Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. EF Go Ahead Tours is looking for a driven, relationship-first Business Development Manager to grow their Travel Advisor channel. This role involves owning the full lifecycle from identifying and signing new advisors to driving bookings and building long-term relationships with them.
Responsibilities
- Prospect, sign, and activate Travel Advisors and agency accounts across your territory
- Execute a territory plan: call cadences, agency visits, trade shows, consortium events, and virtual presentations
- Hit monthly and quarterly new-activation targets
- Reactivate lapsed advisors and convert them into consistent producers
- Own booking volume across your active advisor book; accountable to quarterly revenue quotas
- Serve as the primary EF Go Ahead Tours contact for top-producing advisors, delivering training, promotional support, and account-level plans that include co-op marketing
- Attend tradeshows, consortium events, and industry conferences
- Equip advisors with co-op materials and booking incentives in collaboration with Marketing
- Maintain accurate CRM data; track pipeline, activities, and booking attribution
- Report on KPIs weekly and, as a founding channel member, contribute to the advisor program playbook, portal requirements, and commission tier design
Skills
- 5+ years of B2B sales or business development experience in the travel industry (tour operator, cruise line, Destination Management Company, or similar)
- Demonstrated track record of prospecting and closing new accounts, not just managing existing relationships
- Deep familiarity with the Travel Advisor distribution channel: consortia (Virtuoso, Ensemble, Signature, Travel Leaders), host agencies (Fora, Nexion, Outside Agents), and independent agencies
- Self-starter who can build a territory from scratch with minimal day-to-day oversight, comfortable operating in ambiguity
- Strong presentation and communication skills, comfortable training a room of advisors or pitching a consortium executive
- Ability to travel up to 40%, including overnight stays and occasional domestic and international travel for company events
- Must have at least 4 years of relevant work experience or a 4-year degree
- Existing relationships with travel advisors, agency owners, or consortium contacts
- Experience with guided tour operators (escorted touring, river cruise, or similar product categories)
- Passion for travel and firsthand experience with international destinations
- Proficiency with salesforce
Benefits
- Commitment to professional growth: robust monthly calendar of trainings and workshops
- Four weeks paid vacation your first year, ten paid holidays, and two floating holidays
- Exciting business travel opportunities
- 25% company match on your 401(k) contributions
- Market-leading medical, dental and vision coverage, along with options for life and disability insurance, accident and hospital insurance, legal and pet insurance
- Dependent care, healthcare and commuter Flex Spending Accounts (FSAs)
- Access to fertility care and family-building support
- Wellness benefits including a yearly fitness reimbursement
- Frequent social and learning events, including access to our employee-run resource groups
- Robust Employee Assistance Program
- Tenure-based sabbatical eligibility
- EF Product Discounts (discounts on travel, international language schools, Au Pair program and more)
- Discounts at local venues and businesses
Company Overview