Royal Collection Trust is a department of the Royal Household and the only one that undertakes its activities without recourse to public funds. It incorporates a charity regulated by the Charity Commission and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, the Royal Collection Trust, and its subsidiary trading company, Royal Collection Enterprises Limited. Royal Collection Trust is responsible for the management and financial administration of the public opening of Buckingham Palace (including The Queen’s Gallery, the Royal Mews and Clarence House), Windsor Castle (including Frogmore House) and the Palace of Holyroodhouse (including The Queen’s Gallery). The monies generated from admissions, and from associated commercial activities are invested in the care and conservation of the Royal Collection and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational activities.
The Ticketing and Sales section is responsible for the provision of an onsite, telephone and online bookings service for all Royal Collection Trust sites, selling over 3 million tickets per year to visitors and generating and an additional £1.6 million in gift aid charitable donations. The central Contact Centre deals with approximately 100,000 telephone calls per year and over 20,000 emails as well as providing ticketing services to a small number of external clients.
The post-holder is one of four Assistant Managers who supports the Ticketing and Sales Manager through the daily management of a central Contact Centre and London ticket counters. This role has responsibility for leading on the operational and transactional provision for Travel Trade, Group Specialist Sales and Access bookings at all sites operated by Royal Collection Trust. The post-holder will be responsible for ensuring the delivery of the best possible service to the public in line with the Ticketing and Sales Section Plan. The post-holder will maintain the primary relationship with internal colleagues in Learning who work on Adult Learning, Families, and Community and Access schemes. The post-holder will also be responsible for maintaining ongoing relationships with Account Managers from all of our trade partnerships.
Key responsibilities:
- To be responsible for the day-to-day operational relationships with our travel trade partners, who operate group and independent traveller visits to all three core sites. The role must ensure that there is an excellent provision for managing bookings, answering enquiries and supporting the solving of financial discrepancies.
- To oversee all areas ongoing administrative activities associated with group, specialist, and private tours, ensuring the best possible service in this area.
- To lead on best practice in relation to Access and Community bookings and to maintain an excellent standard of service provision, liaising with the Access and Community Managers to provide ticketing support for events at all sites.
- To manage the Specialist Sales inboxes (public facing and internal) which sees traffic of transactional and account correspondence for trade transactions and access bookings across all Royal Collection Trust sites.
- To be the main point of contact for the Trade Sales and Marketing Officer for trade and group ticketing support.
- To be the main point of contact for Visitor Services, Access, and Security Liaison in relation to specialist sales and access bookings and ensure all enquiries are handled in a timely manner.
- During the summer months recruit, train, and manage the Travel Trade and Specialist Sales Team (approx. 16 Ticket Sales and Information Assistants) to ensure a high quality of service provision.
- To oversee the booking provision for the Family and Adult Learning programme and be the primary point of contact for adult learning curators at all sites in relation to ticketed events.
- To work with the Ticketing Systems support team and the Ticketing Process Manager to oversee the “What’s On” set up and launch processes and to help prepare the team of assistants to sell these events.
- To develop and update existing training materials, as well as delivering training sessions to the team during three annual recruitment and induction cycles.
- To ensure the ticketing and sales online information portal is accurate and kept up to date.
- To assist with the management of daily operations for the central Contact Centre and London counters, responsible for delivering excellent sales results, outstanding customer service and high standards of presentation to agreed standards.
- To monitor sales and Gift Aid donations, and guidebook sales, ensuring that daily KPI targets for sales and service standards are met.
- To evaluate and challenge existing processes, where appropriate, and constantly seek new incentives and innovative methods to achieve business goals with a view to reducing costs and improving customer service.
- To perform staff management tasks including recruitment, coaching and mentoring, development, performance appraisals and discipline.
- To manage requests from staff for annual leave, ensuring agreed staffing levels are maintained.
- To undertake Duty Manager duties in the Contact Centre, including delivering a daily briefing, supporting the team on the telephones and completing a daily list of tasks.
- To deputise for the Ticketing and Sales Manager when required The Royal Household This document is not contractual and may be subject to change following consultation with the post-holder.
- To undertake any other tasks delegated by the Ticketing and Sales Manager or Ticketing Process Manager as and when required.
Key skills & experience:
Essential:
- Experience of working with the travel trade industry at a high-volume venue, preferably in ticketing.
- Experience of managing, leading and motivating a team in a target-driven customer service environment.
- A demonstrable track record of achieving sales and service targets.
- A hands-on approach and the ability to lead by example.
- The ability to communicate confidently and clearly with excellent persuasion and influencing skills.
- Strong IT capability and confidence using various computer programmes and systems.
- Exceptional organisational skills and the ability to manage a varied workload and work well under pressure.
- A flexible and enthusiastic approach to work, able to work independently and as part of a team.
Desirable:
- Experience of working in contact centre sales environment.
- Experience of working with Adult Learning programmes in a heritage or museum environment.
- Experience of specialist access and mobility provision in a heritage or museum environment.
How to apply: please click here to apply for the position.
About Royal Collection Trust: Royal Collection Trust manages the public opening of the Official Residences of Her Majesty The Queen and the official London residence of The Prince of Wales: Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Frogmore House and Clarence House, as well as the Royal Mews and The Queen’s Galleries in London and Edinburgh. A variety of Special Visits, Private Tours and themed exhibitions are available for individual and group visitors throughout the year.
