What are the responsibilities and job description for the Director of Sales - NCAA Conference Sales - Northeast position at Van Wagner?
About Van Wagner
We are a leading full-service sports and entertainment firm. We work with the world’s top professional and college teams, leagues, brands, and properties, providing deep expertise in sales, marketing, content creation, activation, and consulting.
Van Wagner has been connecting brands to sports for over twenty-five years. When we first entered the sports landscape, we used our creativity and expertise to develop unique signage in live sporting events and marketing opportunities for brands to reach sports fans through our Dorna division, including home plate signage in MLB, courtside signage in the NBA and NCAA, and the Allstate college football field goal net program. Our world-class Productions division creates the best in-venue fan experiences for 9 of the world’s top 10 sporting events, including the Super Bowl, Olympic Games, Kentucky Derby, CFP and Final Four among others.
About Van Wagner College
Van Wagner’s College division is the fastest growing company in the industry and now manages the corporate sponsorship and multimedia rights for over 50 NCAA athletic departments and conferences spanning the entire continental United States. We work with our partners to identify and create advertising, marketing, and promotional opportunities for sponsor businesses, across mediums including TV & Radio broadcast, websites, social media, digital and fixed signage, print media, e-newsletters, fan experiences, event activations, and much more.
About the Director of Sales Role
This Director of Sales role supports the sales team working with our college conference partners, events, and related associations. A primary focus of this position will be assisting in sales and related fulfillment/management duties for our partnerships with the America East, Hockey East, and Metro Conferences and the Cape Cod Baseball League. We’re looking for entrepreneurial self-starters who are driven, team-oriented, never shy away from a challenge, and have a can-do attitude to join our fast-growing team. This is a great opportunity to grow a career in sports marketing.
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- As a representative of Van Wagner’s NCAA conference partners, you will develop and maintain strong working relationships with local, regional, and national businesses, with a particular focus on building trusted partnerships with the applicable conference offices.
- Work with existing sponsor businesses to grow and extend their partnerships with the applicable conferences
- Prospecting, scheduling, and conducting initial discovery meetings with new businesses that would benefit from associating with the applicable conferences
- Ideation and collaboration with the Assistant Vice President to shape what partnerships between new businesses and the applicable conferences can look like
- Prepare and present top-notch PowerPoint proposals to new businesses that thoughtfully tell the story of what the partnerships can look like
- Negotiate with new businesses to secure new sponsors
- Draft and coordinate agreements, managing all relevant information in our division-wide database
- Assist in the fulfillment of the terms of agreements that provide advertising, marketing, and promotional benefits to sponsor businesses. This can include platforms such as TV & Radio broadcasts, websites, social media, digital and fixed signage, print media, e-newsletters, fan experiences, event activations, and much more.
- Collaborate with the Assistant Vice President and other team members at Championships for sponsor activations as well as the entertainment of current or prospective sponsors
- Capture proof of performance examples and provide fulfillment summaries to share with current sponsors
- Update new business development activities in the CRM system (currently Salesforce)
- Job will require regional travel via automobile and/or airplane to attend sales meetings & conference events
What We’re Looking For:
- Ideally, some experience working in marketing, advertising, sales, or events
- Ability to work flexible hours, including some evenings, weekends, and on rare occasions, holidays. (Don’t worry, we make up for it with time off and remote/hybrid scheduling at other times of the year!)
- Great interpersonal communication skills
- A willingness to talk to people you have never met before
- Great listener who can appreciate the needs of different organizations and can suggest relevant ideas for how those organizations can partner
- Demonstrated professionalism
- Energetic and self-motivated attitude
- Competitive response to challenges (A “Bring it on!” attitude)
- Hard work and persistence
- Comfort with being uncomfortable (this is how we grow!)
- Coachability
- Strong organizational skills
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office, especially PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.
- Proficient with Social Media platforms (X, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook)
- CRM experience
- Must have a clean driving record
Why Van Wagner May Be Right For You:
- An unmatched culture within our organization that focuses on building trust with our team members, sponsor businesses, schools, and conference partners through a people-first approach that delivers business results
- Competitive salary, with bonuses and commissions based on performance (with no cap!)
- Outstanding benefits package (including medical, dental, vision, life insurance)
- 401k
- Opportunity to compete in sales contests with cool prizes (i.e., trips to the Final Four or CFP Championship Game)
- Ongoing professional development training
We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital or veteran status, or any other protected class.