THE AGEAS BOWL
Head of Sales & Marketing
JOB DESCRIPTION
Candidate Briefing Document
THE AGEAS BOWL – HEAD OF SALES & MARKETING
Background:
The earliest records of the game of cricket go back over 250 years and refer to matches played in and
around the village of Hambledon. It can therefore be reasonably claimed that the game originated in
Hampshire.
Hampshire Cricket was formed in 1863 and joined the fledgling County Championship in 1895.
Despite the addition of inspirational figures such as Phil Mead and Lord Tennyson in the early 20th
Century, honours eluded the Club.
After the Second World War, Desmond Eager joined forces with the President, Harry Altham, to
transform the Club on and off the field. This culminated in Hampshire’s first County Championship, in
1961, under the inspirational leadership of Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie and with major contributions from
the legendary Derek Shackleton and the first of many great West Indians to feature for the Club, Roy
Marshall.
There was another title in 1973 under Richard Gilliat which featured two of the finest overseas players
ever to feature in County Cricket, Barry Richards and Gordon Greenidge. Since then, Hampshire has
not repeated this feat although, under Shane Warne’s inspirational leadership, the team missed out by
the narrowest of margins in 2005. However, in the 80’s and 90’s, the Club enjoyed repeated success
in limited overs cricket with a team astutely led by Mark Nicholas and featuring Hampshire favourite,
Robin Smith, and arguably the finest seam bowler of all time, Malcolm Marshall.
Throughout the 1990s, Hampshire Cricket acknowledged that its old ground and pavilion at Northlands
Road were unsuitable for the twenty-first century and a new ground was conceived and created in a
West End field. Although this project created significant financial difficulties at the time, it led to the
transformation of the Club into a properly-constituted company (plc) in 2001 and, under the guidance
of visionary Chairman, Rod Bransgrove, resulted in a magnificent International stadium which hosts
both Test Match and One Day International cricket as well as other events.
Hampshire Cricket Ltd has assumed a high profile at its new home and has enhanced the original
Club’s excellent record in limited overs cricket, winning the Cheltenham & Gloucester Cup in 2005 and
2009 and taking the Twenty20 Trophy twice in the past three years. The Club has also encouraged
some of the game’s biggest names to its ranks with Shane Warne, Kevin Pietersen, Shane Watson,
Wasim Akram, Shahid Afridi, Michael Clarke and many others appearing at the new headquarters of
Hampshire cricket. In addition, Hampshire has been more effective than ever in producing high quality
players who achieve International honours; Shaun Udal, Chris Tremlett, Dimitri Mascarenhas and
Danny Briggs are all products of the Hampshire development process who have gone on to represent
England. In addition, players like Michael Carberry and John Crawley have joined Hampshire from
elsewhere and ignited or reignited their England careers.
Having entered into significant financial arrangements with Eastleigh Borough Council in 2012, the last
phase of the ground developments is under way and the Company’s financial standing has been
further enhanced by its naming rights partnership with Ageas plc, one of the Country’s leading
insurance providers. The Ageas Bowl is now firmly established as a major International venue as well
as being home to one of the finest professional cricket clubs in the Country.
The Role:
The role of Head of Sales & Marketing is absolutely fundamental to the continued success of the
business and the successful candidate will be an integral part of the company's management team
working closely with the Chairman and Chief Executive and contributing strongly to strategic plans.
Key Overall Responsibilities:
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Reporting directly to the operating board, the Head of Sales & Marketing will lead the
commercial department, enabling The Ageas Bowl to deliver record sales and profit.
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Responsible for improving all Commercial revenue streams from Ticketing to Non Match Day
sales and for managing & motivating the team of professionals working in these areas.
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Responsible for development of Catering and Banqueting options including corporate
hospitality.
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Establish a new portfolio of sponsors and negotiate long term profitable agreements.
Breakdown of Key Responsibilities:
There are likely to be 3 broad priorities for the new Head of Sales and Marketing:
1. Improving performance from the existing sales and marketing team.
2. Maximizing and developing existing revenue streams.
3. Driving new revenue streams.
1. Improving Performance from Existing Sales and Marketing Team:
Key Tasks:
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Building relationships with current team members: mentoring, challenging, directing,
supporting, target setting.
Providing leadership and strategic direction to Sales and Marketing Team.
Skills required:
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A proven manager who can demonstrate success of leading a sales team and developing
team members.
Well motivated, well organized, fully-committed and positive.
A skilful communicator who can energize others with their vision for the future.
A team player who enjoys the success of others and can delegate.
An individual with the self confidence to take tough decisions but with the self awareness to
seek advice and counsel where appropriate.
2. Maximizing and Developing Existing Commercial Revenue Streams
Key Tasks:
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Ensuring sales targets are established, hit and then exceeded.
Assisting with the selling of relevant inventory where appropriate.
Transition of key accounts and relationships with key partners.
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Understanding, analyzing and improving performance in existing revenue streams: improving
numbers of members, ticket sales, hospitality, banqueting, conference and events.
Skills required:
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Experience of managing key accounts and developing and broadening relationships with a
number of people at different levels within that account.
An ability to analyze performance and statistical information to assess success of initiatives,
benchmarking them where appropriate.
Ability to engage variety of stakeholders including the Board(s), shareholders, existing
members, committee, corporates (both within Hampshire but also nationally), council,
education and sporting bodies.
An ability to process substantial amounts of information quickly.
Flexibility of thought process and to incorporate best practice from elsewhere (other counties
or sports) when appropriate.
3. Developing New Revenue Streams:
Key areas:
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Recruiting new commercial partners.
Upgrading existing commercial partnerships.
Broadening and developing relationships with clubs across Hampshire.
Establishing other standard non match day revenue sources such as concerts, weddings and
events.
Generating new ideas via analysis of best practice from other counties and sports and input
from Chairman, CEO and key other personnel either on board, committee or with other ties to
Hampshire Cricket.
Engaging former and present players as well as other celebrities with interest in Hampshire
Cricket to help promote campaigns and initiatives, leading projects where appropriate.
Developing and enhancing relationship with Hampshire Cricket Board to mutual benefit.
Skills required:
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Sales focused and target driven.
Ability to show leadership by example.
Strong networking skills: using expertise and contacts of key personnel at club or associated
with The Ageas Bowl.
Resilience, commitment high energy levels and optimism in a difficult economic climate.
Creativity to construct attractive partnership opportunities.
An ability to project manage a number of different assignments at the same time.
Gravitas to build relationships at a senior level.
Confidence to build relationships with past players and to work with current squad and
coaching staff to ensure effective player engagement with commercial programme.
Salary
Further details of the remuneration package are available on request.
Application
To apply, please send an updated CV with a supporting cover letter including your full current
remuneration package and notice period to Jim Chaplin at Sports Recruitment International. Contact
details below.
For a confidential discussion about the role, please contact:
Jim Chaplin
jc@sportsrecruitment.com
0207 092 6969
07827 828 874