Day 3 | Series 2 of 9 | Sales Structure Design

How I would structure Global Cruise Sales across Shoreside and Onboard Sales Structure Design

Once Global Cruise Sales is clearly defined, the next step is structuring it to deliver predictable, scalable results. Without clarity in roles, responsibilities, and governance, even the best strategies fail to translate into revenue.

Global Cruise Sales leadership owns total cruise revenue performance across shoreside and onboard future cruise sales. This includes setting a strategy, defining channels performance, markets segmentation, product mix, pricing strategy and yield, Sales KPI's and campaign governance, all activities are coordinated closely with all involved key stakeholders. I ensure every market and channels aligns to a shared vision.

For Regional and Market leadership, I focus them on market and channel specific execution optimizing local campaigns and tracking forecast vs actual bookings daily, with a weekly update and action plan based on challenges and lessons learned. Market share and conversion vs competitors, Travel Advisors and special accounts health (Signature Travel, Virtuoso, Ensemble, etc.), Pricing position vs competition, booking window and booking curve deep analysis while the Direct Consumer channel, checking website KPI's, data analysis, lead generation, digital engagement, In and outbound call strategy supporting with ongoing daily training, campaigns, and webinars. Finally, they maintain alignment with onboard future cruise sales leadership, ensuring the guest journey drives repeat bookings and loyalty conversion leading to guest retention, specially with new to brand and new to cruise guests. Sales Structure Design

Onboard, I expect cruise sales leadership to focus on maximizing future cruise sales at sea. The onboard environment is a completely different sales ecosystem, which requires coaching teams on guest engagement behaviors, socialization, conversion metrics, consultative sales techniques, public events and seminars, while feeding data and lead generation back to shoreside teams for cross-market insights. Productivity is measured not just by financial but conversion.

Supporting all of this, sales optimization and operations provide the infrastructure that makes the organization perform. CRM governance ensures pipeline health; analytics dashboards track performance across markets and channels; training frameworks tailored to roles, markets, and shipboard dynamics; and forecasting systems allow leadership to anticipate shifts in demand, capacity, and booking curves. 

A well-designed sales structure is more than hierarchy. It is a system of alignment, accountability, support and operational insight, connecting strategy to execution across markets, channels, and onboard experiences. It is this structure that allows scaling to be predictable, not chaotic.

Tomorrow, I’ll explore Why budgeting and forecasting fail without cruise specific discipline.

Related Posts:

Global Cruise Sales Architecture Intro to a 9 day series

Day 2 | Series 1 of 9 | Sales Architecture