Kenya Travel Agency Key Account Manager

We are a leading travel agency in Kenya with branches in Nairobi, Nyanza, Western and Rift Valley with planned expansions to Uganda and Tanzania. 

We are currently seeking for competent, self driven and result oriented sales professionals to fill in the following position:

Title: Key Account Manager
 

Department: Sales Division
 

Reports to: Sales Manager
 

Job Objective: The KAM has long term horizon and a focus on creating high loyalty customers through development of committed relationships; managing the day-to-day relationship and communication between client and agency and for ensuring that client needs are met in a timely manner; managing deliverables and ensuring that strategy and creative services are delivered in timely and effective fashion. 

 

Working closely with senior leadership, the sales team and other account management team members; involves the development of budgets, strategies and communications plans as well as participating in new business presentations. 

The Corporate Key Account Manager will focus on our Corporate market.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Deliver strategy- Understand organization strategy and vision, develop aligned strategy for each key customer
• Manage Major source of risk- Identify market risk,  Identify risk relative to customer,  Negotiate to mitigate risk
• Market Insight -Giving market insight and reflecting market changes through leading customers, gathers market intelligence, Continually, Communicate market intelligence internally to influence future strategy.
• Integrating route to market strategy with marketing and product development- Drive customer market development; Identify and develop new opportunities to business case stage,  Participate in innovation and offer development process as required,  Feed added value back to customer; (BD).
• Defining and achieving value-add (for customer and for the company)- Penetrate customer, Understand customer’s strategy, business model, their value-add and development, Understand company position in the customer’s, business and how the customer quantifies value, Create solutions and aligned value-add for customer.
• Relationship Management- Assess customer willingness for relationship,  Identify key decision makers and build knowledge and relationships with them,  Develop comprehensive multitier Interdependent relationships and ensure touch-points work, Use authority/stature appropriately to ‘make it happen’ for the customer,  Build trust between the company and customer, Keep customer informed about the organization, market etc. Resolve disputes,  Involve senior people with customer as executive sponsors, Develop relationship governance framework and work within it
• Credibility-Provide company credibility with customers. Represent the company professionally and communicate appropriately; understand all products, capabilities and ways of working and differentiation, Build strong internal framework,  provide evidence to customer pro-actively e.g. instigate shared measurement,  Promote credentials of respected individuals internally and externally; deliver unwelcome messages when necessary at the right time, Identify quality issues, and engage in remedial action.
• Understand and monitor competition- Observe competitor activity, understand competitors in depth, understand customer’s views, engagement with competition and reasons, collect competitor information using a variety of sources, utilize in plans and action for competitive advantage, take responsibility for sounding alarm at high level when necessary.
• Enable joint developments with customers- Identify opportunities for joint development, develop business cases, co-ordinate projects and facilitate customer involvement, take responsibility for delivery of commitments, monitor ROI through measurement system.
• Manage Resources at the right level- Develop competencies required, work effectively with and build the virtual support team, understand resources and restrictions, forecast and make business case for resource requirements in key account plan or projects, deploy the right resources/experts at the right time, feedback on future demand, work within agreed boundaries, strategies and resource projections, negotiate with resource holders/internal supplier,  monitor use of resources and overall customer P&L
• Offering single point of contact, internally and externally; Orchestrating cross-functionally, implementing transactional cost reduction/processes, enabling contact review and control, providing tailored reporting
• Process improvement- Understand Company and customer processes, complete joint value chain analysis seeking mutual benefit, Identify opportunities for Improvement, influence and select correct resources to lead change, identify and participate in projects to deliver the benefits, and accept accountability for delivery.
• Planning-Delivering the plan and its commitments, keep plans alive at organizational level, create climate and culture for delivering plan commitments.
• Reporting- providing tailored reporting for mutual benefit.

Minimum Requirements

• B.Com -Sales and Marketing/ Tourism & Travel-with sales and marketing qualifications, any related business degree; Minimum of 5 years previous sales experience in the service industry
• A minimum of 2 years of corporate/leisure travel agency experience
• Knowledge of Tours and Travel Industry-
• Ability to present power point presentations at board level to Corporate Companies
• Good understanding of the corporate, government and travel agency business
• Strong communication skills; able to communicate at all levels
• A great customer service attitude ; solving problems as a fun challenge
• Prior success with key account management and a history of happy clients
• GDS skills, including pricing and ticketing a plus.

All applications to be received by 5th June, 2015, sent to lindchess@gmail.com