Be a part of a dynamic team whose work enriches the health of communities by strengthening city and county health departments. At the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), we are united by our work to improve our country's over 3,300 U.S. local health departments. We represent the voice of local public health while striving to live out our core values of equity, excellence, participation, respect, integrity, leadership, science, and innovation. We provide our employees with meaningful work, opportunities to learn and grow, a strong work/life balance, and a flexible, hybrid work schedule while being a part of a collaborative team.

We are interested in growing our team with passionate, committed, and innovative individuals. The Affiliate Business Partner Sales Manager will serve a vital role in the Meetings and Membership Department.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Manager, Affiliate Business Partnerships is responsible for developing and nurturing relationships with business partners aligned with NACCHO’s mission to strengthen and advocate for local public health departments, and leveraging those relationships into affiliate business partner memberships. Through the creation, sale, and fulfillment of membership goals, this position is critical to helping NACCHO achieve its unrestricted revenue goals. This role oversees both process and people to contribute to the association’s growth by identifying new and managing current partnerships to increase unrestricted revenue and streamlining processes to increase effectiveness and efficiency.

This sales position manages the day-to-day operations of NACCHO’S Affiliate Business Partner Membership Program and supervises one or more specialists to ensure efforts are well-aligned with NACCHO’s mission, membership, and meetings strategy. The position serves as the primary point of contact for new and existing affiliate partners and is responsible for the growth and sustainability of account management and related deliverables on behalf of such partners.

The Manager researches, identifies, and develops new partnership opportunities; ensures consistency and parity among business relationships; devises ways to help partners intersect their goals with NACCHO’s mission, vision, and programmatic work/projects; and grows revenue through high-quality service delivery and high-touch engagement that increases the value/ROI of partnership with NACCHO. The position is critical to meeting revenue goals related to membership and meetings by strategically targeting and synergizing engagement, exhibit, and sponsor opportunities across the annual membership and meetings cycle.

NATURE OF WORK

This is a managerial position requiring initiative, teamwork, solid sales experience, supervisory, and analytical skills. The work involves collaboration with co-workers, members, vendors, and other external groups, and requires the exercise of discretion and independent judgment. The Manager will build and execute partner engagement strategies under the direction of the Director of Meetings and will collaborate closely with the Manager, Event Sales and Services to generate additional unrestricted revenue wherever possible. The Manager will identify opportunities to streamline and improve processes to ensure superior service and exceed expectations with NACCHO’s affiliate partners.

COMPETENCIES AND EXPECTATIONS:

