Customer Acquisition Executive – Exhibition Sales Academy

Access Displays Ltd; Swindon; Hybrid; GBP 25,000 - 28,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Performance bonus

Company pension scheme

Structured training and mentoring

Career progression opportunities

Job summary

Access Displays Ltd, based in Swindon, is hiring Customer Acquisition Executives for their Exhibition Sales Academy. This hybrid full-time role focuses on generating leads within the exhibition industry through various prospecting methods. Candidates will develop essential skills while contributing to a highly experienced team.

With a base salary of £25,000 to £28,000 plus bonuses, this role offers substantial career progression opportunities. The ideal candidate will be confident and commercially aware, eager to learn, and able to engage with senior business professionals.

Qualifications

• Attitude, ambition, and commercial awareness are prioritized over experience.
• Comfortable and confident communicating with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Identify and qualify exhibition stand opportunities.
• Engage with organisations exhibiting at trade shows.
• Build relationships with decision-makers.
• Achieve weekly qualified lead generation targets.

Skills

Commercial awareness

Ambition

Confidence speaking with senior business professionals

Comfortable using technology and social media

Tools

Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Job description

£25,000 – £28,000 Basic Salary + Performance Bonus

Hybrid Working | Swindon

Full Time

Launch Your Career in the Exhibition & Events Industry

For over 36 years, Access Displays has helped organisations showcase their products, services and brands through exceptional exhibition stands, display solutions, museum showcases and event environments. We deliver projects for organisations ranging from ambitious SMEs to some of the world’s most recognised brands, working with clients throughout the UK, Europe, North America and the Middle East.

As part of our continued growth, we are looking for ambitious individuals to join our Exhibition Sales Academy as Customer Acquisition Executives. This is not a traditional telesales role. It is an opportunity to learn a specialist industry, develop professional business development skills and build a long‑term career within one of the UK’s most established exhibition and display businesses.

About The Exhibition Sales Academy

At Access Displays, we believe skills can be taught but attitude cannot. Our Academy is designed to identify and develop the next generation of exhibition industry professionals. Through structured training, mentoring and practical experience, you will learn how exhibition stands are designed, sold, delivered and managed while developing the customer acquisition skills that drive business growth.

You will be supported by a team with over 200 years of combined exhibition industry experience, giving you access to knowledge and expertise that few businesses can offer.

The Role

Your role is to identify and qualify exhibition stand opportunities and secure Access Displays a place within the quotation, RFQ or tender process. Using a combination of telephone prospecting, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, social media, CRM data and market research, you will engage with organisations that exhibit at trade shows and events throughout the UK and internationally. You will build relationships with decision‑makers, understand their exhibition plans and identify opportunities where Access Displays can provide a solution. Once a qualified opportunity has been identified, it will be passed to one of our highly experienced Sales Directors who will manage the opportunity through the quotation, presentation and sales process. Your responsibility is to create opportunities; our responsibility is to win the business.

What Does Success Look Like?

Your target will be to generate five qualified opportunities per week. A qualified opportunity is defined as:

• A company actively planning to exhibit at a trade show or exhibition.
• An anticipated exhibition stand budget of £10,000 or more.
• Direct engagement with the relevant decision‑maker.
• Access Displays being invited to participate in the quotation, RFQ or tender process.

This role is quality‑driven. Success is measured by meaningful opportunities, not by call volumes or activity statistics.

Key Responsibilities

• Identifying companies exhibiting at trade shows and events.
• Researching target organisations and decision‑makers.
• Prospecting via telephone, LinkedIn, email and social media.
• Building relationships with Marketing Managers, Event Managers, Procurement Teams and Directors.
• Qualifying exhibition stand opportunities.
• Securing invitations to quote and participate in tenders.
• Maintaining accurate records within Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
• Supporting targeted marketing and business development campaigns.
• Working closely with our Sales Directors and Marketing Team.
• Achieving weekly qualified lead generation targets.

What We Are Looking For

We are interested in attitude, ambition and commercial awareness more than industry experience. You may have experience in:

• Recruitment
• Hospitality
• Account management

Or you may simply be looking for an opportunity to start a professional sales career. You will be:

• Confident speaking with senior business professionals.
• Commercially aware and business savvy.
• Professional, articulate and organised.
• Curious and naturally inquisitive.
• Resilient and self‑motivated.
• Comfortable using technology and social media.
• Ambitious and eager to learn.

What You Will Learn

As part of the Academy programme, you will receive training and mentoring in:

• The exhibition and events industry.
• Exhibition stand design and build solutions.
• Customer acquisition strategies.
• Professional communication skills.
• Relationship management.
• Sales and negotiation fundamentals.

This role is designed to create future exhibition sales professionals. As your knowledge, confidence and experience develop, there will be opportunities to progress into customer‑facing sales and business development roles. For the right individual, this role offers a clear pathway towards becoming:

• Business Development Manager
• Senior Account Manager

Salary & Benefits

• Performance bonus following successful completion of probation.
• Hybrid working opportunities.
• Company pension scheme.
• Structured training and mentoring.
• Career progression opportunities.
• Exposure to major UK and international brands.
• Supportive and experienced team environment.
• Opportunity to attend exhibitions and industry events.