Pursuit Manager

Company Description:

Merkle is a leading technology-enabled, data-driven customer experience management (CXM) company. For over 30 years, Fortune 1,000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with us to build and maximize the value of their customer portfolios. We work with world-class brands to build and execute customer-centric business strategies. With more than 12,000 smart, dedicated people in more than 50 offices around the world, we are still growing at a rate that outpaces the market, with 2019 net revenue of $1.1 billion.

Job Description:

The Role

A Pursuit Manager manages an operational sales process for new business opportunities across dentsu Merkle/CXM brands. They are responsible for understanding Merkle's sales platform and managing and coordinating multi-solution, multi-agency, and multi-channel marketing RFIs, RFPs, and presentation development processes, in alignment with the platform's stages. These processes include engaging and managing new business pitch teams and resources of all levels, creating robust project plans and timelines, gathering and creating appropriate content for proposal use, serving as a conduit for partner and alliance agencies, and driving the established project plan to execute and produce high-quality, winning documents on time and to the specifications of our prospects and clients.

Key Responsibilities

• Working directly with sales leaders, solution leads, delivery centers, marketing, finance, legal, creative design, and editorial teams to fulfill requests for identified pursuits.
• Assuming ownership of the pursuit process from the moment of assignment until completion
• Managing the new business response process from kickoff to submission may include tasks such as:
  • Compiling of content from past documents
  • Scheduling team and opportunity meetings/cadence
  • Keeping meeting notes and action items
  • Owning all project housekeeping
  • Coordinating research with the Research team
  • Editing content for proposal use
  • Record management during the RFP process in Salesforce.com
  • Utilizing Microsoft Teams as a project management tool
  • Maintaining repository of RFP responses and reusable content
  • Ensuring sales platform best practices are followed
  • Managing the printing and/or production of RFPs & presentation materials as needed
  • Ideation and coordination for pitch theater
  • Performing document formatting and clean up (PowerPoint, Excel, Word)
  • Coordinating with editorial and design teams and scheduling time with them as needed
  • Serving as the final content reviewer for grammar and design checks
  • Other duties as needed
• Creating, enforcing, and publishing new business project plans, RACIs, and timelines when responding to RFIs, RFPs, and presentations to prospective clients
• Driving and providing directional and strategic oversight to pitch/resource teams, while executing timelines
• Serving as a conduit between pitch/resource teams and our internal departments, strategic partners, alliance partners, content analysts, and research teams

Qualifications:

• Minimum 5-7 years of project management experience
• 2 years working in digital marketing, media or ad-tech industries
• Minimum of 10 years overall work experience
• Ability to work on 4-6 projects at a time in various stages of the sales process
• Must have marketing agency sales ecosystem experience
• Must be prepared to bring calm to chaos by aligning team members from different agencies with different processes to reach a common goal
• Must be comfortable working independently and proactively. Must be prepared to dig deep and ask questions to ascertain complete direction
• Must have a customer service mindset
• Ability to manage upward confidently and cleverly
• Must demonstrate credibility and reliability to garner the trust of executive leadership and subject matter experts
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills - ability to speak up confidently and with authority - in other words, a driver!
• Understanding of new business processes and best practices
• Expert in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint
• Excellence in Excel
• Experience in Microsoft Teams is a strong plus
• Proficiency with Salesforce.com
• Proficiency with Project Management tools and concepts
• Excellence in proofreading, formatting, and editorial skills
• A team player with an outstanding ability to work with people at all levels, including senior executives, with a demonstrated ability to take ownership and influence others through a strong presence, thoughtful challenges, and use of sound judgment
• Strong interpersonal and political skills, including aptitude for building relationships, understanding team dynamics, taking initiative, and solving problems
• Determination to follow through on all projects no matter the obstacles presented. The ability to trouble shoot and come up with alternative plans to reach a desired outcome in the face of adversity
• A problem solver and service-oriented individual who is always willing to pitch in and help an associate with any complication, be it by providing a solution or an introduction to an expert

Additional Information:

Anticipated Salary Range: $68,000.00 - $110,400.00

Salary is based on a range of factors that include relevant experience, knowledge, skills, other job-related qualifications, and geography. A range of medical, dental, vision, 401(k) matching, paid time off, and/or other benefits also are available. For more information regarding dentsu benefits, please visit dentsubenefitsplus.com.

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About dentsu

Dentsu is the network designed for what's next, helping clients predict and plan for disruptive future opportunities in the sustainable economy. Taking a people-centered approach to business transformation, dentsu combines Japanese innovation with a diverse, global perspective to drive client growth and to shape society www.dentsu.com.

We are champions for meaningful progress and we strive to be a force for good-for our people, for our clients, for the industry and for our society. We keep our people at the center, creating space for growth, understanding and learning so they can thrive. We embed diversity, in our mindset, in our solutions and in our teams to empower an inclusive, equitable and culturally fluent environment. Building this culture within our teams makes us better collaborators with each other and with our clients, driving better outcomes for all.

Dentsu (the "Company") is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee of the Company, on the basis of age, sex, sexual orientation, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage or citizenship, disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other legally-recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances. Applicants with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodation under the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act and/or certain state or local laws. A reasonable accommodation is a change in the way things are normally done that will ensure an equal employment opportunity without imposing an undue hardship on the Company. Please contact your recruiter if you need assistance completing any forms or to otherwise participate in the application process or to request or discuss an accommodation in connection with a job at the Company to which you are applying.