Sales Leader, Career And Professional (remote) - Remote Eligible

Sales Leader Of Career/Professional

At Cengage Group, our employees have a direct impact in helping students around the world discover the power and joy of learning. We are bonded by our shared purpose – driving innovation that helps millions of learners improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.

Our business is driven by our strong culture, and we know that creating an inclusive workplace is absolutely essential to the success of our company and our learners, as well as our individual well-being. We recognize the value of diverse perspectives in everything we do, and strive to ensure employees of all levels and backgrounds feel empowered to voice their ideas and bring their authentic selves to work.

As the Sales Leader of Career/Professional, you will lead a high-energy, goal-oriented team of professionals who believe in the power and joy of learning. This leadership position drives the sales performance of one field sales district and two distance sales districts, along with a Sales Support team. Each District consists of a District Manager, Sales Growth Specialists, and Account Executives or Strategic Account Managers, totaling $70M in sales. This position drives sales performance by providing strategic direction and support to field sales teams, holding their teams accountable for sales growth and goal achievement.

At the direction of the VP – Head of Institutional Sales, the Sales Leader builds and develops high performing sales regions capable of exceeding sales revenue targets with a strong focus on talent development, share growth, and digital sales, usage and retention. The Sales Leader executes programs designed by the VP – Head of Adoption Institutional Sales in recruiting and hiring, talent development, and accurate pipeline management and forecasting.

What you'll do here:

+ Provides leadership to assigned personnel, carrying Company and Go to Market priorities defined by the Vice President through to execution, and holds their sales districts accountable for achieving sales goals

+ Coordinates with and supports regional leadership teams under the VP of Business Development or Sales Leader of Account Relationships as required to secure high-value, departmental or institutional sales

+ Actively tracks and handles opportunity pipeline for assigned area and ensures District Managers and Account Executives/Strategic Account Managers are using CRM as part of daily workflow for pipeline, planning, and forecasting

+ Provides clear pipeline visibility and forecast to VP Head of Adoption Institutional Sales and Go-to-Market leadership through effective and efficient usage of CRM and business review tools, as well as PowerBi reporting

+ Proactively reports key activities and progress towards goals; prepares high-level updates for business review in-flights on a regular basis

+ Works collaboratively with District Managers to help them implement strategies for increasing Cengage market share by targeting high value adoptions in defined discipline segments

+ Ensures District Leadership works collaboratively with Customer Success team to implement programs that ensures support, drives base growth, and ensures renewal of large digital adoptions

+ Carries out programs in partnership with Sales Programs & Talent Development to acquire strong talent, coach up current members of the team, and build a culture of learning and improvement

+ Recruits, develops, and retains sales talent at all levels of the organization

+ Maintains Master Services Agreements (MSA) templates for negotiated Inclusive Access and other purchasing models; partners with legal to ensure annual updates of legal Terms & Conditions; partners with Operations to get discount approvals when necessary for new business or MSA renewals; drafts business terms and ensure accuracy of contracts before customer review

+ Manages travel distribution amongst teams and partners with VP on allocated budget allotment to ensure successful execution under cap

+ Leads Institutional account strategy, meeting with key executives (Presidents, CFO's, CIO's Provosts, VPAA's, etc.) to further institutional partnerships and strengthen customer relationships from the top down

+ Travels to key events focused on the For-Profit sector, mainly Career Education Colleges and Universities (CECU) Annual Conference, Leadership Event, and Executive Summit, in addition to other regional events as required

+ Maintains clear record of parent company to affiliate institution relationships, tracks alignments in CRM and PowerBi systems for accuracy on a quarterly basis

+ Provides meaningful and effective coaching through ongoing performance feedback while supporting continuous employee discovery, growth and development.

Skills you will need here:

(Required)

+ Minimum 8 years of dynamic experience in Sales, Marketing, or Management with at least 4 of those years in a Leadership role in education, publishing, or related information delivery industry

+ Experience leading a sales team with a consistent track record in sales, sales management, and leadership

+ Experience mentoring and developing others

+ Strong business understanding and excellent team-building skills

+ Superior time management skills to handle multiple tasks and shifting priorities

+ Highly developed verbal and written communication skills with high energy (people want to be around you), and strong interpersonal skills with ability to establish relationships with partners, including staff and customers

+ Proactive approaches to problem-solving with strong decision-making capability and ability to work in a group and reach decisions by consensus

+ Forward looking thinker who actively seeks opportunities and proposes solutions, and demonstrated ability to anticipate needs and situations

+ Desire for continuous learning and improvement

+ Demonstrated ability and quantifiable success in leading corporate initiatives before they are fully developed

+ Highly resourceful team-player, with the ability to be effective independently

+ Ability to handle confidential information with discretion

+ Deadline driven in a fast-paced environment

+ Passionate learner who seeks feedback and consistently expands skills

+ Superior organization skills and strong attention to detail and diligent follow up

+ Flexible and adaptable to change

+ Proficient in Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint), Adobe Acrobat, and social media web platforms

+ Proficient in CRM system workflows and data, particularly in pipeline management and forecasting (Salesforce preferred)

+ Ability to travel 30-40% overnight by both auto and air

+ Located within the assigned sales region.

Preferred:

+ BA or BS degree

+ Sales experience in academic publishing, services, or other higher education sales; For-Profit market experience preferred

+ Digital product training experience in educational settings; direct digital training experience in a higher education setting highly desired