain revenue commitments with travel agencies for the appropriate brand(s). Execute an implementation plan with agency to realize committed revenue.

• Maintain engagement plans for all top tier accounts.

• Achieve sales targets by managing territory effectively and growing the accounts with the biggest opportunities.

• Be responsive to agent needs, issue resolution, and good follow up.

• Represent APPLE LEISURE GROUP at events in respective territory (and occasionally outside territory) to cultivate new business opportunities and gain new revenue commitments.

• Create brand loyalty through the use of key tools such as joint marketing plans, agency education, provide marketing tools to agents, product differentiation, and value proposition of booking brand.

• Use reporting tools to understand profitability, trends and goal tracking.

• Increase and promote distribution through VAX booking platform in line with established goals.

• Document all activities via sales reporting tools provided.

• Monitor competitive activities in the marketplace and provide feedback in reporting and in meetings.

• Perform other duties or special projects as required or as assigned by a manager.

A successful Business Development Manager will have:

• Bachelor's degree (BA) from four-year college or university; or three or more years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Travel industry knowledge or experience preferred, will consider other candidates with transferable sales background.

• Work from home based within the territory.

• Ability to travel up to 70% of the time is crucial for this job.  Travel by plane and car is required depending on the location of client opportunity and will consist of attending sales appointments, meetings, trade shows, FAM trips, supplier functions, company meetings, training functions both in destination and in the territory.

• Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer service including customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

• Knowledge of principles and methods for showing or promoting products and services, including marketing strategy and tactics.

• Knowledge of principles and methods for selling products and services including sales techniques and sales control systems. Consultative sales experience is ideal.

• Ability to position APPLE LEISURE GROUP as a solution to an agency's needs, ultimately persuading agency to commit to selling our products.

• Exceptional judgment and decision-making skills, considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

• Excellent analytical skills with the ability to dissect reporting and take appropriate action to grow revenue.

• Good grasp of reading reports, understanding data. Knowledge of pivot tables a plus.

• Strong understanding of the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to write clearly and concisely. The ability to persuasively verbalize the benefits of our products with the how/why an agency should work with us. Strong listening skills with the ability to ask the right questions and hear what is important to an agency.

About Apple Leisure Group

As North America's only vertically integrated travel, hospitality and leisure management group, Apple Leisure Group is an industry innovator that combines the expertise of 14 leading brands. Our unique niche allows us the special opportunity to oversee every aspect of the travel experience, from the moment a guest books a trip to the time they return home. ALG consistently delivers exceptional value to travelers and strong performance to resort owners and partners by strategically leveraging the power of its portfolio of brands across five segments, comprising:

• Vacations: The largest seller of vacation packages and charter flights in the U.S. for travel to Mexico and the Caribbean, moving approximately 3.2 million passengers annually through well-established vacation brands

• Resort Brand Management: management of 5-star and 4-star luxury resorts

• Destination Management Services: Best-in-class destination management services provided by Amstar DMC and Worldstar

• Loyalty Program: Exclusive loyalty program Unlimited Vacation Club

• Technology Solutions: Innovative technology solutions provider Trisept Solutions, connecting over 88,000 travel agents with leading travel suppliers.

To learn more about the Apple Leisure Group advantage, visit appleleisuregroup.com.

About APPLE VACATIONS

The # 1 vacation brand in the world for packages to Mexico and Dominican Republic, offers the convenience of one-stop shopping. Apple Vacations clients have access to flight, hotel, and transfers - they can also choose an all-inclusive resort where meals, drinks, and more are included - all for one affordable price.

Our Values

At ALG, we call our employees Colleagues, because we are more than just employees. We care for people so they can be at their best, we provide a world of understanding and care, and we deliver distinctive experiences for our guests. Our Values, by which we operate:

Empathy • Integrity • Respect • Inclusion • Experimentation • Well Being

ALG's Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

Living our purpose of caring for people so they can be their best means that we are committed to a workplace culture grounded in diversity and inclusion where Colleagues feel welcome and encouraged to fully participate in the organization. With the value of INCLUSION, we respect all the ways our Colleagues are individually unique and foster creativity and engagement in respectful environments.

Benefits at a Glance

We offer competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefit package to our U.S. based employees:

• Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance

• Basic Life Insurance

• Short & Long Term Disability

• Paid Parental Leave

• Corporate Wellness Program

• Travel Discounts & Deals

• Paid Time Off & Holidays

• 401(k) Plan with Company Match

We are proud to be an EEO/AA employer M/F/D/V. We maintain a drug-free and tobacco-free workplace and perform pre-employment background checks.