Event Sales and Marketing Executive - RSA House

Events Sales & Marketing Executive

RSA House

Job type: Full-time, on-site at RSA House

Reporting to: Head of Sales

The Company

Company of Cooks is the RSA’s contract catering partner and in December 2022 won a five year contract extension to run the hospitality business and Coffee House at RSA House. Company of Cooks have been working with some of the UK’s most cherished venues since 1996, delighting customers and clients alike with great food and drinks, brilliant service and an absolute focus on the details that make good restaurants, cafes and bars, great ones. We operate all restaurants, bars, events and staff catering at the Royal Opera House, the restaurant and café at the National Portrait Gallery, and are being invited to return to the Royal Academy of Arts in Burlington Gardens after their 250th anniversary redevelopment. We are excited to be recruiting for a Wedding Executive based at The Royal Society of Arts.

The Client (the venue, RSA House)

The RSA is the royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce, a charity committed to a future that works for everyone. A future where we can all participate in its creation. The RSA has been at the forefront of significant social impact for over 260 years. Their proven change process, rigorous research, innovative ideas platforms and diverse global community of over 30,000 problem-solvers, deliver solutions for lasting change.

The RSA is dependent on revenue from external events, fellowship subscriptions, sponsorship and donations in order to carry out this important work. The profits generated from hospitality business are fed back into the charity to fund the RSA’s programmes of work such as Education and Learning, Sustainability and The Future of Work.

In 2018, RSA House went through a nine-month partial redevelopment which included closure of four of the 11 spaces, including refreshing our fabulous and historic vaults. In 2019 we rebuilt the events business with a refreshed product including a new Coffee House  with an all-day dining menu. In 2020, the venue proudly picked up three awards; Best Wedding Venue at the Hire Space Awards and Best Historic Venue and Silver for Best Venue Customer Service at the London Venue Awards. In 2020 seven event spaces were refurbished during the pandemic and the RSA has heavily invested in advanced digital technology and hybrid capabilities, to enhance the event experience and to ensure the venue has market leading facilities for the return to live events.

In 2021 RSA House won Most Versatile London Venue at the London Venue & Catering Awards and made the shortlist for Best Client Support During Covid-19 and Best London Venue Covid-19 Response. In 2022 the venue picked up the silver award at the London Venue and Catering Awards for ‘Best Wedding Venue’. In 2023 the venue is shortlisted for three awards; Best Wedding Venue, Venue of the Year and Best Catering at a London Venue. In 2023 and into 2024 there are large growth plans in place to develop the venue sales, a big part of which is driving the wedding and private business forward and putting RSA House on the map as a destination wedding venue. Other recent exciting projects include the newly refurbished coffee house, the introduction of an outdoor seating area and revamped reception spaces.

What makes us different?

RSA House offers an eclectic mix of 11 unique and atmospheric events spaces including the Great Room , Benjamin Franklin, Durham Street Auditorium and Vaults, providing rooms for use for all types of events including conferences and meetings, product launches and press days, screenings, Christmas parties, fashion shows, gala dinners, corporate receptions, weddings and private celebrations and show cases.  At weekends the building can be hired for exclusive use.

We are known for our outstanding customer service, versatile facilities and friendly approach which is what makes us stand out from the competition and keeps customer retention high.

Your impact

A key role within the sales team; responsible for selling of all types of events, predominantly corporate events, under the leadership of the Head of Sales and Marketing and venue General Manager.  This is an exciting opportunity to sell and plan a range of events including but not limited to conferences and meetings, product launches, screenings, private dining, award ceremonies, receptions and Christmas parties.

The role allows a breadth of responsibility encompassing proactive and reactive sales, marketing administration activities to support account growth and overall success of the team.

This position is full-time 5 days out of 7 and flexibility is expected to meet with the business needs.  This includes hosting show rounds of the venue and meeting and greeting clients. 

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities

Sales and Event Coordination

Responsible for achieving a personal sales target for the year (circa £800k in revenue)

Have excellent knowledge of venue capabilities, capacities, catering menus, unique selling points and pricing

Ability to negotiate and handle a range of high end corporate and private clients

Follow up on all enquiries within 1-4 hours and record in the system

To conduct proactive sales calls

To accurately create contracts and raise invoices, ensuring all deposits are paid by due dates prior to events taking place

To be responsible for sales administration

Timely preparation of quotations, contracts and function sheets inline with processes, procedures and deadlines in place to help other departments organise themselves

Conduct show rounds at every given opportunity and assist with familiarisation trips and in line with standard operating procedures

Meet and greet clients at events as agreed, follow up feedback and secure repeat business

Follow up, record and share all client feedback and seek to resolve all client queries

Marketing

To keep up to date all online listings and assist with managing subscription renewals

To actively contribute to newsletter content

To contribute content for social media channels

Design marketing email banners, flyers and special offer mailers for use to market to our database of clients

To communicate and research industry trends in food, service and creative selling, by our competitors and family of venues

Relationship Management

Develop and maintain relationships with existing and new key corporates, agents and platforms within the industry with a focus on securing new and repeat business

Participate in events meetings with the operations teams

To develop and maintain relationships with colleagues within the RSA

To promote the eve and Company of Cooks partnership within the venue

Administration and Organisation

Manage administration of event sheets for your own bookings as well as assisting the wider team when required.  Communicate accurate event operational information to all departments

Accurately raise invoices

Respond to e mail enquiries in a timely manner, ensuring your own and the shared inboxes are all up to date

Maintain and update venue sales database; regularly increasing the quantity of contacts and improving quality

Health & Safety

To keep up to date with all COSHH and HACCP procedures and methods.

To report any equipment and/or building fabric faults and any hygiene, health and safety hazard to the Compliance Director.

Occasional Responsibilities

Personal development to expand knowledge of industry trends in food, food service and creative selling

Attend and complete relevant training courses in-person and online

The ideal candidate:

Has impeccable attention to detail

Has strong negotiation skills

Is customer focused and is driven by positive customer experiences and feedback

Is approachable, friendly, confident and warm

Has the ability to juggle multiple tasks at once in a fast-paced environment

Is able to work well under pressure

Has excellent organisation and time management skills

Has at least two years’ previous relevant experience in event sales and marketing, preferably in a unique venue or 5* hotel

Is enthusiastic, inspiring and committed to the job and brings creative new ideas to the table

Is a team player

Has social media experience

Can demonstrate development of both existing and new business sales

Has digital marketing and social media experience

Has refined oral and written communication skills

Has excellent numeracy skills and is highly competent in use of MS Office, Excel and PowerPoint

Has experience in handling difficult situations with clients and overcoming these

Has experience in using a diary management system (Rendezvous preferable) and website (Episerver preferable)

This job description and person specification is a desired guideline but not exhaustive and we reserve the right to make changes to this job description as appropriate.

**All Applicants must be eligible to live and work in the UK**