Sales Planner
U.S. News & World Report is a multifaceted digital media company dedicated to helping citizens, consumers, business leaders and policy officials make important decisions in their lives. We publish independent reporting, rankings, data journalism and advice that has earned the trust of our readers and users for nearly 90 years. Our platforms on usnews.com include Education, Health, Money, Travel, Cars, News and 360 Reviews.
We reach more than 40 million people monthly during moments when they are most in need of expert advice and motivated to act on that advice directly on our platforms. Our signature franchises include our “Best” series of consumer guides on colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, diets, cars, financial services and more. These guides provide an easy-to-digest list for consumers to better understand and compare when making their decisions. We continue to publish annual guides of the authoritative Best Colleges and Best Hospitals rankings on our website and in print. And our U.S. News Live flagship conferences highlight important national conversations including Healthcare of Tomorrow and Healthiest Communities.
Your role in helping us shape the future:
U.S. News empowers everyone to thrive. In this position you will have the opportunity to leverage your strengths and skills to support our growing sales team. You will be responsible for supporting several Sales Representatives with pre and post-sale tasks such as: researching, identifying, qualifying, uploading and inputting leads into Zoho CRM, maintaining our customer database, ensuring that all sales documents and agreements are completed before they are filed and updating the customer contact information as needed. This candidate will be a direct point of contact for our customers, and will assist in product inquiries to help the sales team expedite the sales process, and following through with customer requests. This hands-on role is ideal for someone with a strong background in B2B client management and is self-motivating with an entrepreneurial attitude.
Are you up to the challenge?
- Maintains customer databases by inputting customer profiles and updates; preparing and distributing monthly reports.
- Create and send lead-qualifying email outreaches to potential customers and communicate with clients.
- Provides excellent customer service by performing a variety of tasks, including but not limited to onboarding tasks for new and repeat customers, handling credit issues, coordinating contract preparation/execution, requesting creative and processing creative approvals.
- Maintains a high level of attention to detail inputting/managing data within Zoho CRM.
- Organize sales presentations and ensure that all sales presentation materials are prepared prior to deadlines. Help to prepare sales presentations by compiling data, and developing presentation formats and materials.
- Update customer records in the company database as required.
- Contact customers to answer basic procedural questions or to gauge their level of satisfaction with the company.
- Collaborate with the sales staff to monitor active purchase orders and make sure that orders are completed on time.
- Report any service issues to management and the appropriate Sales Representative immediately.
- Provides product information by clarifying customer requests, selecting appropriate information, forwarding information, and answering questions.
- Provides sales vs. projection results by preparing and forwarding sales tracking reports.
You should definitely have:
- College degree
- Minimum 1 year experience in B2B sales support
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Computer data entry skills
- Strong organizational and time management skills.
- Detail oriented with a strong ability to multi-task—must be able to juggle multiple projects
- Has a rich sense of client service and support
- Team player who works well with others, or independently as needed; Liaison working with various departments
- Ability to learn and think quickly, exercise independent judgement and strong situational awareness
- Ability to prioritize and meet deadlines in a fast-paced corporate environment
It would be nice if you had:
- Is proficient in using a CRM, preferably Zoho, and Microsoft Excel
What it’s like to work with us:
- Talent is our best asset!
- We invest in people with passion and potential who understand U.S. News’ dedication to our consumers.
- Entrepreneurial, mission-driven culture with core values of quality and integrity
- Focus on fostering personal and professional growth
- Competitive benefits including paid vacation time, medical, tuition reimbursement, and training
- Collaborative Work Environment ~ Fun, diverse, inclusive and ambitious co-workers
Other Job Info:
- These statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this job. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of employees assigned to this job.
- Please note we will not provide visa sponsorship for this role.