Cision
At Cision, we believe in empowering every individual to make an impact. Here, your voice is heard, your ideas are valued, and your unique perspective fuels our collective success. As part of our global team, you’ll thrive in an environment that champions curiosity, collaboration, and innovation, all while making meaningful contributions to the brands we accelerate.
Join us in shaping the future of communication and building authentic connections that matter. Whether you’re solving complex problems or driving bold innovations, your growth is our success, and together, we’ll create the conversations of tomorrow.
Empower your impact at Cision. Be seen, be understood, be you.
Job Summary
The position of the Sales Director is to lead a group of Account Directors to meet or exceed assigned company goals for the profitable growth of revenue and retention within the agency industry segment. The primary responsibility is to provide management direction to drive sales through effective coaching and leadership of their people including expectation setting (sales activity, behavior, and quota assignment), in-the-field sales skill coaching, territory management development, recognizing performance, holding their people accountable for non-performance, establishing account assignments and new hire recruitment/selection. In addition, he/she will be responsible for the retention and profitable growth of revenue within the set of strategic customer accounts. This key leadership position will serve as a partner to the rest of Cision to help sell, service and support our Enterprise Agency clients.
Essential Functions
Analyzes assigned region/customer segment and develops a plan of action in conjunction with the VP of Enterprise Sales to grow revenue, and achieve or exceed their assigned quota (e.g., mix of acquisition, retention, and expansion sales required, as well as targeted services/products).
Assigns accounts to individual Account Directors optimizing the match between client needs, existing productive relationships, geographic location, and salesperson competencies.
Allocates the regional/segment total and new business revenue quotas to the sales team, and through one-on-one sessions establishes territory-specific plans of action (e.g., who to target, weekly call activity, required sales behavior, etc.).
Meets frequently with each sales team member to review selling behavior, progress to plan, forecasting and sales pipeline accuracy, and make any necessary adjustments.
Spends a minimum of three days per week in the field working with sales team members on execution of their territory plan. Uses field time to coach their sales team members (e.g., observe sales practices/skills, demonstrate appropriate sales practices/skills, and provide feedback on selling behavior from live sales call observations).
Recognizes outstanding sales activity/performance within and outside the sales team.
Holds sales team members accountable for achieving their quota, behavior and activity expectations/ KPIs. Utilizes coaching to address performance issues, but readily applies all performance improvement process for those sales team members who lack activity or are not rapidly responding to skills coaching.
Works collaboratively with other sales and functional leaders to ensure that all accounts are sold/serviced in an effective and efficient manner, and in compliance with Cision’s sales process.
Fully satisfies the company’s and manager’s expectations related to sales reporting (sales activity, opportunity updates, customer profiling, etc.), and administration.
Additional Responsibilities
RVP or Director must be located within New York or Chicago.
Qualifications
At least several years of successful sales management experience, with demonstrated ability to earn the respect of and lead others, and proven track record of achieving or exceeding quota, along with the ability to retain and grow top performers.
Ability to use technology and analysis tools (Excel, Outlook, Salesforce.com, web, databases) solution selling skills, to understand and apply market intelligence to sales strategy, to implement regional business plans and policies/procedures.
Ability to be in the field at least three times per week, with the potential for overnight travel, depending upon the location of one’s direct reports.
Highly developed analytical, organizational, selling, and leadership skills.
Keen interest in driving sales by coaching and developing others.
Excellent verbal, written, and presentation communication skills.
Ability to work effectively in high-pressure and multiple-task environments.
High attention to detail.
Strong interest in business news, public or investor relations.
High level of business and financial acumen.
Willingness to work flexible hours in accordance with company needs/workflow demands.
Bachelor’s Degree and valid U.S. Driver’s License required.
About Cision
Cision is the premier global provider of multimedia platforms that enable marketers, corporate communicators, sustainability officers, public affairs and investor relations officers to leverage content to engage with all their key audiences. Having pioneered the commercial news distribution industry 60 years ago, Cision today provides end-to-end solutions to produce, optimize and target content – from rich media to online video to multimedia – and then distribute content and measure results across traditional, digital, mobile and social channels. Combining the world’s largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimization network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, Cision enables the world’s enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. Cision serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.
Cision Association, LLC is an Equal Opportunity employer – M/F/Veteran/Disability
As a global leader in PR, marketing and social media management technology and intelligence, Cision helps brands and organizations to identify, connect and engage with customers and stakeholders to drive business results. PR Newswire, a network of over 1.1 billion influencers, in-depth monitoring, analytics and its Brandwatch and Falcon.io social media platforms headline a premier suite of solutions. Cision has offices in 24 countries throughout the Americas, EMEA and APAC. For more information about Cision’s award-winning solutions, including its next-gen Cision Communications Cloud®, visit www.cision.com and follow @Cision on Twitter.
Cision is committed to fostering an inclusive environment where all employees can be their authentic selves and perform at their best. We believe diversity, equity, and inclusion is vital to driving our culture, sparking innovation and achieving long-term success. Cision is proud to have joined more than 600 companies in signing the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ pledge and named a “Top Diversity Employer” for 2021 by DiversityJobs.com.
Cision is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, seeking to create a welcoming and diverse environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status, or other protected statuses.
Cision is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. In keeping with our commitment, Cision will take the steps to assure that people with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. Accordingly, if reasonable accommodation is required to fully participate in the job application or interview process, to perform the essential functions of the position, and/or to receive all other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact hr.support@cision.com
Please review our Global Candidate Data Privacy Statement to learn about Cision’s commitment to protecting personal data collected during the hiring process.