Vice President, Syndicated Sales

Sony Pictures Entertainment•Culver City, CA

69d•$195,000 - $254,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) is looking for a talented Studio Executive in Syndicated Sales to join our dynamic U.S. Distribution team. This Vice President of Syndicated Sales will focus on selling programming to television stations, building and maintaining strong customer relationships while also creating development strategy. Excellent communication, interpersonal and negotiation skills are critical to achieving success in this role.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree
Four or more years of experience in a Vice President role or similar in entertainment
Five or more years of entertainment experience and knowledge in the space, television industry preferred
Powerful communication, interpersonal and relationship skills
Tremendous teamwork skills, ability to fit into a team environment
Superior organizational and time-management skills
Excellent negotiating and dispute resolution skills
Ability to work independently and think strategically
Skill in establishing long-term business relationships of trust and understanding
Extremely strong service orientation
Ability to work on several projects concurrently while maintaining attention to detail
Must be flexible and adapt quickly to changing needs
Ability to strategize with and delegate to others in research and affiliate relations when necessary
Excellent computer skills - MS Office, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Zoom

Responsibilities

Sell programming to television stations, build customer relationships and research competitive information.
Call on 50+ markets, 300+ stations, as well as major station groups.
Prepare and deliver written and verbal sales presentations both in person, via video calls and by phone.
Build objectives for sales calls, establish sales strategies and assess customer needs.
Responsible for full understanding of the competitive landscape of each market/group to create market/group specific sales strategies.
Determine the best opportunities for SPT programming; anticipate customer concerns and objections, highlighting SPT strengths and points of difference to the client base.
Develop offers for Sony programming with all groups and in all necessary television markets.
Utilize business meetings, client lunches and dinners to develop long term business relationships with customers.
Stay in contact with clients regularly via phone, email, and video calls.
Strategize with the SVP/General Sales Manager US Syndication Sales to negotiate license fees for off-network and first-run programs, narrow time period windows and add double runs to maximize ratings and revenues.
Build and maintain quality relationships with the salespeople in each SPT sales office.
Coordinate with ownership groups and group salespersons for local market deals.
Plan and set up market visits to meet with each station.
Work with SPT Travel and the sales coordinator to schedule trips, adhering to SPT travel policy.
Set up appointments with customers, allowing appropriate time during the trip and meetings to achieve business goals.
Work with other SPT departments to understand the business cycle and impact of SPT programming.
Collaborate with Research to understand history and trends of local television stations.
Collaborate with Affiliate Marketing to ensure partner stations are properly promoting and supporting SPT products.
Work with the Credit department to ensure customers are credit-worthy and paying in a timely fashion.
Analyze industry information to develop presentation strategies that best advance the sale of SPT content.
Manage other Sales Representative(s) in the Region, responsible for developing, advising, strategizing and motivating them to improve performance, as well as hiring and training new sales representatives.
Initiate new projects, hone expertise and apply continuous improvement.
Attend various industry conventions to understand SPT’s customers businesses.
Continually seek to improve upon existing sales practices, identifying areas that can become more effective and/or efficient and make strategic recommendations to affect change.
Invest in personal growth within the company by utilizing educational/professional resources offered by SPT and SPE.