Job Description
This role will be the driving force in achieving our ambitions, by targeting, qualifying, and nurturing new client relationships, landing small initial wins to pave the way to much bigger game-changing wins.
Responsibilities
• Own the target list of clients we want to start working with in East and West Africa
• Qualify and own the qualification criteria for this target list, to zero in on the clients who will be our game-changers
• Hunt as many qualified clients as possible: initiate the relationship, nurture, land the first piece, then expand into much bigger pieces of work that will accelerate our growth
• Connect client needs, to our clearly defined market research specialisms of brand tracking, segmentations, ad pre-testing, customer satisfaction, qualitative research, etc.
• Own sales and marketing materials used to open and nurture relationships with new clients
• Leverage local, regional and global account manager relationships (within CI and RMS/MI) to create inroads into new clients
• Create bespoke proposals for new client pitches that connect their explicit and implicit needs, to uniquely contrived research solutions, that leverage the unique selling points of our chosen specialisations
• Lead pitching to new clients, and support the pitch process for other clients
• An ambitious but realistic sales target
• This role will not however be responsible for delivering the work sold
Qualification
• Ideally, you have min Bachelor’s / Master’s degree, or equivalent experience
• Experienced Consultant +10 years of relevant experience at agencies (some client side OK but needs competitive pitching experience), giving you the gravitas, sophistication, and problem-solving skills that only experience buys
• You have experience of conducting business development in Sub-Saharan Africa, for local and international clients
• You have deep experience in business development or sales, or at least a strong inclination towards commercial sense, structure, and discipline
• Black book of client contacts in FMCG, FS, Media etc. a plus
• You are an active listener, probing for implicit and not just explicit needs
• Credible, confident, able to talk meaningfully with Senior Leadership Teams in Insights, Marketing, and Sales functions, and able to pitch to ELT where necessary
• Willing and able to go hunting new clients
• You bring a spirit of the entrepreneur, who galvanises support for themselves and their initiatives, from internal teams and clients
Location: Lagos, Nigeria.
Apply: NEW BUUSINESS ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
