Account Director at Marriott International

Job description

Marriott International offers you the opportunity to find the hospitality job and career journey that’s right for you. With more than 5700 properties and 30 brands you’ll find us in your neighborhood and in more than 110 countries across the globe. Find Your World™ at Marriott.

Job Summary

The Account Director, GSO Sub Saharan & West Africa manages and/or provides dedicated support to a targeted portfolio of complex GSO accounts. The position builds and maintains business relationships with key buying influences in order to achieve account market share goals across all Marriott Lodging brands. The primary focus is on opportunities to increase preference and loyalty, and improve the overall buying process by emphasizing an ‘ease of doing business with Marriott’. In the role of Account Director, GSO Sub Saharan & West Africa this position has direct accountability for transactional sales activities within their assigned accounts.

BUSINESS CONTEXT

The role of the Account Director, GSO Sub Saharan & West Africa is to support the GSO vision and mission by leveraging Marriott’s products and services as a team leader or team member within their assigned account portfolio. By utilizing the processes of strategic account management and team-based sales, this position will be responsible for increasing Marriott’s preference, loyalty and profitable share within their assigned accounts and contribute to overall GSO success through the direct sales efforts of Revenue Generation and Value Creation.

Position will be located in Cape Town.

• Account Management
• Accurate qualification of potential accounts; re-qualification of existing accounts.
• Establishes and maintains complete and up-to-date information on each account.This includes a thorough understanding of the account’s needs, history, plans, issues, organizational structure, strategies, existing business alliances and key competitors.
• Interprets financial statements, e.g., P&L statements, annual reports, as appropriate, to assist in the formulation of an “account” proposal.
• Maintains account information in SFA to ensure accurate and up-to-date account reporting.
• Manages all resources within budgeted guidelines.
• Proactively develop goals and objectives to support the strategic account plan.
• Represents all brands of Marriott Lodging.
• Responsible for proactive account or segment sales.
• Supports data gathering, reporting & tracking functions.
• Revenue Generation
• Identifies, develops, initiates and manages opportunities based on their fit with broader strategic account initiatives.
• Identifies key purchase points and decision-makers that influence the “buy” decision.
• Networks account teams to maximize coverage of key contacts and revenue streams.
• Partners with HQ support for annual pricing process, requests for pricing (RFPs) and related maintenance activity.
• Relates customer needs to product capabilities.
• Routinely quantifies the business impact to both the customer and Marriott.
• Works with Revenue Management to support account strategy in-market.
• Value Creation
• Anticipates and quickly seizes opportunities not obvious to others to build customer satisfaction.
• Brings cross-functional and cross-business knowledge to bear in developing business solutions.
• Delivers value-added products and services to create long term customer loyalty.
• Establishes and maintains relationships with key buying influences by developing and delivering ‘ease of doing business’ solutions that create and provide unique value and positioning.
• Positions self as “Subject Matter Expert” in terms of customer or account activity, business segment activity or market/region activity.
• Pursues initiatives to capitalize on strengths and market opportunities, and to counter competitive threats
• Customer Preference & Loyalty
• Conducts information-oriented sessions at each level of influence within the account or customer base in order to foster and maintain commitment to Marriott as a strategic supplier/partner.
• Counsels internal stakeholders on optimal negotiating stance.
• Delivers value-added products and services to create long term customer preference and loyalty.
• Delivers on commitments to customers.
• Focuses on two-way communication to ensure win-win relationship is maintained.
• Proactively seeks feedback from customers using resources and tools of GSO.
• Uses knowledge of Marriott’s operations, its markets and competitors to promote dialogue and enrich customer interactions.
• Market Integration & Leadership
• Assists people from diverse cultures and backgrounds to effectively contribute and succeed in the account team.
• Demonstrates benefits of total account management and team-based sales.
• Ensures that account sales strategies are communicated, implemented and updated as market conditions fluctuate.
• Facilitates educational opportunities that enhance credibility and integration between GSO and internal stakeholders.
• Identifies and cultivates relationships with key colleagues and stakeholders in other parts of the organization.
• Participates in professional and industry organizations (e.g., SAMA, ACTE, PCMA, MPI, ASMA, etc).
• Participates with account team in market pull-through activity.
• Provides opportunities for communicating account needs throughout organization.
• Supports ‘in-market’ needs of properties in a given regional area.
• Utilizes account team for Best Practice sharing and problem solving.

Other

Performs other duties as assigned to meet business needs.

Primary Location

South Africa-South Africa-Western Cape-Protea Hospitality Group

Education And Experience Preferred

• 5+ years sales and marketing experience required.
• Total Account Management experience preferred.
• Hospitality sales experience preferred.
• Strong preference for candidate who speaks English