American Animal Hospital Association - Senior Director, Business Development

SUMMARY

The Senior Director, Business Development at the American Animal Hospital Association ["AAHA"] is a senior, high-level sales leadership role responsible for direct sales and prospecting activities that generate non-dues revenue in support of AAHA’s mission to strengthen the systems of care that enable animal hospitals, veterinary professionals, and pet owners to improve the lives of pets. The fully remote role has a primary focus on managing AAHA’s blue-chip, highest-value corporate accounts and leading AAHA’s Advantage Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) program, building the kind of trusted, connected partnerships that advance AAHA’s vision of being the most trusted and connected platform in animal health. Responsibilities span AAHA’s advertising, partnership, sponsorship, and other revenue-generating programs, evolving alongside AAHA’s offerings as the organization grows, along with other duties as assigned. This commissionable position is responsible for maintaining and growing relationships with AAHA advertisers and vendors in accordance with the standards of business conduct consistent with AAHA’s standing within the veterinary industry and for supporting AAHA’s brand in sales communications.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Duties include, but are not limited to the following

Growing and maintaining non-dues revenues that support and/or otherwise subsidize AAHA’s publications, education and professional development offerings, digital platforms, conference programs, and other organizational assets that serve the veterinary profession, in alignment with AAHA’s mission and vision. Meeting and exceeding established sales targets will be accomplished through the following:

• Selling digital advertising and sponsorships across AAHA’s portfolio of publications and digital platforms, member- and consumer-facing content, exhibits, and other association products, adapting as that portfolio evolves.
• Serve as the primary relationship owner for AAHA’s blue-chip, highest-value corporate accounts, actively maintaining and growing a book of corporate-targeted annual partnerships and memberships business.
• Consistent and ongoing outbound sales activity (calls, emails, etc.); responding to and fulfilling requests for information or materials.
• Collaborating closely with colleagues and management on pilot sales of new products and services for the market.
• Continuous market scanning and research into recent sales prospects and product opportunities.
• Provide ongoing management reporting on client sales and prospect status, particularly as it relates to pipeline development activities.

Leads and manages AAHA’s Advantage Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) program, including transitioning and consolidating AAHA’s legacy vendor and affinity partnerships into this model, while driving supplier participation, program growth, and member value.

• Negotiates and manages GPO supplier agreements, pricing terms, and contract renewals.
• Serves as the primary point of contact for GPO partners and works cross-functionally with marketing and membership teams to promote program adoption and engagement among AAHA members.

Collaborate with marketing and other business development sales team members on developing sales and marketing plans, including objectives, product positioning, budgets, tactics, timelines, and revenue goals.

Maintain all client communications, lead tracking, and activities within AAHA’s customer tracking systems.

Travel to industry and veterinary conferences and/or client sites as needed.

Keep up on competition and trends in the veterinary industry that impact sales.

Proactively offer market input to help with the media kit development and other vendor-facing assets as required.

Every staff member is responsible for providing excellent customer service - internally and externally - toward creating an optimum workplace culture and environment. To that end, it is the expectation that every employee:

• Learn, mentor, and facilitate excellent communication skills
• Nurture a positive "can-do" attitude

Successfully work with fellow staff members, leadership, members, and vendors.

Other job duties as assigned that you have the key skills to perform and have been trained to do.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty to a satisfactory standard. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.

Education/Experience

• Bachelor's degree in business, marketing, or related field; other education considered.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience selling media, marketing, and/or sponsor-supported services or related business assets required, including experience managing large, strategic (“blue-chip”) accounts and/or group purchasing organization (GPO) programs, preferably within the animal health industry.
• A wide, diverse professional experience is also a plus.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Demonstrated success in achieving quota-based goals, sales targets through cold-calling/prospecting, pipeline lead development, and relationship building
• Highly proficient in using Microsoft Office/365 suite of products (Teams, PPT, Excel, etc.) to build and present impactful client proposals that help customers accomplish their marketing objectives while ensuring the organization meets its goals.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to establish, build, and cultivate positive relationships both internally with colleagues and externally with prospects and customers.
• Proven adoption and use of membership and/or customer relationship management software tools (E.g., HubSpot) to track sales and manage prospecting activities, including creation and maintenance of client agreements.
• Expert client management and customer relations skills; comfortable in all sales environments – live and online – and an accomplished record of consultative selling to all levels of customer/client roles, from chief executives to management.
• Ability to understand and work with numeric information, as part of sales tracking and contributing to organizational forecasting and budgeting processes.
• Successful record of accomplishment in collaborating with workplace peers and customers in conceptualizing and developing new products or programs that generate new sources of revenue.
• Motivated self-starter that can work independently, take accountable ownership of responsibilities, and draw on past experiences and judgment to troubleshoot issues and problem solve.
• Veterinary industry knowledge required.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by any 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.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, stand, walk, use hands to finger, handle, or feel, reach with hands and arms, and talk or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally be able to work in a standing position for long periods of time and up to the entire shift. Travel is primarily local during the day, although some out-of-area and overnight travel for conferences and board meetings may be required. Air travel may also be required (10%).

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

AAHA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. AAHA does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law in any aspect of employment, including hiring, promotion, compensation, or termination.

Apply Today!

Help veterinary teams thrive and make a lasting impact in the industry. We are committed to building an inclusive environment and providing reasonable accommodation to support all team members.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $120,000.00 - $140,000.00 per year

Benefits

• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Application Question(s)

• What annual salary are you seeking?
• Do you have any experience working in the veterinary industry?

Education

* Bachelor's (Required)

Experience

* selling media, marketing, and/or sponsor-supported services : 10 years (Preferred)

Work Location: Remote