This article originally appeared in The Versus Issue, our February/March issue of Marketing magazine.
“I am so incredibly grateful,” beams Jacqueline Cox over breakfast at Manhattan’s Quin Hotel. “Every morning starts with a 15-minute walk through Central Park to my office. It’s so relaxing, so refreshing – stunning at any time of year.”
MK0217 200Brisbane born and bred, Cox is director of sales and marketing at The Quin, a luxury hotel on West 57th Street at Sixth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. Her workplace oozes elegance, albeit with a hint of decadence owing to the property’s colourful past as a residence for artists, performers and musicians. It’s a live-in art gallery.
Cox studied international business at Griffith University – a degree that was equal parts economics and marketing, and which culminated in a three-month internship in Asia. She chose South Korea, where she worked for a local sugar and commodities producer and trader.
“It was during the Korean winter, so it was my first awakening to
extreme cold and an incredibly different culture,” reflects Cox. “I elected to be billeted with a family so I could have an immersive experience even though I didn’t study Korean and they didn’t speak much English.”
On completion of her internship, and her degree, Cox stayed on in Seoul. She was approached about a marketing role with a company that imported and distributed wines, spirits and beers, including Foster’s.
“The Australian Embassy asked if it was something I’d be interested in and – as you do when you’re young and adventurous – I said, ‘Sure, why not!’,” laughs Cox. “It was so, so hard, so absorbing, but I was excited by the experience. I look back now and wonder why I didn’t think about it more.”
Culture and language weren’t the only challenges Cox faced in that role
. Her dotted reporting line into Foster’s in Australia at times created tension with her Korean employer. “We would have discussions on vision and brand activation and, as an Australian, I would completely understand what we needed to do, but I didn’t always see eye to eye with my Korean company, which would sometimes reprimand me: ‘You’re only saying that because you’re Australian. You work for us, not for them. Just remember that’.”
With Seoul’s upmarket hotels being her company’s primary distribution channel, it was not long before Cox was headhunted by one of her clients. With her company’s blessing, and advice from the Embassy, she joined InterCon- tinental Hotels. And so began Jacqueline Cox’s career in hospitality and hotel marketing.
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Over the years, Cox has worked for large international chains (InterContinental and Accor), multi-brand groups (Viceroy), small boutique chains (Gansevoort) and, now, a single property brand (The Quin).
In her first role with InterContinental, Cox was responsible for marketing the restaurants and bars within two of that group’s properties in Seoul. Her performance was measured purely by any incremental increase in food and beverage revenue that could be attributed to her campaigns and promotions. This was before social media, so the tactics Cox employed were email marketing, online, website and collateral to connect with hotel guests.
For personal reasons, Cox later moved to London where she secured a position with the Accor Hotel Group, selling guest rooms and function space. This was her first foray into sales.
“Marketing and sales are very different disciplines. They rely on each other, and they’re symbiotic, but the skill set for each is distinct. I knew that I wouldn’t get far in my career without the sales experience. I needed to know both marketing and sales.”
Cox describes this period in London as “professionally very challenging”.
“I had very specific goals tied to revenue and you either met them or you didn’t. You developed new accounts or you didn’t. As an outsider, I could spend months or years in London trying to crack the shell of a client, and have a deeper relationship. And maybe I would get there, but it would take a long time. It was almost impossible to break those barriers.”
Vote to leave
After several years in the UK, Cox moved to Los Angeles to head the team representing the Viceroy Hotel Group’s portfolio of eight hotels in the US and Mexico.
Jacqui Cox_Headshot copy“I noticed the difference immediately when I moved to LA. It was a faster process. People were more open and willing to share information about their business and how we could partner together.”
She speaks with fondness about her time at Viceroy. “I wholeheartedly loved our company, the vision and the product. But I think during this period I found my other true calling: to make a difference in somebody’s life professionally and, I hope, somewhat personally.”
Leading a team was a defining moment marshall-islands-telemarketing-database for Cox, who pledged to share everything she had learned, “in a more powerful way than any of my leaders had ever done”. It was a sink or swim opportunity so, in the absence of any formal leadership training, she started reading, found mentors and asked for a lot of guidance.
She’s subsequently been exposed to many training opportunities: leadership, how to coach and counsel, and how to inspire somebody to do great work.
The approach Cox has stuck by was the one that she had always desired
“I want feedback. I want it to be direct. I want it to be in the moment. And I want it to be done in a compassionate and humane way,” she says.
“We’re all learning, we’re all growing, and I believe every person is doing the best they can in the moment. If someone in my team doesn’t have the information or the tools at hand, but has made the best decision they could in the moment, and could explain that to me, then that’s all I ask.”
True detective
Understanding a client’s implicit needs, and then negotiating a deal, are part of Cox’s DNA. “I love the detective work that comes into figuring out what a client truly needs. In the world of sales a lot of people think it’s just about price but, I can tell you, in the luxury segment, if we ever compete on price we will never, ever win.