Account Executive Trade Show New Business Development

Scope of Position:  

Responsible for proactively seeking and winning new opportunities with new and existing clients in the face-to-face event marketing space. The focus will be to drive sales of branded environment projects, including tradeshow exhibits, corporate interiors, and other branded marketing initiatives. For existing clients, the Account Executive (AE) is the team leader ultimately responsible for the overall, ongoing relationship and being a strategic partner for how ECI can meet their emerging needs to have a successful program. 

Primary Duties and Responsibilities: 

Note: AE fulfills these duties and responsibilities directly. A dedicated Client Success Manager will support program accounts, allowing the AE to focus on new business opportunities. 

• Identify new opportunities where prospects answer, “I don’t know what I need, but I have a problem,” and/or help the prospect understand that they have a problem that must be resolved in the trade show and event marketing space. 
• Qualify opportunities before engaging ECI’s services:
• Ensure that ECI is perceived as a viable partner that the prospect can trust to solve their problem.
• Identify and develop new business by networking, pursuing and following up on leads provided by ECI, responding to inquiries, adopting social selling skills, and leveraging personal contacts.
• Prospect and build a healthy and profitable sales pipeline.
• Presents viable opportunities to the Vetting Committee with suggested strategies to win the project.
•  Understand current industry trends and position yourself as a subject matter expert who brings value to your clients' programs. Since sales are usually the result of a long-term sales cycle, stay apprised of each client's overall marketing objectives, products and services, and all other factors that may impact their business development efforts.
• Develop sales and marketing proposals for customers on products and services and deliver sales presentations professionally and effectively. 
• Develop strong relationships with advertising, event marketing agencies, and design firms to teach them how to utilize ECI to grow their business with their customers.
• Initiates paperwork and shares information required for other departments to perform their roles, including kicking off a new design project (Design Request), taking the lead on all proposals, and working with other departments to position ECI’s services most effectively. 
• Work with Client Success Managers, Account Coordinators, and/or Project Managers on sold projects to ensure all information is disseminated to various departments, including estimating, engineering/detailing, fabrication, graphics, logistics, warehousing, etc., and support, as necessary, the entire job process through the system.
• Travels periodically to trade shows, client facilities, or industry events as necessary.
• Takes the lead in supporting ECI’s accounting department in collection efforts when necessary.
• Updates ECI’s CRM system to ensure prospect information is consistently entered and up to date.
• Provide updated sales and forecasting information to ensure projections are captured throughout the year.
• Performs all other duties and responsibilities as assigned by management.

Qualifications: 

To perform this job successfully, an individual must satisfactorily perform each essential duty. The requirements below represent knowledge, skill, and/or ability. 

Education and/or Experience: 

Bachelor’s degree (B. A.) preferred; and/or minimum of three (3) years experience in sales and project management, preferably in one or more industries where a customized product is manufactured, and sales are made to end-user businesses. 

General Skills: 

• Sales Skills - A proven sales track record in obtaining new clients and increasing business with existing clients.
• Computer Skills—To perform this job successfully, an individual should know about Windows 10 or greater and Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook; familiarity with Microsoft Access and Adobe Acrobat is a plus but not required.
•  Mathematical Skills - Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide into all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals; Ability to calculate figures and amounts such as discounts, interest, and percentages.
• Reasoning Ability – Applying common sense understanding to carry out detailed but uninvolved written or oral instructions. Ability to deal with problems involving a few concrete variables in standardized situations.

Physical Demands: 

No special skills are required. The individual may sit for long periods and work at a computer. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.