Business Development Manager

HOPEFULLY YOU’RE THE VIVACIOUS AND VISIONARY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER WE’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR!

ABOUT YOU:

Are you the type of person who, from your younger days, displayed incredible ambition and entrepreneurial spirit? Were you the neighborhood legend who set up the lemonade stand that everyone raved about, or the industrious young soul who kicked off a lawn and landscaping business right from your own backyard? Perhaps you were the go-to driveway snow-plower, the dependable neighbor everyone could rely on, ensuring pathways were cleared promptly with your unwavering punctuality.

Did you possess the discipline to transform a humble $25 into $100? Were you the creative mind behind eye-catching flyers, skillfully marketing your services to the community and building lasting relationships with your neighbors? And remember those school lunch swaps? Were you the savvy negotiator at the lunch table, trading your turkey sandwich for a peanut butter and jelly with banana, inspired not just by the deliciousness but also by Elvis’s favorite snack?

More importantly, did you manage to expand your network, forming valuable partnerships and friendships, all while maintaining your amiable personality? Did you navigate the world of business, growing your ventures, and enhancing your popularity without ever resorting to bullying or arrogance? If so, we want you to bring your unique blend of childhood enthusiasm and entrepreneurial drive to our team. Join us and let's create the future together, one fun anecdote at a time!

ABOUT US:

Welcome to Utopia, where we believe in the power of childlike curiosity and the entrepreneurial spirit! At Utopia, we're not just a team; we're a community of innovators, dreamers, and go-getters. Beyond event planning, management, and production, Utopia is an experience and relationship management company. We work closely with clients to create highly customized, immersive event experiences that foster connectivity and engagement with customers, employees, donors, and other important stakeholders.

ABOUT THE ROLE:

We're on the lookout for a dynamic Business Development Manager/Account Executive who embodies the same passion and drive that once fueled your childhood endeavors. As our AE, you will do more than just cultivate relationships; you'll bring your lemonade stand enthusiasm to the table, transforming existing connections and uncovering exciting new business opportunities. Your strategic planning skills will be the key to integrating new clients seamlessly, while your knack for market research and analysis will help us evolve our services and increase revenue, just like how you turned that $25 into $100 back in the day.

Much like your reliable snow-plowing services, we need someone who shows up on time, every time, ensuring our partnerships thrive in any weather. Your creative flair, demonstrated through those eye-catching flyers, will play a crucial role in our marketing efforts, helping us reach new heights in the business world. And just like your lunch table negotiations, we want you to engage with potential clients and partners, forming connections that are as strong as peanut butter and as sticky as jelly.

ROLE OBJECTIVES:

Nurture client relationships: Just as you nurtured friendships from your neighborhood ventures, you'll guide clients through the entire sales cycle. From the initial discovery call to boots-on-the-ground event delivery, you'll ensure every step reflects warmth and reliability, and excellence; the Utopia spirit. You’ll be managing the existing sales pipeline and developing new business opportunities

Identify trends and customer needs: Just like you created irresistible flyers back then, now you'll craft compelling proposals, presentations, and videos that capture attention, generate leads, and open doors to exciting business opportunities.

Attend conferences and events: Connect with thought leaders, much like you did back at the lunch table, swapping stories and building partnerships. Listen to their needs, ask them questions, find solutions to their problems, connect them with others in your network.

Motivate and inspire the team: Lead by example, just as you did in your early entrepreneurial days. Your ability to turn challenges into opportunities will inspire the team. By holding yourself and others accountable, you'll create a supportive, collaborative environment where everyone can thrive. Get excited about your ideas. Bring the team to the table to connect and collaborate if you need help pressure testing a concept. Deliver the proposal to the client with energy, enthusiasm, empathy and confidence. Then discern, galvanize and motivate the team to execute on this new business opportunity

Help develop and manage a strategic plan for growing Utopia in accordance with the company vision

Conduct market research and assist with the development and implementation of marketing strategies - collaborate with marketing director and creative director to fuel new internal and external content ideas to inform, educate and attract potential clients

Track performance and report metrics to team weekly and quarterly - self-evaluating, self-motivating, and accountability are critical for success

Have fun helping others help the world

YOUR DAY-TO-DAY IMPACT:

Beyond the objectives above, you'll be cold prospecting to build your pipeline (with some inbound leads to supplement), conducting discovery calls to understand event and video needs, and maintaining accurate pipeline data in our CRM. You'll partner closely with our operations team to ensure every solution we propose can be flawlessly executed. Success is measured through quarterly revenue targets and the quality of partnerships you build.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN THIS ROLE:

5 years of experience in partnerships and/or business development

Preferably a minimum of 2 years in the event industry, but not required

Zeal for creativity, promotion, relationship building, creating content, communicating and adding value to others

Great interpersonal skills, demeanor and networking skills

A love for getting shit done

An objectively great personality and a love for other objectively great personalities

An ability to identify strategic opportunities, align the right stakeholders, find opportunities by connecting puzzle pieces, and then move mountains (or just simply climb them) to get things done

Desire and a willingness to do high-powered thinking about thinking and strategic work, and to also get your hands in the dirt and get stuff done

An understanding that cleaning the toilet at Utopia is above no one, including the President and CEO. We are all team players, all the time, and you should be too

Wants to be part of a rock-star team who prioritizes having fun, enjoying the quirkiness of our culture and our client relationships, and over-delivering because we always do - and its the right thing to do

WHAT MAKES UTOPIA A GREAT PLACE TO WORK:

Retirement plan with 100% match up to 3%

Flexible paid time off and holidays (essentially unlimited PTO… We don't do formal PTO - that system is antiquated. Just don’t take advantage, and we’re all good!)

Truly awesome people - we don't have needless meetings, don't tolerate egos and genuinely like each other. You will love it here.

We believe in doing good. A large part of our business is serving non profit organizations that are making the world a better place to live

We work hard, have fun, learn each day, challenge each other, and we have an incredibly transparent and collaborative atmosphere

More than willing to get creative for the right candidate and adjust for a lower base with higher incentives, or a higher base (still within the bracket above) with lower incentives.

Hybrid schedule - In-office: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday | Work from home: Monday, Thursday

FINAL WORDS:

Join us at Utopia, where your childhood dreams meet the world of business growth. Let's create a positive impact on society together, all while reminiscing about the days when a simple lemonade stand could spark a world of possibilities. Come be a part of our team, where every day is a new adventure, and every opportunity is a chance to relive the excitement of childhood ambition.

We'd love for you to send us a brief video explaining why you think you're a good fit for this position!