The posting
Location: Across Kenya
About the role: The Regional Business Manager will guide sales, collections and entire business operations in the region they are assigned to for the direct distribution of Sun King Solar products sold on a Pay-As-You-Go basis (also called and recognized as the "Easy Buy" Business unit). This is done through an extensive network of agents called “Field Sales Executives” who visit door-to-door and sell. Easy Buy technology and services allow customers to purchase units by paying for their Solar products in small installments, making them highly affordable for off-grid or rural customers.
The Regional Business Manager is ultimately accountable for generating sales, ensuring collections are timely and accurate, and keeping the entire direct distribution network growing rapidly in a sustainable manner, with the help of his team, which typically consists of Area Business Managers, Sun King Store Executives, and Field Sales Executives of the region.
What you would be expected to do:
Hire, retain and motivate the entire regional team for the best performance:
- The Regional Business Manager’s team typically consists of Area Business Managers, Sun King Executives, and Field Sales Executives (there may be some variations based on the region).
- The Regional Business Manager is expected to ensure they create a world-class winning team in their regions that is disciplined, process-oriented, and devoted to delivering the best customer experience.
Training:
- Provide training to the Area Business Managers on several aspects of the business such as sales, collections, product, technical, inventory and logistics related.
- Ensure they are fully aligned and managed professionally, demonstrating the highest integrity, ethics, and professionalism while dealing with Sun King customers.
Provide role clarity to Area Business Managers, Regional Mentors, and Sun King Store Executives:
Give the regional team complete clarity on their day-to-day tasks, sales and collections plans, routes, and targets by ensuring they have:
- Defined sales routesEvery sales agent has a pre-set route or area to sell in. Routes are communicated clearly before the agent starts selling.
- Product knowledge and selling skillsAgents know how to demonstrate Sun King products. Agents understand and can apply the sales process confidently.
- Customer query handlingAgents can present products confidently. Agents can resolve basic customer queries on the spot.
- Clear plans and targetsAgents know their daily tasks. Agents understand their sales and collections plans. Agents know their individual targets.
- Ongoing supportAgents can reach the Regional Business Manager at all times. Questions and concerns are escalated and addressed promptly.
Field visits:
- Have a weekly touchpoint with every Area Business Manager and Top 10 Field Sales Executives in each area – either through in-person meetings, making a joint sale or having a call. Each week, resolve any issues faced by the Field Sales Executives and report them to your Regional Business Manager.
- Ensure the first ten sales of each Area Business Manager are done with the Regional Business Manager in the area and some Field Sales Executives to ensure each Area Business Manager fully understands the core sales and collection process.
Conduct Joint Fieldwork with Area Business Managers:
- Conduct joint fieldwork with Field Sales Executives to provide weekly sales and collection training and drive Field Service Executives' engagement. This includes night activations, market activations, and visits to local communities and gatherings such as SACCOs, self-help groups, retail centers, and markets to drive group sales.
Exceed your sales & collections targets:
- Meet or exceed sales and collection targets established and consented upon on the 2nd of every month with your sales supervisors.
- Provide daily, and weekly updates on sales, Field Sales Executive recruitments, customer issues and resolutions, and New Area Launch preparations as expected and aligned with your Manager.
Drive robust field sales processes:
- Review sales and collection progress with your Area Business Managers daily and provide adequate training to drive better collections in your areas. This includes customer and area profiling, ensuring regular and timely collection follow-ups, resolving customer issues to ensure they make payments, and repossessing the systems as a last recourse if the customer defaults.
Remain externally focused:
- Monitor the market in your region and take appropriate measures to protect and grow our business against competitive pressures.
- Engage the management team and take measures to ensure Sun King remains a paramount brand name in solar products for your area.
- Resolve customer issues: Provide world-class assistance to customers on product delivery, training on use and payments, installation, and after-sales warranty issues.
- Work with your Field Sales Executives to set clear expectations and processes to resolve all customer issues within 24 hours.
- Control Marketing and Other spend: Provide adequate marketing assistance and equipment (such as smartphones) necessary to all your Areas. Ensure we get maximum return on investment for all the costs we incur in areas of marketing, supply chain, store maintenance and smartphone issuance.
Review meetings with Areas:
- Ensure that Area Business Managers conduct periodic table meetings and reviews with all Field Sales Executives under their purview.
- Conduct surprise visits to field meetings and areas to ensure that the sales processes and standards observed are of the highest quality.
- Recognize outstanding performers from time to time and keep the entire regional team motivated at an all-time high.
You might be a strong candidate if you:
- Possess a degree in a Business-related field OR equivalent and at least 6 years of hands-on experience in Sales.
- Have excellent Computer knowledge with comprehensive knowledge of Excel and PowerPoint
- Can motivate a high-performing sales team and ensure performance
- Have high innovative skills, thinking out of the box, cost-conscious
- Are excellently skilled in Planning, Organizing, Prioritizing, maximizing value and see the big picture.
- Can develop, and skill fully build relations, works on internal & external relationships.
- Listen well, coaches’ others and is disciplined in their learning practice.
- Have Operation Excellence (Keeps promise, is detail-oriented, seeks to be informed and gives excellent Customer Satisfaction).
What we offer (in addition to compensation and statutory benefits):
- Professional growth in a dynamic, rapidly expanding, high-social-impact industry
- An open-minded, collaborative culture made up of enthusiastic colleagues who are driven by the challenge of innovation towards profound impact on people and the planet.
- A truly multicultural experience: you will have the chance to work with and learn from people from different geographies, nationalities, and backgrounds.
- Structured, tailored learning and development programs that help you become a better leader, manager, and professional through the Sun Center for Leadership.
We place great importance on sustaining a diverse, inclusive work environment. We believe that innovation and understanding comes from diversity on every spectrum. We work to make sure every Sun King team member knows that they belong, knowing that sustaining an inclusive workplace requires conscious effort and is a continuous journey, not an end-state.
Sun King recruits, employs, trains, compensates and promotes people based on their experience, skills, effort, and results. We explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, religion, caste, national origin, color, gender, marital status, family structure, sexual orientation, HIV/AIDS status, or disability.
