Customer care & Sales Manager

Our client is an established international education provider delivering language programmes to students from around the world. With a network of schools across multiple countries, the organisation provides language learning opportunities designed to support students pursuing international study, travel, and educational experiences.

Working with education agents, institutional partners, and students across different markets, the organisation places strong emphasis on delivering a high standard of service throughout the enquiry, admissions, enrolment, and student journey.

We are looking for a commercially focused Customer Care & Sales Manager to take ownership of the customer care, admissions, and direct sales function for an assigned market or region.

The role will lead a team of Customer Care and Sales Consultants, with responsibility for people management, sales conversion, enrolment performance, revenue generation, customer experience, and operational effectiveness.

You will work closely with senior management and cross-functional teams to ensure leads are effectively managed, prospective students receive appropriate guidance, and the admissions process operates efficiently from initial enquiry through to enrolment.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead and manage the Customer Care and Sales team, providing direction, coaching, and ongoing performance support.

• Build an engaging and collaborative team environment that encourages accountability and high performance.

• Hold regular individual meetings with team members to discuss objectives, performance, development needs, and challenges.

• Establish and monitor appropriate KPIs covering sales activity, service quality, conversion, enrolment, and productivity.

• Review team results regularly and implement corrective actions or development plans where necessary.

• Plan staffing requirements, leave schedules, and resource allocation according to business cycles and seasonal demand.

• Participate in recruitment, onboarding, and training of new team members when required.

• Promote an inclusive working environment and ensure team practices are aligned with organisational diversity and non-discrimination standards.

Sales, Enrolment & Commercial Performance

• Work with senior management to establish sales, conversion, enrolment, and revenue objectives for the assigned region.

• Track performance against weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual targets.

• Review sales pipelines, market activity, enrolment trends, destination performance, and revenue results to identify opportunities and risks.

• Provide management with regular updates on sales performance, forecasts, pipeline activity, and business outlook.

• Identify initiatives that can improve lead conversion, enrolment volumes, customer retention, and overall satisfaction.

• Contribute towards departmental budgets and broader commercial growth objectives.

Lead Conversion & Direct Sales

• Oversee the distribution and follow-up of leads generated through marketing activities.

• Ensure prospective students receive timely responses and appropriate guidance throughout the sales journey.

• Understand individual student requirements and recommend suitable programmes, destinations, and study options.

• Coach team members on effective product presentation, consultative selling, objection handling, and closing techniques.

• Manage the customer journey from the initial enquiry through consultation, application, and enrolment.

• Take ownership of an individual sales target while contributing to the overall team target.

• Personally engage with selected leads where required to support conversion and revenue performance.

• Establish effective lead nurturing and follow-up approaches to maximise enrolment opportunities.

• Review response times, sales activity, pipeline quality, and reasons for lost opportunities to identify areas requiring improvement.

• Work with the team to strengthen conversion rates and maximise the commercial value of the lead pipeline.

Admissions & Customer Experience

• Oversee day-to-day admissions activities to ensure applications and enrolments are processed accurately and efficiently.

• Ensure enquiries and student requests are handled within established service standards.

• Support the team in resolving complex student cases and escalated customer issues.

• Monitor key student journey milestones, including arrivals, departures, cancellations, no-shows, and terminations.

• Ensure admissions activities are conducted in accordance with company policies, contractual terms, and applicable requirements.

• Provide operational guidance to the team and escalate significant matters to senior management when appropriate.

• Maintain a consistently high level of service throughout the student experience, from first contact through post-enrolment support.

Internal & External Stakeholder Engagement

• Develop effective working relationships with Sales, Operations, Finance, Compliance, Marketing, and other internal functions.

• Ensure a smooth handover between lead generation, sales, admissions, and post-sales support.

• Maintain regular communication with education agents and external partners where required.

• Represent the admissions and customer care function in regional or international meetings.

• Collaborate with relevant stakeholders to resolve operational issues and improve the overall customer journey.

• Support the organisation in maintaining strong relationships with students, agents, partners, and internal teams.

CRM, Reporting & Business Insights

• Serve as a key user and functional resource for CRM and admissions platforms.

• Maintain accurate customer, lead, sales, and enrolment information across relevant systems.

• Develop and maintain dashboards and reports to monitor commercial and operational performance.

• Use CRM and business intelligence tools such as Salesforce, CLASS, XLR, and Power BI to analyse performance and identify trends.

• Track enrolment, revenue, conversion, pipeline, and market activity to support business decisions.

• Produce regular management reports, forecasts, and performance analysis.

• Ensure information recorded across systems is complete, accurate, and reliable.

Compliance & Operational Improvement

• Partner with Operations and Compliance teams to ensure admissions and customer processes remain effective and compliant.

• Keep the team informed of relevant visa requirements, regulatory developments, and changes affecting student applications.

• Coordinate or support visa briefings, information sessions, and pre-departure activities.

• Review existing workflows and identify ways to improve efficiency, response times, service quality, and customer satisfaction.

• Lead or participate in initiatives aimed at improving admissions, sales, and customer care processes.

• Ensure new or revised procedures remain aligned with operational and compliance requirements.

Essential Qualifications & Experience

• Demonstrated experience managing or leading a customer care, admissions, enrolment, or direct sales team.

• Strong background in people leadership, coaching, performance management, and team development.

• Experience in international education, admissions, sales operations, customer service, or another comparable service-driven environment.

• Proven ability to manage sales performance and work towards conversion, enrolment, and revenue targets.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Good analytical, reporting, organisational, and coordination capabilities.

• Experience using CRM platforms, with Salesforce experience preferred.

• Comfortable managing multiple priorities within a fast-paced environment.

• Strong judgement, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities.

• Commercially minded with a clear focus on achieving measurable results.

• English proficiency at B2 level or above.

Additional Advantages

• Previous experience in international education, language schools, study abroad, or student mobility.

• Experience supervising Team Leaders or other management-level staff.

• Understanding of student visa processes and international mobility requirements.

• Familiarity with Salesforce, CLASS, XLR, and Power BI.

• Additional language capabilities, particularly Mandarin.

Key Areas of Expertise

• Customer Care & Service Management

• Admissions & Enrolment Operations

• Direct Sales & Lead Conversion

• Sales Pipeline & Revenue Management

• Team Leadership & People Development

• Performance & KPI Management

• Customer Experience

• CRM & Salesforce

• Data Analysis & Business Reporting

• Stakeholder Management

• Compliance & Risk Management

• Process Optimisation

• Coaching & Mentoring

• Strategic & Commercial Planning

• Cross-Cultural Communication