Richard Connell Email & Phone Number

United Arab Emirates

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Dubai

Technology solutions for the construction and fitout industry, building the offices of the future in the GCCStructured cabling, CCTV, access control, AV&VC solutions for projects & upgrades for offices, meeting rooms and boardrooms, Wifi Networks, IT & AV maintenance contracts, IT outsourcing for SME's and backup IT support for Fortune 500 companies. Digital display systems, immersive AV collaboration systems, communication tools.Managed Services & IT Outsourcing.

Cape Town

Expanding our footprint in this market

South Africa

- Create a brand new sales team from zero for Romatex Home Textiles focusing on the South African & Sub Saharan African Hospitality markets through cold calling, market research and new business meetings & presentations.- Build a client base from zero. - Successfully recruit and build a national sales team from zero in order to further facilitate this. - Extensive local travel to conduct client site visits as well as attend overseas trade shows such as Hotel Show Africa and Hotel Show Dubai as well a Hospitality Real Estate Shows in Kenya. - Attend & execute local trade shows and events such as Hostex.- Adjusting value propositions to cater for this sector. - Drive sales and facilitate IT upgrades whilst managing the team and seeking new opportunities. - Develop relationships with other industry partners such as Sanlam Top Destination Awards & FEDHASA. - Reporting direct to CEO. We are pleased to enjoy the support of well over 250 new hospitality customers including some international 'blue chip brands' both in South Africa and abroad with deliveries to over 300 sites nationally and internationally from Cape Town to Komatipoort, and Malawi to the Seychelles. At the end of my contract with Romatex I had 4 sales staff reporting directly to me who I recruited personally, as well as a planning assistant, factory planner, and the team collectively generated over 15 full time jobs to keep up with production.

Cape Town Area, South Africa

As a member of the business my main duty is to generate and supervise import sales into SA retailers and manufacturers.This position included managing import sales and all aspects of the ocean shipping process, lead generation, pricing, product development, sales, local delivery, distribution and continued after-sales support. My client base included major SA retailers & converters and my supplier base some of the most reputable textile mills in Pakistan, where I was also required to travel and still maintain many contacts.During my time at RC&A I was required to attend Heimtex in Frankfurt on 3 occasions, as well as host supplier meetings in Dubai, Pakistan and locally in South Africa.Left due to bigger opportunities in the corporate world.

London, United Kingdom

- Identifying and developing new business opportunities for Foxtons through market research, cold calling, and a deep understanding of a vast range of industries. - Generating lettings applicants from my corporate accounts and assisting our estate agents in closing deals.- Meeting with clients and presenting the Foxtons offering to them in detail. - Negotiating rental agreements with corporate clients on a business to business basis.- Managing existing accounts on a daily basis.- Maximising revenue from these accounts whilst actively supervising after-sales performance and maintenance. - Liaising with the Foxtons Property Management dept to ensure repeat business through prompt problem solving.- Educating new starters and other departments on the relevance and workings of the corporate department including frequent presentations to Foxtons high street offices. - Working as part of a dynamic, driven, target orientated team of people.Some of the clients I have worked with include top Management Consultancy Firms, Law Firms, BPO companies, Oil Companies, Mining Companies, Construction Firms, Embassies and Relocation Agents.

- Identifying and developing new business opportunities for Foxtons.- Assiting Account managers in the booking of New Business Meetings- Obtaining as much exposure for Foxtons corporate lettings and short lettings as possible.- Building my own client base in order to be eligible for promotion via cold calling and business to business sales.

Focusing on the massive School Ski Holiday industry my job was to maximise school sales in the London Area.This was achieved mainly by presentations to staff at London Schools, face to face meetings and hosting events at private venues where I would give presentations to the relevant parties about the Crystal Ski product as a whole.This job also included trips to Europe where I would accompany some of my school groups, and carry out the necessary risk assessment checks on the various activities I had booked for my groups. As well as supporting the head of the group and hosting 'educational' trips for staff to attend in our European hotels. Booking sizes were anything from 20 - 80 kids between 10 - 13 years of age. I have accompanied groups to both Canada and all over France. This job also consisted of dealing with medical emergencies and day to day changes to the itinerary.

This position at TUI UK meant that I would now deal with and manage UK Travel Agent and Aggregator accounts.During this period time one of my functions was to negotiate commission reductions payable to UK Travel Agents and Aggregators and I was tasked with chairing management meetings to discuss and close such matters.A big part of this role was to spread awareness of the Crystal Holidays brand amongst UK travel agents so I would spend significant time on the road calling on travel agencies and being the face of the brand, as well as pushing stressed Crystal stock in specific airport catchment areas.One of my roles was to host travel agent educational trips, and I have put together and hosted trips to the USA, France, Switzerland and Austria where my aim was to allow the top performing agents to experience a Crystal Holiday first hand thus increasing their desire to sell our product. In January 2006 I was sent to Newcastle to manage a team of 14 Telesales agents. Due to massive call volumes from direct customers and travel agents alike our Kingston Upon Thames call centre could not handle the volume. This additional volume was outsourced to another TUI group company and my job was to:- Manage the team on a daily basis and allocate and adjust roster times.- Liaise with the Telecoms department in Kingston to adjust call volumes routed to us on almost an hourly basis. As well to receive call data. - Monitor lost, and answered call numbers and report conversion stats on a daily basis to my Sales Manager.- Deal with and rectify mistakes made by my team, as well as taking over some bookings due to their complex nature.Yet another part of this role was to assist travel agents with complex holiday bookings that they were not able to perform themselves.

June 2004 to June 2005My role here was to answer telephone calls from direct customers and travel agents alike and book holidays. I was transferred quickly to the Custom Made holidays team, where my role remained the same but received great experience from the manager at the time. Within a few months I was off to Switzerland on my first educational trip lead by the then Product Manager.

Somerset West Area, South Africa

This was my first full time job out of school. I worked at Cash Converters for 2 years, learning people skills, sales skills, and the art of matching requirement to requirement. It was a great place to work, and I was also given the opportunity to work as a buyer which lasted for 4 months or so before moving back to the sales floor. My key responsibilities included:Sales Person: - Preparing the sales floor for business Mon - Sunday 08:00 - 17:30 - Assisting customers in selecting a wide array of goods ranging from electronics to gardening equipment. - Making sales to these customers, knowing and understanding the various product guarantee options available, and testing goods for use before sale. - Assisting with stock taking. - Assisting with banking.Buyer:- Purchasing new and used goods from the public in order to maintain stock levels.- Negotiating purchases with perspective clients. - Influencing and persuading.- Meeting daily purchase targets in order to ensure adequate stock levels. I left Cash Converters late 2003 to travel to the USA to experience working abroad in a ski resort.