‘The Regional Sales Manager’…, sounds a pretty authoritative job, right? Read this article to find out info about the duties and responsibilities that are expected from people applying for this job position.
As the title suggests, a Regional Sales Manager (RSM) is the person who is responsible for monitoring and managing the marketing and sales of certain products within a given geographic region, this is where the term ‘regional’ comes from. He or she has various employees working and reporting under him or her on a daily basis. An RSM is the sole in charge of taking care of the growth and revenue of his particular department, in the region that has been allotted to him or her…, so yes, it is a pretty authoritative and demanding job. The following sections will tell you more on the skills that you must possess to justify this job, but first, let us have a look at the duties and responsibilities of the regional sales manager.
Duties and Responsibilities
In order to be a successful RSM, the person should have the skills of a ‘marketing expert’. Though the statement may seem to be a little exaggerating to you right now, you would understand why I said so, when you enter the corporate world and understand the demands of this job. The following points explain the nature of work that an RSM is expected to do.
- Planning and implementing a competitive strategy to bring about a substantial growth in the sales margin.
- Identify the new and emerging opportunities in the market and strategically tap those opportunities to promote a new product line.
- Guiding and mentoring the sales representatives working under you to meet the set targets on time so that the overall sales objectives can be met as scheduled.
- Recruiting, orienting, training and counseling new sales employees and distributing the workforce in the districts that come under you.
- Acting as the source of contact between the sales leaders and the sales representatives in terms of communicating the appraisals, performance evaluation, and changes in the policies and procedures.
- Preparing monthly reports and annual marketing budget by using one’s forecasting and analytical skills through carefully studying the market trends.
- Demonstrating the products during regional level trade shows and attracting more and more customers towards the products. This duty comes along with the responsibility of meeting customer expectations and doing all that is possible to retain customer loyalty.
- Encourage and motivate future sales leaders by keeping the sales representatives updated about the current market requirements and ensuring that they perform to their best of capabilities.
- Conduct and attend weekly meetings to make sure that all the concerns and issues are addressed and that everything in the pipeline is scheduled the way it is planned.
Educational Qualifications and Skills
After going through the nature of work that a regional sales manager is expected to do, you would have understood that in order to apply for this job position, one needs to possess analytical and judgmental skills. One also needs to be good at communicating, multitasking, handling stress related situations and most importantly, leadership.
As far as the educational requirements for this job is concerned, in order to have a fair chance for selection, it is a must to have at least a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Sales. A course in subjects related to marketing, sales and administration is also acceptable in some organizations. But only educational qualification is not enough. You are also expected to have a minimum of 5 years of work experience in the related industry. As this is a very demanding job, people want to hire the person who is highly qualified.
The regional sales manager salary ranges from anywhere within $47,581 to $134,681. The more qualified and experienced you are, the better and bigger organizations will hire you. This is why there is a huge salary range in this job. According to sources, the demand for an RSM is going to increase in future. So start preparing yourself from now on and increase your chances to be counted among the best managers in the corporate world.