East Africa Sales Specialist

**Position Overview**

This position is responsible for sales and quest service within the Company’s Retail Sales Team. As the main point of contact at the company for prospective quests, you will handle all communications from the initial inquiry, advising, and consulting to find the best itinerary for the quest’s needs, through the sales process as well as pre-travel, during-travel, and post-travel services. Working closely with the Sales Ops consultants who handle availability, confirmations, and other processing tasks, as well as the Guest Service team who offer concierge service pre-trip and support with any quest problems in-trip. This is a demanding role with high expectations on service, turnaround times, quality of consultation, and communications both with guests and internally with colleagues.

**Skills and Experience Required**:

- Experience in, and knowledge of east Africa safari - at least 5 years of experience
- Experience in a retail sales role for an African inbound operator - at least 10 years of experience
- Skilled in designing detailed and individual quotes for itinerary requests
- Excellent sales and customer service skills and the ability to close a sale and upsell
- Excellent communication skills (written & telephone), a service delivery mindset, and a strong customer service focus
- Target-orientated, and experience in delivering results in a performance-orientated and fast-paced sales environment
- Strong administration and organizational skills and great attention to detail with desire for continuous improvement
- Excellent time management skills with the ability to multi-task and prioritize tasks
- Proactive mindset and can-do attitude
- Experience in handling difficult situations (e.g., Complaints, last-minute requests, changes whilst traveling)
- Experience in and willingness to handle issues outside of office hours when required
- Self-Starter & the ability to work independently as well as within a broader team setup
- Energetic and eager to learn
- Strong sales & customer service skills (written & telephone)
- Knowledge of Business Sales Systems e.g., HubSpot

**Responsibilities and duties**
- Handling of Safari requests on behalf of the company received from repeat or recommended guests, vis the Company website and social media channels, corporate & charitable partners
- Inspire potential clients with knowledge of East African properties and destinations by proactively engaging with clients, advising on itinerary routing, logistics, and suitably of options
- Compile attractive tailor-made itineraries to match client expectations and budgets
- Ensuring turnaround time targets are met/exceeded and attention to detail is paid to the itinerary at the quote, confirmation, and pre-travel stages
- Following sales procedures as set out in the operating manuals
- Follow up with clients after a safari for feedback and encourage referrals
- Working alongside the Sales Ops consultant throughout the sales and confirmation process
- Collaborative approach with Guest Services team to provide best-in-class guest service
- Strive to meet and exceed personal and team KPIs to meet company growth goals, including sharing best practices and ideas with the team on a proactive basis
- Report any errors or issues to your line manager immediately on discovery
- Provide proactive support to colleagues in peak or leave times
- Contribute ideas, testing, and feedback to aid the continual improvement of systems including reservations system, guest itineraries, and others as required
- Attending all training that is offered and proactive growing your knowledge of the company by researching our products (as well as that of 3rd party suppliers) and the countries in which we operate, to continuously strengthen your knowledge of these destinations
- Taking a proactive and adaptable approach to learning in terms of sales skills, systems, processes, and product knowledge

**Required work practices**
- Across all interactions, promote the image of the sales team as a best externally with our clients and internally with key stakeholders
- As a key point of contact and the face of the company, upholding and contributing to the reputation of the company as a leading safari operator
- The company values are values that play an important role in how we define ourselves and set ourselves apart. We place a high value on living these values in everyday work practices. These values are genuine, honesty, quality, commitment, and care
- When staff events happen within working hours it will be compulsory to attend

**Conditions and hours of work**
- You will be required to work in the Cape Town office from Monday-Friday. You are required to work 9 hours per day including an hour lunch break. The working hours are 08h00 to 17h00 with some flexibility
- You will be required to be available after hours and on weekends (i.e., on standby occasionally) as and when needed. This includes checking online booking platforms for