• Analytical - Synthesizes complex or diverse information; collects and researches data; uses intuition and experience to complement data; designs workflows and procedures.
• Problem Solving - Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner; gathers and analyzes skillfully; develops alternative solutions; works well in group problem solving situations; uses reason even when dealing with emotional topics.
• Project Management - Develops project plans; coordinates projects; communicates changes and progress; completes projects on time and budget; manages project team activities.
• Technical Skills - Assesses own strengths and weaknesses; pursues training and development opportunities; strives to continuously build knowledge and skills; shares expertise with others.
• Customer Service - Manages difficult or emotional customer situations; responds promptly to customer needs; solicits customer feedback to improve service; responds to requests for service and assistance; meets commitments.
• Interpersonal Skills - Focuses on solving conflict, not blaming; maintains confidentiality; listens to others without interrupting; keeps emotions under control; remains open to others' ideas and tries new things.
• Oral Communication - Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations; listens and gets clarification; responds well to questions; demonstrates group presentation skills; participates in meetings.
• Written Communication - Writes clearly and informatively; edits work for spelling and grammar; varies writing style to meet needs; presents numerical data effectively; able to read and interpret written information.
• Teamwork - Balances team and individual responsibilities; exhibits objectivity and openness to others' views; gives and welcomes feedback; contributes to building a positive team spirit; puts success of team above own interests; able to build morale and group commitments to goals and objectives; supports everyone's efforts to succeed.
• Quality Management - Looks for ways to improve and promote quality; demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness.
• Ethics - Treats people with respect; keeps commitments; inspires the trust of others; Works with integrity and ethically; upholds organizational values.
• Organizational Support - Follows policies and procedures; completes administrative tasks correctly and on time; supports organization's goals and values; benefits organization through outside activities; supports affirmative action and respects diversity.
• Motivation - Sets and achieves challenging goals; demonstrates persistence and overcomes obstacles; measures self against standard of excellence; takes calculated risks to accomplish goals.
• Quality - Demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness; looks for ways to improve and promote quality; applies feedback to improve performance; monitors own work to ensure quality.
• Quantity - Meets productivity standards; completes work in a timely manner; strives to increase productivity; works quickly.
• Safety and Security - Observes safety and security procedures; determines appropriate action beyond guidelines; reports potentially unsafe conditions; uses equipment and materials properly.
• Adaptability - Adapts to changes in the work environment; manages competing demands; changes approach or method to best fit the situation; able to deal with frequent changes, delays, or unexpected events.
• Attendance/Punctuality - Is consistently at work and on time; ensures work responsibilities are covered when absent; arrives at meetings and appointments on time.
• Dependability - Follows instructions, responds to management direction; takes responsibility for own actions; keeps commitments; completes tasks on time or notifies appropriate person with an alternate plan.
• Initiative - Volunteers readily; undertakes self-development activities; seeks increased responsibilities; takes independent actions and calculated risks; looks for and takes advantage of opportunities; asks for and offers help when needed.
• Innovation - Displays original thinking and creativity; meets challenges with resourcefulness; generates suggestions for improving work; develops innovative approaches and ideas; presents ideas and information in a manner that gets others' attention.

POSITION SPECIFIC DUTIES:

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

• Promote and execute all aspects of NACCHO’s Affiliate Business Partner Membership Program, including management of engagement benefit deliverables in coordination with internal staff, affiliate business partners, and outside contractors.
• Manage the full partnership cycle for current and prospective accounts. This includes generating leads, coordinating, and leading introductory meetings, assessing stakeholder needs and goals, preparing proposals, executing agreements, and overseeing the fulfillment of affiliate partner engagement benefits.
• Structure and seek affiliate business partner memberships through an outreach strategy which includes identification, relationship building, solicitation, and stewardship.
• In coordination with the Manager, Event Sales and Services, proactively manage relationships with new and existing affiliate partners, exhibitors, and sponsors, including scheduling regular touch points, distributing updates, and serving as a point of contact to expand engagement and revenue.
• Advance NACCHO’s Affiliate Business Partnership Program by identifying best practices, tracking emerging trends, synergizing opportunities with NACCHO’s annual conferences and programs teams, reviewing and updating benefits, and participating in periodic reviews of the program.
• Collaborate with programs staff, affiliate partners, and public health networks to identify new prospective members and increase member engagement.
• Create and manage tracking system to monitor affiliate partner memberships and oversee the fulfillment of all benefits, deliverables and obligations with relevant internal and external stakeholders.
• Work collaboratively across the organization to actively assist where needed and seek out additional ways to add value.
• Supervise the work of one or more specialists who support Affiliate Business Partnerships engagement. Perform other managerial and administrative work, special projects, or duties, as assigned.

RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

• Generate and identify new business development opportunities aligned with NACCHO’s mission and strategy through research, referrals, analysis, and discovery.
• Lead outreach to prospective contacts; prepare for conversations and meetings with potential partners by creating written materials, as needed.
• Create a recruitment plan and timeline. Work with programmatic staff and cold call as appropriate to ensure a robust pipeline of opportunities.
• Manage prospect lists, including tracking outreach and scheduling follow-up; has a top prospect list readily available.
• Develop proposals that speak to the potential sponsor/member’s needs, concerns, and objectives.
• Handle objections by clarifying and working through differences to a positive conclusion. Use a variety of styles to persuade or negotiate appropriately.
• Cultivate relationships through development of an onboarding process and sponsor/member retention plan/timeline.
• Ensure timely semi-annual renewals of affiliate business partners with a renewal retention goal of 75% or higher.

