WHAT DOES A COUNTRY SALES MANAGER DO?

Published: August 27, 2024 - The Country Sales Manager ensures consistent communication across the team, aligning with annual priorities and strategies set by management, and ensuring adherence to the company's policies and procedures. This role entails adapting to local business cultures and regulations, forming strategic plans specific to regional needs, and actively engaging in staff development through performance reviews, skill assessments, and personalized coaching. Additionally, the manager plays a crucial role in talent acquisition and integrating management feedback to enhance individual and team performance in alignment with company objectives.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Country Sales Manager

1. Country Sales Manager Duties

  • Market Share Achievement: Achieving business objectives in terms of market share and original equipment volumes.
  • Sales Process Development: Establishing and driving company sales processes and values.
  • Strategic Program Execution: Executing strategic programs in the country through distributors and enhancing capabilities.
  • Sales Promotion Planning: Planning sales promotion activities, market activation, and new product launches to achieve business objectives in line with the overall brand development strategy.
  • Monthly Sales Planning: Achieving monthly plans for retail, collection, and shipments, assessing seasonal trends, stocking requirements, and recommending shipment plan improvements.
  • Distributor Collaboration: Working with distributors and stakeholders of relevant enablers for 'concept selling' and initiating strategic programs.
  • Sales Training: Conducting product and sales process training for distributor/dealer sales teams.
  • Customer Insight Analysis: Understanding customer insights through non-consideration and providing feedback to help develop suitable actions.
  • Organizational Structuring: Recommending organizational structure to distributors by assessing needs, and identifying, and bridging gaps.
  • Regulatory Communication: Understanding and providing timely communication to management on local regulations, distributor profitability, and market dynamics.

2. Country Sales Manager Details

  • Strategy Development: Responsible for the development, implementation, and execution of strategies and tactics in support of the sale of company products with established and potential new customers.
  • Business Results Achievement: Drive business results to meet or exceed annual revenue, profit, and growth objectives.
  • Technical Requirement Management: Manage and interpret customers' technical and business requirements and communicate them to internal team members.
  • Sales Presentation Preparation: Prepare and present technical sales presentations to both business and technical users.
  • Proposal Submission: Prepare and submit customer proposals in response to technical RFQs.
  • Event Participation: Attend and participate in various tradeshows and conferences (including international events).
  • CRM Management: Maintain records of customer interactions in Salesforce.
  • Customer Insight Monitoring: Maintain awareness of customer status, future plans, and any other pertinent information that may affect company decisions.
  • Sales Reporting: Submit a variety of sales status reports.
  • Customer Visit Planning: Submit quarterly customer visit plans.

3. Country Sales Manager Responsibilities

  • Team Communication: Navigate and communicate with the whole team to maintain consistency with the country's yearly priority, management’s direction and strategy, and keep informed of company activities and initiatives.
  • Local Planning: Adopt and study business culture, government policy, and budget lines, and craft country planning based on local requirements.
  • Strategy Communication: Convey the message and information from top management's latest strategies update, including information from the Principal to the teams.
  • Policy Adherence: Ensure staff adhere to company policy, code of conduct, and procedures for company business information and pricing matters.
  • Staff Development: Treat staff fairly, provide frequent constructive feedback and encouragement, and demonstrate a sincere interest in their success and well-being.
  • Talent Acquisition: Attract top-notch sales reps and application engineers, including interviewing, hiring, monitoring, providing employee feedback and documentation, counseling, coaching, and performance management/improvement.
  • Performance Review: Review staff performance based on set criteria through appraisal.
  • Skill Assessment and Coaching: Assess skill sets and provide ongoing coaching and feedback to team members to meet country priority objectives, reinforce sales methodology (solution selling), and provide guidance on career path direction.
  • Personal Development Planning: Implement personal development plans for individual team members.
  • Management Feedback Integration: Accept feedback and advice from the company’s top management on improving the personal development plan.

4. Country Sales Manager Job Summary

  • Sales Methodology Leadership: Lead the sales team to follow the sales methodology and best practices, and adopt solution-selling to convert sales potential into opportunities.
  • Ongoing Coaching and Training: Provide ongoing coaching and training to sales reps regarding sales skills, product knowledge, and market focus.
  • Prospecting and Account Management: Impart appropriate prospecting techniques for securing new customers (Perpetual software), key account management (Maintenance subscription), and general account maintenance.
  • Sales Methodology Proficiency: Work with the Account Manager to ensure that sales reps are properly trained and proficient in sales methodology.
  • Business Activity Review: Conduct reviews of business activities including sales call activity, lead follow-up, account reviews, prospecting, and performance for each sales rep, personnel issues, and professional development opportunities.
  • Competitive Analysis Communication: Help to identify and communicate competitive losses/wins opportunities across commercial and education sales.
  • Sales Process Guidance: Provide guidelines to sales reps when dealing with resellers to control the sales process.
  • Sales Forecast Management: Obtain weekly sales forecasts from each sales rep and prepare a management-level revenue projection for the current month, quarter, and year.
  • Forecast Accuracy Management: Manage and coach sales reps to ensure accurate and timely forecasts are reflected in monthly updates.
  • Marketing Collaboration: Oversee local marketing to collect and communicate corporate marketing requirements and competitive data, including competitor details, latest product updates, license models, and value proposition strategies.

5. Country Sales Manager Accountabilities

  • Cross-Functional Facilitation: Facilitate discussions cross-functionally to ensure the needs of the sales teams are being met and issues are being addressed.
  • Marketing Guidance: Provide guidance and generate ideas for the marketing team to enhance creativity in sales, marketing strategies, event handling, and craft activities based on customers' applications and backgrounds.
  • Account and Opportunity Planning: Work with the Regional Marketing and Customer Success Manager to oversee account and opportunity planning, and implement new initiatives to maximize revenue and market potential for new and existing customers.
  • Technical Support Oversight: Oversee the technical team and ensure adequate support is provided for presales and post-sales cases.
  • Technical Team Development: Collaborate with the Regional Application Engineering Manager to plan the technical team development milestones based on local application needs.
  • Technical Initiative Review: Construct review plans with the team on country technical initiatives and customer POCs (Proof of Concept).
  • Country Planning: Work on the country yearly plan to focus on the company’s business growth, sales, marketing, technical, and operational activities.
  • Sales Opportunity Support: Oversee that the team effectively supports sales opportunities in the assigned area.
  • Sales Staff Development: Drive the professional development of sales staff, including mentorship, training, and performance evaluation.
  • Sales Team Management: Lead and manage a small to medium-sized sales team to achieve quarterly and annual revenue targets.