Business Development Manager Corporate Travel Management

As a Business Development Manager, you will sell corporate travel management services — managed air, hotel and car booking programs, online booking tools, duty-of-care traveller tracking and travel reporting — to mid-size and large Canadian companies. You will sell primarily to Controllers, purchasing departments and VP/Director-level leaders. This role is 50% new business development, 25% account support and 25% proposal and administrative work. Leads come from a company-supplied list of approximately 2,000 prospect companies, warm referrals, and your own prospecting. Customers are Canadian organizations of 100–999 employees, across all industries, that spend $150,000 to $5 million a year on business travel. Your territory is all of Canada, sold from our client's office in Burlington, Ontario. This is an existing role reporting directly to the President. The base salary is $65,000 – $70,000, plus uncapped commissions.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

• $65,000 – $70,000 base salary, plus commissions

• Year 1 OTE: $70,000 – $75,000

• Year 2 OTE: $85,000 – $95,000

• Uncapped commission, paid monthly, on the accounts you bring in

• Company-paid health benefits

• Two weeks' vacation plus six paid sick/personal days

• Cell phone and expense account

• Mileage allowance

• Attendance at an international travel network's annual partner conference

• Career advancement — opportunity to build and lead a sales team within approximately 5 years

THE COMPANY & CULTURE

Our client was founded in 1978 and is a family-owned, privately held corporate travel management company growing 15–25% per year. Based in Burlington, Ontario, with 18 employees, they manage business travel programs for approximately 115 corporate clients. They are the Canadian partner of a global travel management network operating in 40 countries, which gives clients global coverage, preferred rates at roughly 40,000 hotels worldwide, and booking technology that our client is the sole distributor of in Canada. Clients include organizations in the pharmaceutical and industrial sectors.

The culture is stable and relationship-based. Employee turnover is under 10%, average tenure is 10–15 years, and one employee has been with the company for 31 years. Decisions are made quickly by a three-person management team, with no corporate bureaucracy. Service is delivered by experienced in-house travel advisors — nothing is outsourced.

OFFICE LOCATION & SALES TERRITORY

• Head Office: Burlington, Ontario, Canada

• Work arrangement: Office-based, 5 days per week. This is not a remote or hybrid role.

• Sales territory: Canada (national accounts)

• Selling is done by phone, email, video meetings and online demos; in-person client meetings as required

• Hours: Monday to Friday, 35 hours per week. No evening or weekend work.

• Overnight travel: Less than 5% — approximately 2 to 3 trips per year

EXPERIENCE, BACKGROUND & EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS

• 5–15 years of B2B sales experience, including proven new business development and cold prospecting

• Minimum 2–3 years of corporate travel industry experience is required — for example, at a travel management company, a business travel technology provider, or in airline or hotel corporate sales. Candidates without corporate travel experience will not be considered.

• Working knowledge of how travel management companies earn revenue, corporate travel programs, online booking tools and GDS

• Experience selling to finance, procurement and senior leadership (Controller, CFO, VP/Director level)

• Experience managing long sales cycles (9–12 months) with multiple decision-makers

• Excellent written and spoken English — you will write proposals and present to executives

• Minimum post-secondary diploma

• Valid driver's licence and access to a vehicle

• Must live within a reasonable daily commute of Burlington, Ontario

• This is a full-time role. Candidates must not hold a second job or operate another business.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

• Online booking tools and GDS (e.g., Sabre, Amadeus, Travelport) — required

• Online demos and virtual presentations — Advanced

• Microsoft PowerPoint — Intermediate

• Microsoft Excel — Intermediate

• Microsoft Word — Intermediate

• Google Drive / Docs — Basic

• CRM software — training provided on our client's system

THE PRODUCT / SERVICE / SOLUTION

• Managed corporate travel programs (air, hotel and car) built around each client's structure and travel policy

• Dedicated, experienced travel advisors assigned to each account

• Online booking tools and enterprise travel technology

• Duty of care — real-time traveller tracking and 24/7 emergency support from live agents

• Centralized travel reporting and traveller profiles

• Global coverage through a 40-country travel management partner network

• Group travel and group movements for corporate clients

PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS / INDUSTRY FOCUS / DECISION MAKER(S)

• Canadian companies of all industries that spend $150,000 to $5 million a year on business travel

• Primarily large businesses of 100–999 employees

• Companies currently using a competing travel management company, or managing travel without one

• Decision-makers: Controllers and accounting, purchasing departments, and VP/Director-level leadership; typically 3 people involved in each decision

SALES CYCLE / ORDER VALUE / ACCOUNT SIZE

• Ideal account: $1 million to $1.5 million in annual travel spend; largest client accounts spend up to $5 million per year

• Accounts are multi-year contracts that generate recurring revenue on every booking

• Sales cycle: 9–12 months, typically 4–6 meetings to win an account

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES

• Senior, long-tenured travel advisors — service is not outsourced

• 24/7 emergency support from live agents

• Enterprise booking technology, distributed exclusively in Canada by our client

• Global reach through a 40-country partner network, including preferred rates at roughly 40,000 hotels

• 48 years in business with low staff turnover and long client relationships

TYPICAL DAY & DUTIES

• 50% New Business Development

• 25% Account Management

• 25% Administrative Duties

On a typical day you will be calling and emailing finance, procurement and senior leaders at target companies, running discovery meetings, delivering online demos and presentations, writing proposals, preparing spend analyses for large accounts, joining calls with international partner offices, and logging all activity in the CRM.

LEADS

• 50% — Company-supplied list of approximately 2,000 prospect companies, with prior contact history

• 25% — Warm leads, including referrals from partners and suppliers

• 25% — Your own prospecting and list-building, including former clients and companies using competitors

• Commission is paid on the new accounts you win, not on existing clients

OVERNIGHT TRAVEL

• Less than 5% — approximately 2 to 3 trips per year

• Travel is for international partner conferences (in North America, Europe and beyond) and occasional joint client pitches with partner offices

SUPPORT & TRAINING

• Semi-structured sales training for 1–2 months, delivered directly by the President

• Product and systems training for 1–2 weeks

• Ongoing coaching from the President, who has more than 45 years of corporate travel sales experience

• You will be actively selling within 3–4 weeks of your start date

WHY YOU SHOULD APPLY

• Stable, family-owned employer in business since 1978, growing 15–25% per year