Diary of a Salesperson - VII

The Role of an 'Area Business Manager' - V

“The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.” – Ray Kroc

A leader is the sailor of the ship. No matter what the circumstance is, it is only he who can sail the ship to the shore or let it drown, likewise an ABM is solely responsible for the outcome his team gives. Let me now tell you how an ABM can enhance his own understanding of the team and their performance too.

Brand wise performance of field colleagues.

An ABM should be vigilant towards customer conversion as per Brand Plan Guidelines. During joint working, audit should be done by the ABM to understand conversion, detailed discussion with salesperson on the same would help in better understanding.

For current month business planning and mitigation of brand budget Gaps, the plans should be defined, immediate visit should be planned to customers where productive work has been done for conversion but the result is yet to come so as to convert them for brand budget value gap management.

Utilization of resources and implementation of strategies as per Brand Plan.

Utilization of inputs should be modified when needed as per month business priority not on the cost of long term brand strategy plan. If there is any specific demand by any customer, ABM should take up the responsibility to fulfill it at the earliest as per company policy and law of land. An ABM should play a critical role in getting additional outcomes from core customers for specific brands to mitigate value gap.

Distribution Plan and execution 

By distribution plan we mean stockiest wise business planning as per coverage of field colleagues. Business planning should be reviewed keeping in mind the percentage contribution of every stockiest in total business. Gap as per stockist’s sales boy plan should be mapped and its detailed analysis should be done to arrive at an action plan. If the gap is identified then there is a need to drill down to find out the actual reason behind the gap like whether the gap is due to reduction of prescription or if the customer moved towards competition or non-payment issue etc. After identifying the reason, immediate action should be designed in coordination with the stockiest to mitigate value gap. If stockiest is not willing to cooperate, the next action should be meeting the customer for shifting supply to other stockiest. In case of loss of prescription, an ABM should plan an urgent visit to be with proper pre work and analysis as to why the prescription shift is taking place. Call should be designed to bring back the customer; delay in visit will add to the loss and lead to difficulty in bringing the customer back on prescription.

Continuous Monitoring (Execution of strategies & Return on Investment)

Brand or overall budget achievement strategies execution is vital to achieve value month on month or year on year. Brand managers define strategies keeping in mind the long term goals for the brand, indication and accordingly prioritize the customer coverage etc. Most of the inputs are designed keeping in mind the additional value from current prescribers or expansion of prescribers as per brand life cycle. Role of an ABM is to ensure the execution of strategies by repeatedly communicating the importance of following strategies. Return on investment doesn’t mean prescription outcome post services (as per company policy), visit frequency is also an investment. It is an ABM’s responsibility to ensure right outcome from each customer. Over and above he should identify the gaps or over achievement of budget as per budget defined for all the colleagues, after detailed analysis of each colleague’s performance. It is very important to modify strategy for 100% achievement of ABM budget. For instance, if a salesperson HQ A is not able to achieve budget then in that case salesperson HQ B should be motivated for over achievement, extra efforts and time should be extended for same. Delay in identifying nonperformance of each colleague will not only impact the overall budget achievement of ABM but also the future career growth.

To summarize it all in a brief manner –

An ABM should monitor the team’s performance, identify gaps, help team achieve budget by giving timely guidance and assistance which would help him in achieving his 100% budget for year. With this, I conclude my tips about an ABM’s role and his relationship with reporting authorities. In my next blog, I would talk about ‘Role of an ABM as an Executor.’