Regional Business Manager

Job Description

The EasyBuy Direct Sales team is the market-facing arm of Sun King’s pay-as-you-go (PAYG) direct-to-consumer sales business. The Easy Buy Direct Sales team is tasked to recruit and manage the company’s network of thousands of commission sales agents, called “Energy Officers” that promote and sell Sun King’s PAYG solar solutions and provide customer ongoing service in their local territories. Sun King’s EasyBuy Direct sales team ensures that the company meets its sales, collections, and repayment targets and for providing fair, respectful, customer-centred service to Sun King customers. Through the EasyBuy PAYG solar business model, customers can purchase a Sun King solar home solution by making a small down payment up front and paying the remaining balance through a series of instalments over a specific period of time.

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 "EasyBuy" Business unit). This is done through an extensive network of agents called “Field Sales Executives” who visit door-to-door and sell. EasyBuy technology and services allow customers to purchase units by paying for their Solar products in small instalments, thus ensuring they are 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 that 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: Provide complete clarity to the regional team related to their day-to-day tasks, sales & collections plans, routes and targets. This includes ensuring that your sales team has a pre-settled sales route/area to sell in, they acknowledge how to demonstrate and sell Sun King products, they have the confidence to be able to present and resolve basic customer queries on the spot, and they have access to Regional Business Manager at all times in case of questions and concerns.
• 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. Every week, resolve all possible issues faced by the Field Sales Executives and report them to your Regional Business Manager. Ensure that the first ten sales of each Area Business Manager are done along with the Regional Business Manager in the area and some Field Sales Executives to ensure that each Area Business Manager fully acknowledges 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 doing night activations, 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 and consented upon on the 2nd of every month with your sales supervisors. Provide daily, and weekly updates on sales, Energy Officer 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: Keep an eye on the market within your region and ensure you take adequate measures to protect and grow our business from rival 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 your customers regarding product delivery, training on how to use and make payments, installation, and after-sales warranty issues. Ensure that you work with your Energy Officers to establish clear expectations and processes to resolve all customer issues within 24 hours.
• Control Marketing & Other spend: Provide adequate marketing assistance & 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 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.

You might be a strong candidate if you

• Has a degree in a Business-related field OR equivalent and at least 6 years of hands-on experience in Sales.
• Between 35 - 40 Years
• Has excellent Computer knowledge with comprehensive knowledge of Excel and PowerPoint
• Can motivate a high-performing sales team and ensure performance
• Has high innovative skills, thinking out of the box, cost-conscious
• Is excellently skilled in Planning, Organizing, Prioritizing, maximizing value and seeing the big picture.
• Can develop, and skillfully build relations, and work on internal & external relationships.
• Listens well, coaches others and is disciplined in their learning practice.
• Has Operation Excellence (Keeps promise, is detail-oriented, seeks to be informed and gives excellent Customer Satisfaction).

What We Offer

• 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.