Business Development Associate

at  Manulife

The Guaranteed Wealth Solutions sales team is looking for an energetic, motivated, and focused team member. If you want to be part of a team at the center of sales activities, that constantly challenges you, and provides an opportunity to impact our advisor partners and clients, this role is for you!
As part of the Manulife Retail Distribution sales team, the Business Development Associate supports members of a Guaranteed Investments sales team that includes both external wholesalers (DVPs) and internal wholesalers (BDMs). You will partner with the sales team to achieve sales targets by understanding the sales needs of each of your territories, participate in business development initiatives, and work directly with the wholesalers as a team. This opportunity offers a long-term professional career path for selected candidates including moving into a sales role as a BDM or finding opportunities internally with our Marketing, Product Management, Insurance and Banking teams.
A basic knowledge of retail wealth products, such as Segregated Funds, Guaranteed Interest Accounts and Annuities will provide you with a high probability of success in this role.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Post-secondary education is required
• Strong written and verbal communication is required (English/French or English/Mandarin)
• Strong PC skills and the ability to learn new technologies quickly. Experience using Microsoft Office, specifically, Word and Excel to produce reports for sales analysis (Pivot Tables and V Look Ups)
• Strong time management skills and the ability to prioritize

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience in banking or financial planning is an asset
• Takes initiative, is a positive influence and thrives in a fast-paced work environment – a fast learner and self-starter
• Flexible and adaptable to change, including changing priorities and tight deadlines
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills; ability to investigate problems without supervision
• Canadian Securities Course (CSC) or IFIC course is considered an asset
• Experience in segregated funds business or brokerage/financial planning industry is an asset
• Enjoys event planning

Marketing and Sales Support

• Coordinate and promptly distribute advisor marketing material requests, event sponsorships and charitable donations that adhere to Manulife’s policies
• Create mailing groups that target market segments to promote specific funds or product features
• Act as your team’s reporting specialist by running ad hoc reports from SalesForce.com or Power BI for territory sales analysis
• Participate in the development, monitoring and execution of the Territory Business Plan, including monitoring the wholesaler’s budgets and proactively identifying potential overages
• Act as a conduit to all sales and marketing activities to ensure maximum impact in the sales territory
• Collaborate with various departments (i.e., Compliance, Client Services, Marketing, Events, Product team) when needed

Utilize and Leverage Technology

• Understand and become proficient in the Marketing Cloud mass email application and SalesForce.com
• Utilize Salesforce to manage email distribution lists, run tracking reports to analyze open rates and click rates and organize and execute e-marketing campaigns on behalf of territories
• Adhere to Canada Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) when sending e-marketing campaigns (e-blasts)
• Create e-marketing campaigns and create templates to support your territory calls and in-person events
• Understand and become proficient in PowerBI to leverage reporting and sales opportunities from this tool, including SmartList.

Advisor Meetings/Small Events

• Coordinate regular team meetings with yourself, the BDM and DVP
• Request access to Portfolio Managers, Capital Markets and the Tax & Estate Planning Services team and prepare a briefing document to notify the speaker(s) of the advisor audience
• Assist your wholesaling teams in planning and executing educational, business promotional and industry professional events/activities (i.e. branch meetings, webinars, lunch or dinner meeting, etc.)
• Take ownership of the event planning including the booking the venue, choosing the menu (if applicable), creating and deploying the invite and follow-up, managing RSVPs, paying the vendors, tagging the advisors through Salesforce, remaining within budget, etc.
• Book local restaurants to support advisor meetings
• Source and distribute marketing materials and promotional items to advisors (as requested)
• You will be required to occasionally travel for training, meetings and potentially to execute certain territory events
• The above accountabilities may change slightly with or without notice to best support the sales team