Strategy & Business Development Director at Kantar Nigeria

Kantar 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 30,000 people help the world’s leading organisations succeed and grow.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Strategy & Business Development Director

Reference No.: R036599
Location: Ikorodu, Lagos
Employment Type: Full time

Role Description
Draft and monitor strategic direction of the team, with specific focus on:

• Increasing our win rate
• Renewing existing business
• Filling the pipeline with ‘new’ business, including targeting business with competitors

General Responsibilities

• Set up and maintain centralised hub for business development documentation & information
• Set up and maintain central site for the wider business to access historical proposals & pitches
• Provide CS teams with templated proposals for quick-turn and core solutions, like Link, including keeping abreast of global proposal template updates to ensure relevancy
• Create standardised proposal inserts for common requirements
• Liaise with existing, lapsed and potential clients
• Upskill CS teams on proposal writing, including making use of WPP assets to set us apart
• Align with and keep Exco updated on BD activities

Win rate Focus:

• Pipeline process set up, develop associated documentation and oversee on-going
• Monthly reporting on win rate at team level, including analysis of reasons for losses
• Set up & oversee of weekly regional sales meetings to introduce and drive winning behaviour
• Select/ present proposals at weekly review committee to drive winning proposal writing
• Monitor and follow up with CS teams/ clients on proposals sent (i.e. make sure we close)
• Assist domain leads in driving their sales and platform adoption targets

New Business – on going / current:

• Maintain a broad knowledge of Kantar offers across domains in order to identify key stakeholders to feed in to proposals
• As the first line of site for client briefs and opportunities, identify and involve key stakeholders from the start
• Participate in brainstorms and allocate tasks to the right stakeholders to ensure best possible output
• Manage the ‘big pitch’ process and ensure that a proper timeline is in place from the outset and that it is adhered to by all
• Write / support the writing of proposals, including review of central question, business context and objective and commercial imperative
• Ensure proposals meet business priorities for automation, analytics/ non-survey data integration and strategic / integration workshops
• Together with costing and operations partners, cost research and advise on packaging of value-based price options
• Meet with and present proposals to clients (based on value)

New Business Opportunities:

• Remain close to new technologies and offers being developed globally in order to offer our clients latest thinking and cutting edge design
• Brainstorm/ review client plans across teams for up-sell and cross-sell opportunities, including driving and monitoring on-going actions
• Attend relevant industry forums and events for new business/ networking opportunities
• Monitor wins from previous years for renewal opportunities
• Align with client centricity pillar as an additional means to facilitate on-going client engagement and relationship maintenance pre and post commission of research
• Identify opportunities that sit with our competitors and actively chase them, using a planned strategy and pulling in the right experts & stakeholders to support

Role Requirements

• Ideally, 5 + years’ experience in client service, research or business development
• Sound ability to listen to clients, understand their business needs and persuasive selling skills in meetings and pitches
• Strong proposal writing skills
• Understanding of Kantar solutions and approaches
• Ability to write clear internal briefs that articulate the client’s key needs
• Engaging oral/written communication skills
• A self-starter able to go after client opportunities tenaciously
• Solid working knowledge of Microsoft Office (in particular, PowerPoint and Excel)
• Highly responsive, assertive, reliable, proactive and trustworthy
• Strong administrative skills.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.