Business Development Manager, Kantar Marketplace at Kantar

Job ID: R041652
Location: Ikorodu Road, Lagos

Background

• Kantar, backed by Bain Capital, is the world’s leading data, insights and consulting company. We understand more about how people think, feel, shop, share, vote and view than anyone else. Combining our expertise in human understanding with advanced technologies, Kantar’s 25,000 people help the world’s leading organisations succeed and grow.
• Kantar Marketplace is an automated market research platform designed for insights professionals, marketers and agencies who want to test, learn and move faster. It is the only market research platform with solutions that have been independently validated to predict sales and brand growth. We are committed to helping our clients unlock powerful insights through our verified audiences, intuitive self-serve dashboards and expert consulting - in over 50 countries.
• The platform powers both a core storefront and portfolio of self-serve and serviced agile solutions (Kantar Marketplace), plus client-specific versions of the platform and portfolio (Kantar Marketplace Enterprise). These Enterprise versions of the platform sit on a spectrum from simple rebranding and adaptations of our core solutions to a bespoke configuration of the full platform with a mix of Kantar assets and solutions, plus client-specific solutions developed by Kantar.
• Our ‘audacious goal’ is that by 2022 Kantar Marketplace will be the leading automated research & insights platform, generating incremental revenues for Kantar in excess of $100M at industry leading profit margins.

Role Description

• An exciting and entrepreneurial opportunity to drive revenue and profit growth for Kantar Marketplace (KMP) in Nigeria.  
• The Business Development role will be responsible for driving the client penetration and revenue of Kantar Marketplace in close collaboration with Business Development and Client teams throughout Kantar.

Key Responsibilities

• Dedicated to driving sales the KMP platform, across all solutions available.
• Significantly grow Kantar Marketplace business in Nigeria, building long-term strategic relationships with existing and new customers.
• Collaborative seller, working closely with the Business Development teams, Domain Leads, Client Leads, Regional Leads and Practice areas across Kantar.  
• Create and execute against a business plan targeting based clients that would benefit from Kantar Marketplace’s unique platform.  
• Actively scope out new business opportunities through your established network, analysis of data, and existing knowledge of the market research landscape.
• Pitch the broader Kantar Marketplace vision and narrative articulating compelling value propositions around our offer.
• Lead client conversations and platform demonstrations on the transformative potential of Kantar Marketplace Platform focusing on unique selling propositions with a keen eye toward competitors.
• Work closely with Kantar Marketplace Client Support Team to regularly monitor and quickly follow-up with leads obtained through the Kantar Marketplace storefront and respond quickly to new business enquiries.
• Be accountable for revenue goals, managing the resources responsible for the business development process, from prospecting to qualification to closing, in order to generate new and existing sales revenue.
• Drive year over year growth across new and established clients.
• Provide weekly, quarterly and annual updates to the Managing Director, Insights and other stakeholders.
• Drive and employ a self-serve, platform based selling strategy
• Identify and drive Domain +1 opportunities
• Handle in-depth knowledge of products and technologies, competitors, and market conditions.
• Work within a matrix structure to harness the capabilities of the team including Domain and Solution experts to win.
• Work in close relationship with local Kantar Marketplace Champion whose role it is to drive the overall Kantar Marketplace vision in the market.

Key Outcomes:

• Achievement of revenue and profitability targets.
• Identify and drive Domain Plus 1 as well as increased sales of self-serve opportunities
• Strong pipeline of prospects for new and established clients for driving year over year growth.
• Build professional intimacy with clients to enable deep professional trusted advisor relationships, i.e. to the extent client partner is first port of call for strategic opinions and advice.

Role Requirements

• Possess a commercial mind set / business orientation along with gravitas, and relationship-building skills needed to build rapport and influence senior internal and external stakeholders.
• 5+ years’ experience selling technology-driven market research solutions across various client vertical, and ideally within one or more of Kantar’s areas of expertise (creative testing, media measurement, product innovation, brand tracking, etc.)
• Ability to establish strong cross-functional relationships; influence and inspire others; strategic thinking; effective presentation skills and organizational agility.
• Capacity to collaborate effectively with dispersed and multi-party teams & working within a matrix structure to harness capabilities of the team and craft a winning proposal/solution
• Proven ability to identify, build and secure strategic and profitable business relationships.
• Ability to interface directly with clients with good presentation skills and ability to command a presence with clients and team members.
• Proficiency selling technology, market research solutions or marketing technology across various client verticals and within one or more of our domain areas of expertise.
• A desire to win.
• Ability to work at a fast pace, true self-starter mentality.
• Strategic-thinker who systematically solves problems and hypothesizes possible customer pain points, expectations and implicit needs. Brainstorms with team members to devise solutions to solve complex deal challenges.
• Able to tailor communication to the customers need with authority; effectively delivers presentations and has strong verbal and written communications skills.
• Current client networking relationships/rolodex of contacts.
• Ability to identify the right customer stakeholders and builds rapport/establishes credibility to build consensus for deals.