SYSTEMS supplier Galileo is putting together a 10-strong sales team, including a telebusiness unit, to focus on new business development.
The new team will be headed up by sales development manager Mark Girling, an internal appointment from Galileo’s existing sales marketing team.
Staff will be recruited both internally and externally, and will be based at the company’s head office in Maidenhead, Berkshire. Girling is currently working on a new business development plan and will have his team in place by the end of August.
The plan was conceived by general manager for sales and marketing Peter Grover, who joined the company this year.
“I’ve realised we were very good at account management but we didn’t have a focus on new business selling. What’s happened in the past when a sales person wins new business is they spend time looking after the customer and no longer have time to look for new business,” he said. “The new team will be unencumbered by account management responsibilities. It is a way of reasserting Galileo as the number one global distribution system in the UK.”
The telebusiness unit, made up of four staff, will target small leisure and business agents, and will be the first point of contact for customers who phone in response to press adverts.
Sales activity will centre around recently launched products such as Viewpoint, a simplified front screen to the Galileo database that helps agents new to the industry make a booking by pointing and clicking.
The team will also sell Focalpoint to business travel agents. It is already in use by clients such as Carlson Wagonlit, to book cars, flights and hotels.
Grover will review the team’s progress later this year. “Around Christmas time we will take a look at how well they are performing – whether we need to add more staff to the telebusiness unit or get more staff on the road travelling out to agencies,” he said.