Craig Rouse
Crystal River,FL
Summary
Desirous of a new opportunity in sales and management within the travel and hospitality industry. Enthusiastic Sales and Customer Service professional with expertise in communication and negotiating. Driven to provide superior quality customer service. Innovative in leveraging extensive knowledge of products and services as well as creating solutions for customers to drive loyalty, retention and revenue.
Overview
32
32
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Membership Specialist
Equity Lifestyle Properties, dba Thousand Trails
01.2020 - Current
- Sell Camping & Vacation Travel Membership Packages
- Performed sales presentations in-person, over the phone, and via Zoom
- Utilized social media for prospecting and sales
- Assisted new hires in skills development, contract processing and objection handling
- Consistent top performer in sales and ambassador engagement.
Traveler Blogger
Curious Craig
10.2018 - 05.2020
- Proofread edited, and revised content as needed to maintain accuracy and high quality standards.
- Optimized blog posts for SEO, resulting in higher search engine rankings and increased organic traffic.
- Updated older blog posts to refresh content, maintain relevance, and improve search engine performance over time.
- Published regular pieces on Travel to blog.
- Created content for other websites and online publications.
Sales Manager
Visual Edge Technology, dba Commonwealth Technology
01.2015 - 01.2017
- Sold LEXNET to complimentary technology business with emphasis on Building Managed Services Practice
- Ensured transition of existing staff and client base to new company
- Blended cultures to ensure harmonious interactions
- Performed in-house education sessions to help traditional office products sales team to recognize Managed Service and other IT service engagements
- Cross trained technicians to better understand networking technologies and clients’ expectations
- Presented proposals: outlining system, support and training requirements, prepare project budgets, created project plans, build project teams within and outside of company, oversee deployments
- Ensure project timelines and budget
- Create service offerings: Managed Services, Disaster Recovery, Life Cycle Management, Helpdesk, and Ad Hoc support programs
- Set service pricing, establish terms and negotiate contracts
- Oversee social media presence, email marketing, referral and loyalty programs.
Owner
LEXNET
01.1992 - 01.2015
- Oversaw day-to-day operations of Information Technology Support Company
- Sales Management: Meet with current and potential clients for technology assessments; confer with decision makers, users, and engineers to determined technology needs
- Presented proposals: outlining system, support and training requirements, prepare project budgets, created project plans, build project teams within and outside of company, oversee deployments
- Ensure project timelines and budget
- Serve as trusted technology advisor when working with other technology vendors on client’s behalf
- Create service offerings: Managed Services, Disaster Recovery, Life Cycle Management, Helpdesk, and Ad Hoc support programs
- Set service pricing, establish terms and negotiate contracts
- Oversee social media presence, email marketing, referral and loyalty programs
- Ensure overall customer satisfaction with all product and service delivery
- Human resource functions: Interview, hire, discipline, create training plans, conduct performance reviews, create compensation, bonus and benefits plans
- Vendor Selection: Sole arbiter of selecting 3rd party products and services for resale
- Manage reseller programs and requirements
- Accounting/Legal Functions: Accounts Receivable/Payables management, sales and income tax reporting, Federal, State, and local filings
- Awarded Small Business of the Year – Lexington Chamber of Commerce.
Education
Associate of Applied Science -
Brescia University
Owensboro, KYSkills
- Operations Management
- Client Relationship Management
- Technical Sales & Presentations
- Staff Development & Team Building
- Profit & Loss Management
- Vendor Management
- Delivering Excellent Customer Service
- Obtaining sales goals
- Computer / Internet
- Critical Decision Making
- Problem resolution skills
- Excellent communications
- Active member engagement
Websites
Accomplishments
- Achieved Membership Specialist of the Year, (Highest overall award offered by company)
- Obtained 1-Club for $1 Million in Sales (Highest Sales Award)
- Small Business of the Year - Lexington Chamber of Commerce
Timeline
Senior Membership Specialist
Equity Lifestyle Properties, dba Thousand Trails
01.2020 - Current
Traveler Blogger
Curious Craig
10.2018 - 05.2020
Sales Manager
Visual Edge Technology, dba Commonwealth Technology
01.2015 - 01.2017
Owner
LEXNET
01.1992 - 01.2015
Associate of Applied Science -
Brescia University