EXHIBITS AND SPONSORSHIP SALES COORDINATION

• Under the guidance of the Director of Meetings and Senior Director of Membership and Meetings, work in unison with the Manager, Event Sales and Services to synergize opportunities across affiliate business partners, exhibitors, and sponsors.
• Participate in the development of an exhibit/sponsorship prospectus for each of NACCHO’s annual conferences.
• Draft partnership agreements, including articulation of benefits, payment details/terms, and facilitate signature collection.
• Serve as the on-site conferences point-of-contact to ensure partners sponsorships benefits are actualized.
• Able to travel to annual conferences.

REPORTING

• Utilize Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software system to track efforts and record activity (including notes and opportunities), update contact details, and create accurate sales projections.
• Forecast and monitor sales targets to ensure they are met.
• Follow-up with pipeline contacts to secure deals to meet these targets.
• Prepare and submit weekly pipeline activity and semi-annual progress reports to the Director and Senior Director.
• Ensure that data are accurately entered and managed within NetForum.
• Create reports including data aggregation, visibility, and reach to articulate the partnership value.
• Manage affiliate partners with affinity agreements that provide member benefits to local health departments.
• Oversee the generation and distribution of reports regarding semi-annual renewals and quarterly revenue share.

COMMUNICATIONS

• Ensure timely consistent communication with partners via regularly scheduled meetings and email.
• Work with Communications Specialist(s) to write and edit messaging for e-blasts and mailings, as needed. Create and manager marketing calendars with key affiliate partners to reinforce timely fulfillment of member engagement benefits.
• Develop communication tactics to inform internal and external stakeholders regarding affiliate business partner activities.
• Manage the regular maintenance and updates to the affiliate business partner area of the website as well as partnership information that is shared on the annual conference websites and relevant materials.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE/SKILLS:

Bachelor's degree and certification in relevant professional field with a minimum of 5-7 years relevant work experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience, including a relevant certification. Master’s degree in a relevant field preferred. Experience with corporate relationship/account management, strategic planning, sales, customer service experience or combination of education and experience, with a demonstrated ability to sell new business, manage existing accounts, and maintain a healthy pipeline of engagement and sales opportunities.

Abilities/Skills

• Demonstrated history of establishing and consistently meeting or exceeding business development targets.
• Ability to collaborate among a range of key business areas (marketing, event management, communications, affiliate partners, sponsors & exhibitors)
• Ability to move between business development and account management seamlessly.
• Full accountability for all work responsibilities and outcomes, and for input to team(s).
• Financial and business acumen with a proven track record of exceeding sales/revenue quotas.
• Excellent oral and written communications skills, marketing skills, and ability to organize multiple projects simultaneously and within tight deadlines while achieving revenue goals.
• Strong customer service, interpersonal, and public speaking skills, including the ability to develop and maintain cooperative, effective relationships with members, business partners, staff, and other key leaders and stakeholders.
• A strong work ethic, and be solutions-oriented, creative, and detail-oriented.
• Ability to understand the interests of business prospects and how to connect them to NACCHO’S priorities while developing deep and long-lasting relationships.
• Ability to thrive in a collaborative, team environment and possess the self-motivation necessary to work independently.
• Demonstrated ability to apply innovative and resourceful solutions to solve complex challenges.
• Exceptional organizational and project management skills; ability to handle multiple assignments at once.
• A positive and customer service-oriented attitude with a willingness to be flexible and adapt to changing needs.
• Ability to “roll up shirtsleeves” to get the work done while maintaining grace under pressure.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Frequently required to sit.
• Occasionally required to walk.
• Occasionally required to reach with hands and arms.
• Occasionally required to talk or hear.
• Occasionally required to bend, lift, or climb stairs.
• Occasionally required to lift light weights (less than 25 pounds).
• Occasionally required to travel.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• The noise level in the work environment usually is moderate.

About National Association of County and City Health Officials

The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), a national organization representing nearly 3,000 local health departments nationwide, has an immediate opening for a Manager - Affiliate Partnerships, Sponsorships, and Exhibits.

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