CRYSTAL COOK

Australia wide specialist recruitment agency servicing the mining, construction and manufacturing sectors.

• Developed and maintained strong working relationships with professionals within assigned industry and territory.
• Identified new business opportunities through cold calling, networking, marketing and prospective database leads.
• Met with new and existing clients to review current services to discuss and ascertain needs, objective handling, tailor solutions and expand sales opportunities for business growth.
• Identified business development challenges and customer concerns for objective handling and proactive resolution.
• Negotiated prices, terms of sales and service agreements
• Monitored service after sale and implemented quick and effective problem resolutions.
• Maintained current knowledge of evolving changes in marketplace..
• Contributed to industry events and trade shows to showcase products and gather industry intelligence.

• Conducted phone, video call, and face to face interviews to assess applicants relevant knowledge, skills, experience and aptitudes.
• Built strong relationships with internal and external candidates to ensure an excellent hiring experience.
• Collaborated with internal teams to continuously improve recruitment processes and execute as efficiently as possible.
• Achieved staffing objectives through strategic and tactical planning, program management expertise and knowledge of effective recruitment, interviewing and training procedures.
• Customised wording of job profiles, social media techniques and website subscriptions.
• Developed comprehensive process for new hires and reviewed new hire productivity, optimising onboarding effectiveness.
• Recruited top talent to maximise profitability.
• Consistently meeting and exceed individual KPIs, with monthly placements exceeding 4x expectations and achieving record $200k+ in GP within the first 12 months of employment.

Australia’s leading travel operator for major conferences, incentives, adhoc and tour series groups and sporting events trading as the Grand Prix Travel Office, Cricket Australia Travel Office and AFL Travel Event Office.

• Liaise with International clients and partners to create, quote, secure, invoice, operate and execute bespoke programs including travel and events within Australia for groups and FIT travellers of all levels from USA, UK and European Markets
• Complete ownership of key client accounts including sales, planning, operations and accounting responsibilities, with ability to maintain existing client relationships, increase sales, create unique programs for presentation to clients whilst operating programs during travel within Australia simultaneously
• Responsible for increase in sales with new and existing clients in the Leisure, Major Conferences, Incentives and Sporting Event Sectors
• Manage, Operate and Expand on Tour Series Accounts from the USA, the United Kingdom and Europe
• Maintain relationships with key clients whilst continuing to secure new business and operate touring programs
• Strong negotiation skills with clients and suppliers to negotiate rates, products and terms & conditions
• Represent the company internationally and domestically by attending trade shows, visiting key clients based in the USA, and by creating programs and escort clients on familiarization and educations trips within Australia
• Responsible for the hiring and training of new employees to handle continuous business growth.
• Managed inventory and supply chain operations to achieve timely and accurate delivery of goods and services.
• Developed and maintained relationships with external vendors and suppliers, and negotiated rates to ensure successful retention and growth of profit margins and sustainability for return business with key client accounts and business.

Global Tour Operator for the Cosmos, Globus, Avalon Waterways, and Monograms brands.

• Responsible for product and brand awareness including training of new and existing staff on all levels across Australia & New Zealand of company brands, destinations, target markets, partnerships, marketplace competitors via various means including one-on-one training to group presentations
• Attend and provide presentations of products at Travel Expo’s and Information Nights to the General Public and supporting retail agents to achieve increased sales and brand awareness
• Content Management of company websites for Australian and New Zealand markets including product tour loading, promotional landing page creation and management, e-brochures, Carousels, Spotlights and video uploads, content writing, and general day-to-day management to maintain validity
• Responsible for brochure content and proofing from draft 1 to final print stage prior to annual launch date deadlines
• Working with precise attention to detail whilst meeting strict deadlines under pressure
• Creating and maintaining relationships with industry partners and providing product and marketing support including exclusive promotional offers and collateral (copy for print media, online eDMs, flyers etc) of product to increase sale numbers per brand and supply analysis on promotional activity predictions and outcomes whilst sticking to budgets.
• Planned, implemented, and tracked sales and marketing strategies to promote brand products.

