Business Development Manager

North Carolina Outward Bound School • Asheville, NC

12d • $55,000 - $62,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

At North Carolina Outward Bound School, the Business Development Manager plays a key role in expanding our reach and connecting more individuals, schools, organizations, and communities with the transformative power of Outward Bound programs. The Business Development Manager is responsible for generating new leads and building a strong pipeline of prospective clients and participants across NCOBS program lines. This highly outward-facing role focuses primarily on top- and mid-funnel sales activity: identifying new prospects, opening doors, building relationships, understanding client needs, and developing qualified opportunities that support enrollment and revenue growth.
This role requires someone who is energized by finding and pursuing new opportunities. The Business Development Manager actively seeks prospective clients through research, prospecting, direct outreach, networking, referrals, school and organizational visits, presentations, fairs, conferences, and community engagement. While some leads will come through established NCOBS networks, a significant part of this role is finding and developing relationships with people and organizations that do not yet have a connection to NCOBS.
Working closely with the Program Growth & Innovation Team, the Business Development Manager executes sales priorities across target markets and represents the full range of NCOBS programs. Success in this position will be defined by consistent sales activity, a healthy and growing pipeline, qualified opportunities, strong prospective client relationships, and increased participation and revenue resulting from new business development.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, or related field; or equivalent professional experience.
• Four to six years of experience in Sales, Business Development, or related field.
• Demonstrated experience generating leads, recruiting participants or clients, selling products or services, or developing new business relationships.
• Demonstrated comfort with proactive outreach, including initiating contact with prospective clients who do not yet have a relationship with the organization.
• Goal-oriented and motivated by measurable results, with demonstrated persistence in moving prospective clients from initial contact to action.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong presentation and public-speaking skills, with the confidence to engage a wide variety of audiences and decision-makers.
• Strong relationship-building skills and genuine curiosity about prospective clients and their needs.
• Strong organizational skills, initiative, and consistent follow-through.
• Ability to independently manage multiple leads, conversations, and opportunities at different stages of the sales process.
• Comfortable working toward measurable activity, pipeline, enrollment, and revenue goals.
• Passion for mission-driven work, outdoor education, and social impact.
• Cultural competency and demonstrated ability to build relationships across diverse communities.
• Ability and willingness to travel regularly for meetings, presentations, fairs, conferences, and other sales activities.
• Ability to use a computer for long durations and sit for extended periods of time
• Ability to lift or carry light items (generally up to 25lbs) such as office supplies or files
• Ability to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl; talk or hear and taste or smell

Nice To Haves

• Experience using a CRM preferred; Salesforce experience is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Proactively research, identify, and pursue new leads across NCOBS program lines and priority markets, including individuals, schools, colleges and universities, businesses, youth-serving organizations, and community organizations.
• Conduct consistent outbound prospecting through email, phone, networking, referrals, in-person outreach, and other sales activities.
• Identify key decision makers and work with the Director of Program Growth & Innovation to develop relationship maps and prospecting strategies for priority markets.
• Build and maintain a healthy pipeline of qualified opportunities, consistently following up and moving prospects through the sales funnel.
• Identify new audiences, organizations, and channels that could increase participation and revenue across NCOBS programs.
• Build relationships and secure meetings with prospective clients, including school administrators, educators, counselors, organizational leaders, businesses, and community partners.
• Lead discovery conversations to understand prospective clients' goals and connect them with the NCOBS programs and experiences that best meet their needs.
• Confidently represent and sell the full range of NCOBS programs through client meetings, presentations, school visits, fairs, conferences, and community and professional events.
• Identify opportunities for program progression and engage the Director of Program Growth & Innovation and appropriate program leaders as opportunities advance toward program design, proposal, pricing, and close.
• Maintain momentum and clear next steps throughout the sales process.
• Maintain accurate records of leads, contacts, opportunities, activities, and next steps in Salesforce and provide regular reporting on pipeline development and progress toward goals.
• Manage follow-up across a high volume of prospective clients and proactively re-engage stalled opportunities.
• Partner with Marketing and program leaders to support lead generation, understand program priorities and capacity, and strengthen sales efforts.
• Ensure strong handoffs to program line directors and Student Services as prospective clients become active clients, while supporting opportunities for future expansion and program progression.
• Share client and market insights that can inform sales strategy, program development, and future growth opportunities.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, Vision, Life/AD&D, STD, and LTD
• Access to contribute to a 403(b) retirement account with 1.5% employer match after 1 year of service
• 13 paid holidays to rest, recharge, and adventure
• Two weeks of paid time off accrued annually beginning at date of hire with increased accrual rate based on position tenure
• One complimentary domestic Outward Bound course
• Access to outdoor industry pro deals
• Annual professional development funds to support your learning and career growth
• Dog friendly office

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level