Senior Sales Consultant

Senior Travel Expert – Tidworth and Edinburgh Vacancies

The team at Aardvark Safaris plan tailored safari and beach holidays for our clients, and many return to us year after year, with much of our business coming via word-of-mouth recommendations.

As an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), we secure our future as an independent specialist, free to provide the honest, unbiased advice our clients expect. For our team, it means a workplace where every voice matters and everyone shares in our continued growth and success.

Our Mission Statement

Aardvark Safaris is dedicated to creating bespoke holidays to Africa and the Indian Ocean. We listen to every request, and through our unrivalled team of seasoned travel experts, we create inspiring journeys that will exceed your expectations. We operate within ethical guidelines, ensuring the people and wildlife of Africa benefit directly.

Why work with Aardvark Safaris?

We believe real luxury on safari is having a charismatic, knowledgeable guide and access to private areas, which we achieve by utilising our ‘black book’ of contacts and in-depth knowledge from decades of experience in the safari industry. We have an indisputably excellent reputation in Africa that will reassure you as you travel. Our mission is to design your perfect holiday, ensuring a seamless process from start to finish.

We are proud of our dedicated and knowledgeable team, and all our staff are encouraged to contribute to life here at Aardvark Safaris. We firmly believe that the more fulfilled people are, the better their work will be. The atmosphere in the office is creative, varied, fun and challenging, as well as business-like and focused. Though we work hard, we have a good time together too, with various team days out and an opportunity to share a laugh together.

Successful candidates are offered competitive packages and training to learn all the necessary skills, whether in the sales or administrative side of the business. The culture in all our offices is characterised by the staff who work there, and we’re always keen to employ a diverse range of people to further enhance this.

Job outline:

As a senior travel expert, you will design tailor-made holidays to Africa and the Indian Ocean islands to the highest level of detail. You will work as part of a team, alongside other sales consultants and will be assisted by sales support staff.

You should pride yourself on delivering holidays that perfectly meet your client’s wishes and requests. This is a varied, busy and exciting role, where no two days in the office, or holidays we design, are the same. You will need to work to a high degree of accuracy and have a keen eye for detail.

Responsibilities will include:

Liaising with clients face to face, on the telephone and by email.
Delivering perfect holiday itineraries that hold a wow factor through talking to suppliers on the ground in Africa and consulting with others is the sales team.
Looking after clients on their return from holiday.
Attending shows during the summer (normally two weekends a year).
Assisting with marketing material, newsletter pieces and blog writing.
Assisting with social media.
Travel to Africa (twice a year on average) to assess all products and writing full reports for internal and external use.
Continuing excellent relationships with our airlines, lodges and suppliers on the ground in each country.
Taking on new challenges in new countries and maybe to a new audience.

Useful skills:

Three years recent sales experience in African travel products.
Must be able to hit the ground running and work under their own initiative.
A creative mind to think outside the box and exceed clients’ expectations.
Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
Mathematically literate.
A keen interest in Africa, the areas and lodges in the 19 countries that we sell.
A drive to work to team targets with a proactive, can do attitude.
Versatile nature to adapt to varying situations.
Must be a team player willing to help others and accept help where appropriate.
The successful candidate must show they are organised, can work under pressure and manage confidential information.

Important details:

Full time position with a minimum of 4 days in the office.
Working hours 9.00am – 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.
Competitive salary based on experience.
28 days holiday including bank holidays, rising a day per year worked to a maximum of 33.