Director of Business Development - Florida

Job Description

Job Description

Director of Business Development, Florida

Palm Beach, FL | Southern Marinas Regional Office

Reports to: SVP, Revenue Management

Status: Full time, in office in Palm Beach with regular travel to properties. Individual contributor, no direct reports

Properties covered: F3 Marina, San Marco, Harbor Town, and Stock Island

THE ROLE

Southern Marinas is hiring a Director of Business Development, Florida to run sales for our Florida properties from our Palm Beach office.

Every lead for every Florida property comes to you. You qualify it, sell that property, and stay on it until the contract is signed and payment clears. You are not on the dock, so you win by being faster than anyone else in the market and by building the broker, captain, dealer, and manufacturer relationships that send boats our way without a web form. And you are not selling a rectangle of water. You are selling the boating life: weekends with the family, the community on the dock, and the peace of mind that the boat is looked after. Sell it that way.

WHAT YOU WILL OWN Lead Conversion

• Work every inbound lead across all Florida properties from the website, phone, Dockwa, and trade referrals, and respond the same business day, every time
• Qualify on vessel specs, timing, and budget, and sell the property the customer is interested in
• Coordinate property tours with the GM and follow up immediately afterward
• Work the waitlist at each property as an active pipeline alongside the Dockmaster on vessel fit and timing
• Mine old and cold leads, past inquiries, and lost deals when slips or racks need backfilling
• Drive contracts to execution with each property's admin managers. A verbal yes is not a closed deal until it is signed and paid
• Log every lead, conversation, and next step in the CRM. Deals that are not in the CRM do not exist
Trade Relationships

This is the core of the job. Most of the best business in Florida never touches a web form.

• Build a working book of yacht brokers and dealers across South Florida and the Gulf Coast, and be the name they give a client who needs a slip
• Develop direct relationships with captains, who are frequently the one deciding where a boat ends up
• Build dealer and manufacturer relationships and use them to bring rendezvous, owner groups, and factory events to our properties
• Maintain a regular contact cadence, and track every relationship in the CRM with contact history and referral volume attributed back to the source
Transient at Stock Island
• Own transient at Stock Island as a repeat relationship business. Build a book of captains and owners who come back to Key West year after year
• Work the broker and dealer network for referrals into Key West
• Pursue tournament fleets, charter operators, and group arrivals that book multiple slips at once
Pricing and Promotions
• You have latitude to flex transient and short term pricing within approved guardrails to win the boat
• Get creative on annual dockage and dry storage. Build promotions that fill empty slips and racks: introductory rates, term commitments, move in incentives, and referral rewards
• Florida pricing is seasonal. Fill the shoulder and summer months without giving away peak inventory
• Bring proposed promotions to the SVP of Revenue Management with the math behind them, and document every negotiated rate in the CRM
Events and Boat Shows
• Represent the Florida properties at the Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale International Boat Shows, the Miami shows, and regional tournaments
• Plan and host on site events, rendezvous, dealer days, and owner groups, and own them end to end: concept, budget, vendors, promotion, execution, and follow up
• Every event and show produces a lead list, captured on site and loaded into the CRM before it closes out
• Report on attendance, leads captured, and deals sourced
Property Coordination
• Maintain an accurate picture of availability at every property, and confirm availability and vessel fit with the Dockmaster before committing to a customer
• Be on site regularly and build real working relationships with each GM, Dockmaster, and admin manager
• Report weekly on pipeline, lead volume by property, conversion rate, and closed won activity
TOOLS YOU WILL USE

HubSpot CRM, Sharper, Dockwa, SimpleTexting, and Microsoft 365. We are a technology forward operator and you will be expected to learn these systems quickly and use them daily.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR Required
• 3 plus years in a quota carrying sales or business development role with a record of hitting targets
• Strong closing instincts and comfort asking for the business over the phone and in person
• Proven ability to build and work a referral network
• Ability to run a pipeline across multiple locations without losing track of anything
• Highly organized and self directed
• Comfortable working weekends and evenings during peak season, boat shows, and events
• Valid driver license and willingness to travel throughout Florida regularly
Preferred
• Marine industry experience: marina, yacht brokerage, dealership, or marine services
• Existing broker, dealer, or captain relationships in Florida
• Prior CRM ownership experience, ideally HubSpot
• Working knowledge of both wet slip and dry storage products
• Boating background or hands on familiarity with vessels 25 to 80 feet
WORK ENVIRONMENT
• Office based in Palm Beach with regular travel to Florida properties
• Time on docks and in dry storage facilities in Florida heat and weather
• Ability to safely board vessels and lift up to 40 pounds
• Weekend and evening availability during peak season, boat shows, and events
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
• Competitive base salary of $90,000 depending on experience
• Uncapped commission tied to signed dockage and storage agreements, transient bookings, and event driven revenue
• On target earnings of $135,000 in year one, with top performers exceeding it
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, 401(k), and employee discounts on marina services

We pay for production. The more you close, the more you make, with no ceiling.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Southern Marinas is an owner operator of premier marina properties across the United States. We invest in our properties, our technology, and our people.

Southern Marinas is an equal opportunity employer.