• Representing the company in a professional aspect to a range of clients including direct passengers, on-sellers, internal and external staff including upper management and in Legal matters before the court
• Ability to liaise directly with the company’s upper management team, CFO and key stakeholders to express possible risk factors on legal matters
• Understand the dynamics of human negotiation among conflicting interest groups and how to achieve mutual agreement with an overall goal to maintain passenger retention
• Preparation and distribution of the Client Relations Annual Report for Circuit Travel and International Holidays to a global Management Team and the CFO, including data covering all aspects of client relations matters on a company scale for each market including comparisons from previous years
• Prioritising workload to ensure deadlines are met and cases are managed on a priority basis to ensure company reputation is maintained at a high level
• Attending to complaints received from travelers by contacting numerous sources internally and externally to investigate and obtain relevant information that will assist in the resolution of the nature of complaints received, and communicating any issues with external offices for future improvement of the products and services delivered by the company
• Assist in training of staff and to provide information of legal aspects to fellow client relations staff or employees of the company for overall company benefit
• Concurrently remaining a part of the reservations team and assist the busy call centre by taking reservation enquiries via phone during peak periods to avoid long call wait times and to ensure maximum customer service standards are maintained.

Tour East Australia began operations in July 2007 and is a subsidiary of the Qantas Group and Holiday Tours and Travel.

• Providing efficient and immediate service to Qantas Airways Airport Staff with confirming accommodation meals and transport to customers delayed in Sydney due to flights cancellations or re-scheduling of FIT and group bookings
• Dealing under extreme pressure while providing customers assurance of the highest level of service
• Creating and maintaining supplier relationships to ensure maximum availability at minimal costs
• Assist in training of staff for new policies and procedures and flexibility to remain on call to staff
• Acting on emergency passenger situation and solving problems or misunderstandings on a global scale to ensure maximum service levels are provided to Tour East/Qantas Holidays/Qantas Airways customers during after hours
• Ability to work independently and unsupervised under extreme pressure.
• Reviewed operations reports to understand numbers and trends.
• Oversaw day-to-day operations of large passenger numbers across several sites, and kept updated records of logistical needs and requirements.
• Performed statistical analyses to gather data for operational and forecast team needs for future planning and staffing requirements.

P1, The Supercar Club offers members immediate access to an ultimate Supercar and Superbike collection, without the drawbacks and costs of ownership. Members experience the most exclusive Supercars + Superbikes at the most exclusive events including Private Drive and Track Days, Product Launches, Themed Parties, and Private Media & Corporate Events.

• Creating and applying business plans to ensure maximum profitability for events, including marketing strategies in order to increase sales and brand awareness of events, management of reservations and sales to retail customers and corporate group clientele alike, management of logistics of all events including hiring of staff whilst working within a set budget
• Maintaining relationships with current high wealth club members with the highest level of customer service
• Responsible for attracting and securing new leisure and corporate group clients for tailor made private group events
• Source and secure Brand Ambassadors at attend Expo’s and Trade Shows and Special Member Events to increase brand awareness + sales with existing and new clientele
• Accountability for the success of the events division and its customers with the ability to work under extreme pressure and deadlines with the highest efficiency of delegating workloads
• Creation, establishment and management of Octane Supercar Events as a separate division of The Supercar Club to create additional source of revenue to the company from an additional market while creating awareness of The Supercar Club as a business
• Sourcing reliable staff, products and services with the ability to negotiate costs with suppliers to remain within a set budget, and reporting directly to the Company Director with a detailed summary of budgets and profitability
• On call to customers and staff, in addition to attending events and representing the company both physically and mentally with enthusiasm and professionalism at all times.
• Managed administrative logistics of events planning, event booking, and event promotions.
• Hired and cross-trained staff members for various event-specific functions and assessed employees' understanding of associated processes and procedures.
• Nurtured and built relationships with vendors, venues and industry contacts to obtain best pricing and services for events.
• Produced detailed proposals for events to document timelines, suppliers and budgets.
• Developed and implemented successful marketing plans to generate event revenue.
• Searched and negotiated suitable venues per setup requirements and budget constraints.
• Maintained and built comprehensive database of industry contacts, vendors and venues.
• Developed creative themes for events and created related activities to engage attendees.

