Business Development Manager

Overview of the Role: 

Ninety is an established innovation specialist, working predominantly with large global insurance brands while also developing opportunities in other sectors. It has three prime business units: an ideas venture arm called Ark, a structures capability arm and a training arm called the Ninety Academy.

Ninety is looking to recruit a Business Development Manager to scale the Academy training business through widening the pipeline of sales opportunities across both account based programmatic sales and e-commerce digital platform offerings. Line managed by the Academy Partner but working closely with the rest of the Academy team, the role here will be responsible for building relationships and qualifying opportunities to run programmatic engagements with the right prospects alongside growing the e-commerce business through the digital learning platform.

The role will flex across the sales pipeline stages, doing everything from understanding target accounts to identifying target prospects; from building relationships to running qualification conversations; from supporting a Ninety Partner in the consultative sales process to leading end-to-end on specific client opportunities.

Ninety Academy operate a comprehensive innovation training suite, so the business development approach can leverage the strong reputation and credentials to build trust. 

The role will specifically be responsible for building relationships with a target account list, and then creating qualified engagement opportunities for yourself and – depending on the client need – a Partner from Ninety. This will involve a significant level of collaboration with the Academy team, and Ninety is looking for someone who can complement well with this team and the other business units.

Applicants for this role should have experience in business development / sales and be able understand the concepts of pipelines, conversion, CRM and qualification. Ideally the candidate will have experience of both account-based and transactional/trading sales. Ninety is looking for someone who is eager to keep their sleeves rolled up, working closely with the data in Ninety’s HubSpot CRM, using LinkedIn judiciously, picking up the phone regularly, exercising excellent judgment in engaging with client prospects, and understanding the value of tracking sales activity and a weighted sales forecast. 

You must have at least two years’ track record in sales or business development, with at least half of that being in enterprise / B2B sales of professional services or training (not software / product). 

Ninety is a business with huge growth ambitions and a strong and active growth plan, who is intentionally setting about building for scale with strong advisors on board. Your career path at Ninety can be exciting and varied, with the growing business offering opportunities for role expansion and promotion for deserving candidates. 

A different sort of company: 

Ninety is motivated by a desire to use its profits to play a big part in addressing causes of poverty in third world countries. Ninety Academy is a wholly owned subsidiary of a registered social enterprise, Ninety CIC, and 90% of its distributable profit goes to such causes, with the other 10% being shared amongst staff as a profit share. Ninety’s vision is to give £1bn to social causes over a 30-year timeframe. Buy-in to Ninety’s vision and cause is an important part of feeling part of the team at Ninety. 

Remuneration & reward: 

Ninety is seeking people who are looking for a purpose-driven career, in which they can make a tangible difference to 10,000’s of the extreme poor every year. Ninety will be looking for strong evidence of social motivation over personal ambition. Competitive base salary, depending on experience, plus package benefits including pension, life, and health insurance, plus a share of 10% profit. Ninety reviews target-based payments for Business Development Manager roles on an annual basis.

Hiring process: 

Ninety will filter applications, hold initial telephone interviews, then invite a handful of candidates to formal interview. Those who seem to fit best at formal interview will be invited to a more detailed interview at which they will be asked to present a proposal and talk through approaches. References will be taken up. Ninety will also do a variety of psychometric testing. Ninety is a fast-growing business that is looking for the right people to build for longevity. 

DETAILED JOB DESCRIPTION

Purpose of role

Lead the business development agenda for the Ninety Academy business unit, developing and nurturing account based leads alongside growing the e-commerce trading business, qualifying client needs, and progressing opportunities through to deal closure. 

Job responsibilities

Key responsibilities operate across the sales pipeline development, including closing deals. 

- Research & CRM

Finding and researching possible target accounts or building a more detailed understanding of a set of given target client accounts. Using Ninety’s HubSpot CRM to capture information and record all activities.

- Networking & relationship development

Using digital and physical networking environments (LinkedIn, events, conferences, etc.) to build and maintain a network in the innovation training community. Becoming an expert on the “who’s who” in target organisations and building a relationship with many of the players therein.

- Filling specialist events

Making sure that Ninety Academy events (webinars, keynotes, seminars, etc.) are well-attended by target prospects and the wider network. Promoting awareness and using principles of polite persistence to make sure that Ninety Academy is leveraging its events schedule well.

- Buying stage analysis, opportunity qualification, meeting booking 

Judging each prospective client’s needs, buying stage and the possible opportunities. Using structured qualification approaches to test the validity of an opportunity and securing further conversations with the prospective client. 

- Shaping & selling solutions

In certain cases, using pre-packed proposal templates and your knowledge of Ninety’s offering, to shape a proposal, and close a deal with a client.

- Sales discipline

Supporting Ninety’s search for predictability in the sales process by exercising strong sales disciplines (e.g. logging activity, updating deals in the pipeline, putting in daily target number of contacts, etc.).

- E-commerce trading

Supporting the Academy’s digital training offerings through nurturing marketing activities and the transactional market to secure volume growth through this channel.

Qualifications and experience required

Ninety is looking for the following hard skills:

- Minimum of 2 years of hands-on sales or business development experience, ideally in a training environment.

- Strong, clear, broad and impressive evidence of involvement in enterprise B2B sales

- Any background or exposure to innovation and/or training environments will be useful. 

- Ninety will be looking for clear evidence of your successes in:

o Building and managing pipelines.

o Using and managing CRM and prospect data.

o Prospecting using phone, email and LinkedIn.

o Event recruitment and appointment-setting. 

o Qualification of deals.

o Ultimately, creating opportunities that have been converted into large deals 

- Ninety will also be looking for sales attributes that are of value, including:

o Polite persistence, and a good personal manner.

o Excellent phone technique.

o Gregarious, personable nature.

o Impeccable written English.

o Good memory, and strong judgment.

o Direct marketing understanding.

- Experience with HubSpot is desirable, but not essential. However, you must be CRM-literate.

Ninety is looking for the following personal attributes:

- Alignment to Ninety’s social vision.

- Intelligence, perseverance, and hard graft: a demanding qualification may help prove that.

- Strong references: from previous employers, but also from previous clients you’ve sold into. Ninety will be looking for signs of performance and excellence, but also for evidence of character, integrity, and ethics.

- Diplomacy, attention to detail, good numerical, organisational and time management skills and a genuine interest in business, plus excellent web, MS Office, interpersonal, team working and written/verbal communication skills.

- Ethics, fairness and integrity, all of which are very important at Ninety, and will need to be evidenced.

Logistics & reporting

The role is home based with travel to London, UK and other locations as required. The role will also involve travel to conferences, events, and meetings.