Vacancy at The Postal Museum

Venue Sales and Events Coordinator

Salary £ 27,000 gross per annum

London

Vacancy listed 12/08/2024

Application deadline 13/10/2024

Details

The Postal Museum is one of the newest and most exciting museums in London. We opened in 2017 and have already established the museum as a must-visit destination with award-winning experiences. Alongside hands-on exhibitions exploring over 500 years of British social and communications history, visitors can experience a subterranean ride through the tunnels of the old Post Office Underground Railway – Mail Rail. The museum welcomes over 160,000 visitors and our online content reaches almost a million users a year. We deliver award-winning learning, access and outreach programmes and provide unique experiences including popular Tunnel Walks under the streets of London. The museum also operates a children’s play space – Sorted! – popular with young families and schools. Alongside all this we offer one of the most unique venues in London for corporate & private hire and filming.

Based: Central London – hybrid working and flexible hours.

Salary: £27,000 gross per annum

Hours: 35 Hours per week, flexible across weekdays and weekends

Contract: Full-time, Permanent

Probation Period: 3-months

Reports to: Venue Sales and Events Manager

Responsible for: N/A

Who We Are

The Postal Museum tells the story of postal communication and its impact on a global society.

What We Do

We use our collection to explore stories around communication, and to inspire everyone to make richer and more meaningful connections in their lives.

Our Values Are

Openness

Generosity

Innovation

Curiosity

Playfulness

We Will

Be open and generous in spirit and action.

Deliver innovation.

Communicate our stories with clarity and playfulness.

Be curious about people’s stories and experiences.

Purpose of the Job

Overview: The Venue Sales and Events Coordinator will coordinate the planning and delivery of first-class internal and commercial events across The Postal Museum’s unique event spaces, from enquiry to post event feedback.
Venue Sales: Increase venue hire income across museum’s event spaces and offers. Including identifying possible upselling opportunities and offers.
Events Operations & Delivery: Maintain an effective operating framework for internal and commercial events ensuring operations are fit for purpose, clearly communicated and monitored.
Marketing: Support the Venue Sales and Events Manager in the development and implementation of marketing activities to showcase the venue.

Key Responsibilities and Duties

Venue Sales

Responsible for monitoring the venue hire and kids parties inbox, responding to day-to-day venue hire, filming and kids’ parties’ enquiries with engaging and client led proposals in a timely manner to maximise conversion rates. Conduct preliminary client research (due diligence) and continue to monitor new leads and enquiries.
Lead engaging site visits, exploring upselling opportunities and offer impartial advice on supplier selection.
Provide the highest standard of customer service by effectively managing and exceeding client expectations.
Inputting and updating all enquiries, provisional holds, confirmed and release events to ensure the team and the Venue Sales and Events Manager has accurate data at all times for financial reporting.
Ensure event contracts for venue hire, kids parties and filming are completed in an accurate and timely manner and that relevant event confirmation paperwork is completed, including invoices, supplier and agency commissions.
Regularly monitor client satisfaction by collating & communicating customer feedback and findings.
Achieving annual sales targets (including personal targets) for venue hire and kids’ parties.

Event Operations & Delivery

To be the main point of contact for operations throughout events, interacting professionally with clients, guests, suppliers, internal teams and other service providers.
Advise clients on the venue’s operational and logistical policies to ensure the successful safe running of their event.
Keep relevant teams across the museum updated on upcoming events. Distribute event plans in a timely manner and notify teams of any changes.
Attend weekly events planning group meetings that include the Visitor Experience and Estates teams (and other relevant teams) to coordinate staffing, and other resources for corporate and internal events.
Conduct pre-event walk throughs with all event stakeholders to ensure the event plan is accurate and the event is delivered to an excellent standard.
Ensure all suppliers and clients adhere to the venue’s restrictions, licensing, and Health & Safety procedures for the duration of the event.
Build strong relationships with internal teams including Visitor Experience, Estates and IT to coordinate internal resources for event delivery.
Work in partnership with museum departments, to support with the planning and delivery of museum-led events.
Support the Venue Sales and Events Manager in maintaining an appropriate and competitive list of preferred suppliers and to manage them effectively during live event delivery.

Marketing

Proactively support the Venue Sales and Events Manager with the successful delivery of the venue hire and kids’ parties marketing plan.
Collaborate with the Marcomms Team to refine inhouse core marketing resources and channels and create content for collateral materials, the museum’s venue hire webpages and social media channel.
Proactively update platform listings and agencies with any venue hire news, offers and packages.
Attend exhibitions, trade shows and networking events to generate leads and develop partnerships.
Manage the co-ordination of familiarisation trips and cultivation / showcase events and reporting on the success of campaigns.
To maintain excellent working knowledge of the events industry and suppliers through regular benchmarking exercises and networking.

Person Specification

Experience and Skills

Essential criteria

Experience managing events, preferably within a heritage or unique venue environment.
Experience of venue sales, successfully sourcing and converting sales enquiries and upselling opportunities.
Experience of planning and delivering a variety of events including museum receptions, dinners, product launches for corporate/private clients and internal teams.
Experience of working with a wide range of clients, suppliers and contractors at all levels.
Strong copywriting skills.
Strong IT skills including Outlook, Word and Excel.
Strong administrative skills.
A working knowledge of social media networks.

Desirable criteria

Experience of managing venue bookings diary and client database.
Experienced in the use of A/V equipment.
Strong understanding of statutory policies including risk assessments, H&S, fire safety.
Experience of events booking & CRM systems.
Knowledge of agencies and supplier contacts within the industry.

Behaviours

Proactive attitude towards sales with ambition to achieve and exceed agreed KPIs.
Enjoys working in a sales driven environment.
Highly motivated team player.
Ability to think creatively, anticipate and problem solve.
Confident and diplomatic communicator at all levels; able to negotiate, compromise and manage expectations to achieve the best possible outcomes.
Commitment to delivering outstanding customer service to clients.
Well organised and calm under pressure with an ability to prioritise a varied workload.
Good attention to detail.
Flexible, positive attitude and ability to work on own initiative.
Passion for and desire to work in the events industry.
Professionally presentable at all times, acting as an ambassador for The Postal Museum.

Working Conditions

The Venue Sales and Events Coordinator role will be expected to work flexibly and from the museum or remotely for 35 hours per week across weekdays and weekends.

Post holders will be expected to be flexible to the reactive needs of The Postal Museum and expect their shift allocations to vary. Working hours and days will be agreed in advance with the line manager and are subject to change as required.

This position may require an enhanced DBS check which will reveal any unspent convictions. A criminal record may not necessarily be a bar to placement, as any decision will be treated on its merits and individual circumstances subject to the museum’s overriding obligations to protect the children and vulnerable adults in its charge, members of the public, the safety of the museum’s staff and the Collection.

The Museum is a 6-days a week operation and regularly holds events outside its core hours; flexibility to work across sites, weekends, during holiday periods and before/after public opening hours is therefore an essential requirement of this role.

How to Apply

To apply, kindly upload your CV and a Cover Letter detailing how you meet the requirements of the role.

Incomplete applications will not be accepted.

Please note that all candidates must be eligible to work in the UK

If you face any technical difficulties while applying, please reach out to hr@postalmuseum.org

The Postal Museum is a Disability Confident Employer, if at this point you wish to disclose any disability, kindly let us know at hr@postalmuseum.org before the application deadline in order for us to take appropriate action.