• Secured high-value accounts through consultative selling, effective customer solutions, and promoting compelling business opportunities.
• Built and maintained strong client relationships with 6 high profile key accounts to drive business growth.
• Research, prepare and present detailed proposals within a turnaround time of 48 hours to prospective and current clients in an attempt to win group and event business
• Create tailor-made group itineraries and proposals to suit key group client accounts with the use of research, imagination and extensive product knowledge on Microsoft Word / Excel Programs
• Negotiate group rates and contracts with suppliers to obtain best rates for Qantas Holidays groups & events
• Total accountability for the financial profit and loss of each program and group movement managed while maintaining a competitive edge in the market place
• Co-ordinate and supervise the operational activities of programs and movements for each group to ensure programs run as planned
• Full account management and relationship building with existing clients to ensure all needs are met
• Mature and logical approach to meeting and solving customers’ needs and problems while providing informative responses to formal customer complaints
• Preparing, issuing and dispatching of all documentation and itineraries for the group prior to arrival
• Ability to work independently and unsupervised under extreme pressure
• Ability to meet and exceed individual and team targets for group revenue
• Management for client accounts including quote proposals, requesting and confirming all booking requirements, immediate reaction to cancellations, monitor and issue client invoices, track and follow up of incoming revenue and the issue of any credit notes / refunds owing
• Achieve premium results with use of various CRMs and software: Excel, Word, Outlook, Powerpoint, Lotus Notes, Sabre, Amadeus, Galileo, and Calypso competent.

• Providing a Global Helpdesk for VIP’s, General Sales Agents, Domestic Infinity Holidays Agents and Direct Passengers alike via numerous contact formats to accommodate clients across the globe in different timezones including email, direct messaging and a call centre environment concurrently
• Providing urgent assistance to Global Sales Agents, VIP’s and Direct Access Clients during their journey with problem solving and independent decision making when required
• An extensive knowledge of both International and Domestic Products within the Qantas Holidays Product range for customer assistance and up sell opportunities
• Creating intricate bookings to reflect the individual needs for both Inbound and Outbound VIP clients
• Dealing directly with other departments such as Inventory, Product, and Ticketing, as well as direct suppliers both Internationally and Domestically
• Attend and Host the Qantas Holidays’ GSA Conference with over 200 delegate attendee’s from around the world.

• Day to Day Management of Qantas Holidays’ on-line websites including Industry Sales Site and qantas.com, with assurance that details are precise and deadlines are met
• Co-ordinate and communicate with Qantas Holidays Marketing, Sales and Fellow Business Systems departments to ensure requirements are accomplished successfully
• Travel Agent Registration, requiring the approval or disapproval of access to the on-line Qantas Holidays Industry Sales Site, Fiesta and Direct Access
• Assist in the testing of new and old projects through Direct Access
• Research competitor websites to utilise and help improve Qantas Holidays Websites.

• Provide exceptional customer service in a busy call centre environment, from consulting on customer enquiry, offer product solutions and upsell options, drafting of proposal and quotation based on full logistical requirement of International Holiday Packages with consideration to complex and defined fare restrictions to industry agents (B2B) and retail consumers/direct passengers (B2C)
• Maintain professionalism in dealing with travel agent and direct passenger enquiries with ability to engage, assess, motivate and negotiate with customers
• Draft, Propose and submit a full itinerary and quotation/booking confirmation using internal CRM system Calypso
• Servicing of Travel Agent requests through other means of communication other than verbal such as down-time cards, e-mails and direct access queue’s via internal CRM
• Proven ability to achieve and exceed team and personal sales targets
• Advanced use of Sabre, Galileo, Amadeus CRS and Calypso reservation systems
• Collecting competitor activity information for research by specialist departments.
• Answered incoming phone calls and developed friendly rapport with callers while answering questions, making recommendations, and leading conversations to bookings.
• Provided high level of customer service to each person by engaging customer and using active listening and effective interpersonal skills.