Sports Tours Specialist

The Learning Adventure is a leading tour provider for school and university students. TLA Sport is a key brand within TLA, operating sports and ski trips across the globe. The company focuses on offering bespoke itineraries that deliver an exciting and bespoke mix of high-level sport, engaging activities and cultural interaction to inspire the next generation of global citizens. 
 
TLA Sport is part of the Transforma Travel Group, a leading youth travel company. Transforma’s family of brands create culturally enriching, off-the-beaten-track, and educational adventures for travellers and students alike. Across all our brands, our mission is the same: to expand minds through transformative travel experiences. 
 
Role Purpose 
 
We’re seeking an excellent salesperson who is experienced and knowledgeable in the field of sports travel sales. The sports tours specialist will be primarily responsible for growing the TLA Sport business by working on direct enquiries from schools and universities and further cultivating relationships for the brand through other innovative business development avenues. The successful candidate will have a proven ability to sell school tours, strong attention to detail, be organized and highly passionate about sports travel and the destinations we offer.  They will work closely with the support of the Head of TLA Sport, whom they will report to.  
 
Travel is an important part of the role with visits to key clients, schools and forging new relationships within your sales region. You will be managing and harvesting your sales region, proactively generating leads, and presenting the company in person as well as online.  

Responsibilities 

• Sales: Ultimately, the role is to generate leads, manage existing enquiries, convert them and build up/manage a portfolio of clients, who will rebook with us year on year and recommend us to future schools. You will be working closely with the support of your line manager and to ensure the yearly sales target is reached
• Business Development: Responsible for school visits, direct reach outs to schools, conference attendance and identifying ways we can increase our client base in your sales region.
• Quote curation: Work with clients to match their needs, build enriching, well-designed and inspiring tour itineraries/programs for young people, which are mainly curriculum led.
• Maximise profits: Effective price setting on the tours, to ensure they meet the school’s requirements, whilst maximising margins and profitability for the business. Selling our value, maximise upselling opportunities, and meet your margin goals.
• Client Journey: Ensuring every stage of our client journey is superb and all touch points with clients are clear and processes upheld.
• Operations: Working closely with the TLA Sport operations team on trips to ensure they have all the right information pre-trip.
• Presentations: Delivered in person or online to customers/schools, as well as at parents’ evenings to prospect or present the tours, that you have effectively already sold. 
• Relationship building: As the role is B2B, the key is to build long term relationships with clients and maximise on all sales opportunities. 
• Sales strategy: As an entrepreneurially minded company, there are plenty of chances to inform strategy and bring ideas to the table. We are a fast-growing company.

Skills & Competencies 
 
Behavioural & interpersonal: 

• Communication ability: An excellent level of English, both written and verbal is required to be able to outline the awesome aspects of our trips, build relationships with key clients and work with teachers effectively.
• Operational ability: A careful, organized approach to work, admin and the ability to effectively uphold processes in an efficient way in-line with company timelines and schedules.
• Resilient: In sales there are knock backs, meaning you need to be able to deal with these and stay positive.
• Strategic thinker: Understand the requirements of clients and develop a strategy which meets these.
• Ambitious: Comfortable in a fast-growing environment with lots of opportunities for personal development.
• Hunger to Learn: Sales Driven with a passion to improve yourself and experience an internationalized world.

 
Technical & required: 

• At least 2 years' experience in travel sales or B2B sales, ideally sports tours sales
• Proven track record of strong sales experience anda high level of customer service feedback.
• Ideally a knowledge of key sports such as football, rugby, hockey, netball etc. We don’t expect you to be a pro! We do however desire someone who understands the importance of sports travel and nuances involved in fixture arrangement, pro-sport and training. 
• Ability to forge new relationships and recognise opportunities to generate leads
• A passion for travel!

If you don't exactly meet the experience criteria but your competencies align with the description, then we still want to hear from you