Role
- Provide leadership over the sales department.
- Working on building & executing the overall strategic enterprise sales plan to deliver and maintain aggressive market growth.
- Developing weekly/monthly/annual and seasonal sales targets for all verticals and teams, examining growth opportunities, enabling sales improvements, product mix development, and taking responsibility for the department’s performance against targets.
- Managing the sales department and inclusive of launches, promotions, exclusives, campaign activities for the purpose of maximizing sales opportunities.
- Introduction of brand and categories to the market by leading the sales team in product launches.
- Establishing and overseeing the adoption of departmental vision and values.
- Be a mentor to key positions within the sales department, assisting in the execution of duties upon request, honing their professional skills, and readying them for occupation of his position in his absence.
- Utilizing sales, analytics tools and working with the analytics team in undertaking detailed analyses of sales performance for the purpose of reporting sales strategy successes, weaknesses, and opportunities to senior sales management. Undertaking various research and analyses, the Head of Sales identifies areas of improvement in sales strategies and with a view of establishing actionable insights for the improving of sales and business profits.
- Collaborate and team up with the product development departments in creating product intelligence, for example, product/brand adjacencies, affinities, udisplay rules, conducting trend analysis, and ensuring that these are aligned to support and drive sales and conversion.
- Work closely with the analytics department in processing relevant data and information, translating it into actionable strategies that drive sales and lead to achievement of targets. Responsible for the development of plans, strategies, structure, budget, vision, and establishment of goals for the department.
- Also responsible for managing key relationships on behalf of the business. The Head of Sales builds strong relationships with the external partners and consumers and regularly interacts with them by attending sales workshops, seminars and hosting events, hosting sales events for the business’s product, playing an active role in industry organizations and so forth.
- Conducting regular and consistent research on the latest market best practices and trends in order to constantly keep the business at par or even ahead of other players and driving greater sales resulting from the securing a greater market share.
- Monitor and observe the brand and make forecasts, identifying new trends ahead of the curve, hence, offering the business a competitive advantage and keeping it ahead of its competition in the market.
Essential:
Education: Must have a Masters degree (PhD preferred) in Business Management, Business Administration.
Experience: The Head of Sales must have had at least 20 years of working experience in a sales position within a fast-paced and dynamic business environment, preferably working in the position of a Senior Sales Manager. The candidate must also have a proven and successful ability to lead a group of sales personnel towards growth in enhanced sales volumes and enhanced revenue generation, while displaying exceptional leadership skills and confidence. A suitable candidate will also have had experience evaluating product/market situations and analyzing raw data and information, transforming it into actionable sales strategies and approaches.
Communication Skills: The Head of Sales must possess exceptional communication skills that are especially important in enabling effective communication between his interactions with consumers and external partners. The performance of junior sales personnel will also be highly dependent on the clarity of communication of information and instructions from the Head of Sales, making these skills a must have for the position.
Communication skills are also absolutely necessary for the Head of Sales when it comes to drafting reports and making presentations to consumers, senior sales management, stakeholders, or external partners. He must be able to tailor messages in relation to the audience at hand and to present even the most complex messages in clear, simple, digestible, and convincing terms. These skills must be excellent in both written and verbal form.
Ms Office: The Head of Sales must demonstrate high proficiency in Ms Word and PowerPoint, which are necessary for the creating both visually and verbally engaging reports and presentations for the senior sales management, junior sales personnel, external partners, collaborating personnel, and relevant stakeholders.
Analytical Skills: A candidate for this position must also have a keen interest in conducting research and data-driven insights coupled without standing planning & analytical capabilities. The candidate will have an in-depth knowledge of the business’s product as well as standard strategic, analytical, and marketing concepts.
A suitable candidate for this position will also have a deep understanding of the business’s marketplace models as well as the opportunities and limitations that come along with it.
Interpersonal Skills: The Head of Sales will posses certain interpersonal skills that will encourage openness and trust both internally and externally. He will be self-motivated, have a strong entrepreneurial spirit, be adaptable to business growth fluctuations, work comfortably and effortlessly in group settings, be a persuasive and charismatic individual, thrive in a fast-paced environment, and work well under the pressure of stringent deadlines. The Head of Sales will also demonstrate calmness under stressful situations and in uncertainty, inspiring the same in his team.
Leadership/People Skills: A candidate for this position needs to demonstrate exceptional leadership skills, portraying an ability to move and inspire a large group in a unified direction and vision. Being a representative of the business, he must also be a likable and approachable individual who is able to form strong and long-lasting relationships both internally and externally on behalf of the business.