Sun King

Location: Marracuene (Maputo)

About the role:

The Area Business Manager will manage sales, collections and distribution operations in the area he is assigned for the direct distribution of Sun King Solar products sold on Pay-As-You-Go basis (also called and recognized as the "EasyBuy" Business unit) through a network of agents called as "Energy Officers". The Area Business Manager is ultimately accountable for generating sales, providing timely and accurate collections, and keeping the entire Direct Distribution growing rapidly in a sustainable manager.

What you would be expected to do:

• Hire & retain Energy Officers: Hire, train and maintain a team of at least 40 Sun King Field Sales Executives in the area. Use multiple avenues for finding the right talent to sell Sun King EasyBuy products with the help of village influencers such as the village heads, teachers, religious heads, doctors, farmers and others, as applicable. Create a reputation and goodwill for the mission of Sun King to provide clean, affordable and reliable sources of energy in their areas.
• Provide training to the Field Sales Executives: on several aspects of the business such as sales, collections, product, technical, inventory and logistics related. Ensure that they are fully guided and managed professionally, demonstrating integrity, ethics, and professionalism while dealing with customers.
• Provide role clarity to Field Service Executives: Provide complete clarity to Field Service Executives related to their day-to-day tasks, sales & collections plans, routes and targets; this includes ensuring Field Service Executives have a pre-arranged sales route/area to sell in, they demonstrate and sell Sun King products, and they have the confidence to present and resolve basic customer queries on the spot. They have access to the Area Business Manager in case of questions and concerns.
• Daily field visits: Have a weekly touchpoint with every Field Sales Executive in your area – either through in-person meetings, making a sale to the customer in your area or having a call. Resolve all possible issues the Field Sales Executives face and report them to your Regional Business Manager every week. Ensure that the first five sales of each Field Sales Executive are made along with the Area Business Manager in the area by each Field Sales Executive to ensure that each Field Sales Executive fully acknowledge the core sales and collection process.
• Work with Field Sales Executive: Conduct joint fieldwork with a group of Field Sales Executives to provide sales and collection training weekly and drive EO engagement. This includes doing night activations from 6.30 PM to 9.00 PM, market activations, visiting local communities and gatherings such as SACCOs, Self Help groups, retail centres and markets to make group sales.
• Exceed your sales & collections targets: Meet or exceed sales and collection targets established on the 2nd of every month by your Regional Business Manager. Provide daily, weekly updates on sales, EO recruitments, Customer issues and resolutions, as desired and confirmed with your Regional Business Manager.
• Drive robust field sales processes: Review collection progress with your team 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 ultimately repossessing the systems as a last recourse if the customer defaults.
• Resolve customer issues: Provide world-class assistance to your customers regarding product delivery, training on using and making payments, installation, and after-sales warranty issues. Ensure that you work with your Field Sales Executives to establish clear expectations and processes to resolve all customer issues within 24 hours.
• Review meetings with Areas: Ensure that Area Business Managers conduct periodic table meetings and reviews with all Energy Officers 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 ensure the motivation of the entire regional team is maintained at an all-time high.
• Grow Retail presence: Ensure the retail network in your Area grows with the help of an Area Retail Coordinator hired under each Area Business Managers. Ensure all retail-related activities are followed per process, and the base of high-selling retailers grows exponentially within your area of operation.

You might be a strong candidate if you:

• Hold a degree or diploma in a business-related field or have a minimum of four (4) years working in a field sales role in the FMCG, microfinance, banking or telecom industries.
• Passionate about positively impact the lives of rural, off-grid consumers and resolving their issues.
• Process-oriented and able to work with limited supervision and manage the area.
• Strong professional with great social skills to mentor the team to deliver on expectations.
• Guided by the social mission to provide energy to consumers and employment to rural communities.
• Good communication skills, ability to build and manage large Field Sales Executives teams.
• Can clearly and straight to the point communicate with fluency in both written and spoken English and Portuguese (knowledge of local languages of the region would be considered a plus).