Job Description
This is a virtual role in the Chicago market
Dedicated to representing the Southwest Airlines Brand to large corporations, establishing a trusted advisor relationship through understanding the corporation’s travel objectives and challenges, and driving cosideration through levering Southwest’s business travel products, programs, and services. Responsible for growing revenue through effective territory management, establishing and influencing key relationships with corporate travel buyers/managers and growing formal corporate travel partnerships with large, national accounts (with an emphasis on F1000) exceeding a minimum of $250K - $5M in annual Southwest Airlines spend.
Duties and Responsibilities
Your main responsibilities in this role include the following:
Must be able to meet any physical ability requirements listed on this description.
May perform other job duties as directed by Employee's Leaders.
The National Account Manager will focus on growing Southwest Airlines corporate account base through effective account management, territory planning and consultative sales techniques. The primary responsibilities for this team will be to grow Southwest Airlines market-share and incremental business with corporations with large managed travel programs (~40-60 accounts per manager), establish Southwest as a preferred carrier through formal agreements (RFPs, negotiations, long term contracts), produce high revenue-high yield business for Southwest Airlines, and offer Southwest fares and schedules through all channels of distribution, including SWABIZ, SPS, GDS, and other unconventional distribution tools that are in place. This position will require weekly travel, up to 60%, including overnight trips. These positions are virtual positions, requiring the account manager to home office. The account manager will be supplied with the proper resources, i.e. sales training, contractual tools, laptop, etc, to allow them to successfully perform their duties. Local travel community involvement where necessary and relevant.
Job Requirements
High School Diploma or GED
Bachelor's Degree
5 Years Present and/or past success in selling to large corporations (with an emphasis on F1000 and top privately held) and/or equivalent airline/travel/hospitality marketing/sales experience.
History of top performance, exceeding sales targets, and success increasing market-share and product utilization through effective sales or marketing strategies and account management.
Must be able to lift up to 50 pounds and stand for long periods of time during industry trade shows and executive presentations.
Must be self-directed and resourceful to accomplish all position responsibilities with minimal direction, including the ability to work from a home based office.
Ability to effectively build an annual territory plan that identifies the revenue opportunity to achieve goals and manages the plan to ensure time, resources and budget are best utilized to meet or exceed goals.
Must demonstrate ability to prospect corporate clients, within and outside the Southwest Airlines network to establish new, compliant agreements.
Ability to work in a Team Selling environment by leveraging Sales Analytics, Inside Sales Partners, Sales Operations, and Leadership.
Must be able to develop an overall understanding and ability to leverage selling techniques, behaviors, and approaches within the Sales Call to develop and implement strategic plans to measurably increase presence and influence decision-making in the account, elevate competitive position, create leveraged client results, and generate profitable revenue
Ability to work on cross functional Commercial Teams (Revenue Management, Network Planning, Marketing) to execute agreements and socialize new business opportunities for Southwest.
Preferred knowledge of all Southwest Airlines distribution tools and multichannel distribution strategy (i.e. SWABIZ, Southwest Partner Services, GDS, and other unconventional distribution tools), as well as the suite of business travel products and services.
Must demonstrate the ability to analyze data to identify value creating opportunities to meet sales objectives and department goals.
Has the ability to clearly understand the Customer/buyer role, responsibilities, and success metrics and the intermediaries (channels, TMC, technologies) involved in the travel buying process and leverage insights to influence the buyer's decision.
Ability to establish Customer relationships across the enterprise, from C-Level to business travelers.
Efficient facilitation of cross functional and within team/organization meetings
Assumes Leadership role for the Team’s projects/scope of work and drives Team to delivery of said goals
Ability to demonstrate confidence in group/industry events with a proven track record of networking.
Must demonstrate the ability to think strategically and identify and communicate industry trends, with proposed recommendations and/or solutions.
Must have a proven track record of successful networking, negotiation with large brand name companies, and long term relationship building resulting in achievement of sales goals.
Will be required to understand the overall performance of the sales portfolio by securing new agreements with accounts while ensuring the that majority of the existing agreements are compliant to the commerical terms.
Must be able to confidently present before the public and C-level executives, including by not limited to formal sales presentations and negotiations.
Must possess excellent organizational skills. Must be able to handle multiple situations simultaneously.
Must possess excellent leadership skills, specifically the ability to lead collaborative efforts with corporate travel decision makers to meet goals as well as lead travel forums, roundtables, business travel association events, etc.
Must be able to communicate effectively and professionally both in writing and verbally via telephone and in-person.
Must have judgment sufficient to handle and solve complex challenges independently and work under stressful situations.
Must have proficient CRM platform knowledge, maintain accurate CRM account profiles, and secure relevant, accurate, timely account data
Must be proficient with MS Office Suite computer applications, specifically Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
Must possess excellent organizational and time management skills.
Must be able to comprehend and execute complex documents like RFPs, legal agreements, proposals, etc. with a high degree of accuracy.
Must be proficient in the airline industry and/or Southwest Airlines business travel products/services, distribution portfolio, and specific territory service.
Must maintain a professional appearance and demeano
Must maintain a well-groomed appearance per Company appearance standards as described in established guidelines.
Must be a U.S. citizen or have authorization to work in the United States as defined by the Immigration Reform Act of 1986.
Must be at least 18 years of age.
Must be able to comply with Company attendance standards as described in established guidelines.
Must possess a valid state motor vehicle operator's license.
Must have flexibility to work long hours, including weekends, and travel up to 60% of the time, including some overnight stays.
The selected candidate must currently live or be willing to relocate to the market. These positions are virtual positions, requiring the account manager to home office. The account manager will be supplied with the proper resources, i.e. sales training, contractual tools, laptop, etc, to allow them to successfully perform their duties. Local travel community involvement where necessary and relevant
Other Qualifications
Job Details
Company: Southwest Airlines
Employment Type: Full-time
Job Location: Chicago, Illinois, United States
