Area Business Manager
Sun King
Sales & Business Development
Kenya
Posted on Sep 19, 2024
About the role:
The Area Business Manager will manage sales, collections and distribution operations in the area they are assigned for the direct distribution of Sun King Solar products sold on Pay-As-You-Basis (also called and recognized as the “EasyBuy” Business unit) through a network of agents called as “Energy Officer”.
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 Area Business Manager is ultimately accountable for generating sales, providing timely and accurate collections, and keeping the entire Direct Distribution growing rapidly in a sustainable manager.
The Area Business Manager will manage sales, collections and distribution operations in the area they are assigned for the direct distribution of Sun King Solar products sold on Pay-As-You-Basis (also called and recognized as the “EasyBuy” Business unit) through a network of agents called as “Energy Officer”.
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 Area Business Manager is ultimately accountable for generating sales, providing timely and accurate collections, and keeping the entire Direct Distribution growing rapidly in a sustainable manager.
- Department
- EasyBuy Direct Sales
- Employment Type
- Permanent - Full Time
- Location
- Kenya
- Workplace type
- Onsite
- Reporting To
- Regional Business Manager
What you would be expected to do:
Hire & retain Energy Officers:
Hire, train and maintain a team of at least 40 Sun King Energy Officers in the area. Use multiple avenues for finding the right talent to sell Sun King EasyBuy products with the help of village influencers such as the village heads, teachers, religious heads, doctors, farmers and others, as applicable. Create a reputation and goodwill for the mission of Sun King to provide clean, affordable and reliable sources of energy in their areas.
Training of energy officers:
Provide training to Energy Officers: on several aspects of the business such as sales, collections, product, technical, inventory and logistics related. Ensure that they are fully equipped and managed professionally, demonstrating integrity, ethics, and professionalism while dealing with customers.
Provide role clarity to energy officers:
Provide complete clarity to Energy Officers related to their day-to-day tasks, sales & collections plans, routes and targets; this includes ensuring Energy Officers have a pre-arranged sales route/area to sell in, they demonstrate and sell Sun King products, and they have the confidence to present and resolve basic customer queries on the spot. They have access to the Area Business Manager in case of questions and concerns.
Daily field visits:
Have a weekly touchpoint with every Energy Officer in your area – either through in-person meetings, making a sale to the customer in your area or having a call. Resolve all possible issues the energy officers face and report them to your Regional Business Manager every week. Ensure that the first five sales of each Energy Officer are made along with the Area Business Manager in the area by each Energy Officer to ensure that each Energy Officer has full grasp of the core sales and collection process.
Work with energy officers:
Conduct joint fieldwork with a group of Energy Officers to provide sales and collection training weekly and drive EO 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 on the 2nd of every month by your Regional Business Manager. Provide daily, weekly updates on sales, EO recruitments, Customer issues and resolutions, as desired and confirmed with your Regional Business Manager.
Drive robust field sales processes:
Review collection progress with your team 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 ultimately repossessing the systems as a last recourse if the customer defaults.
Resolve customer issues:
Provide world-class customer service to your customers regarding product delivery, training on using and making 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.
Review meetings with energy officers:
Conduct weekly table meetings with Energy Officers and ensure that you have a Regional Business Manager present in those meetings to resolve any outstanding customers or Energy Officer issues. Coordinate, plan and organise the meeting to have maximum attendance and progress. Recognise outstanding performers from time to time and ensure the motivation of Energy Officers is maintained at an all-time high.
Hire, train and maintain a team of at least 40 Sun King Energy Officers in the area. Use multiple avenues for finding the right talent to sell Sun King EasyBuy products with the help of village influencers such as the village heads, teachers, religious heads, doctors, farmers and others, as applicable. Create a reputation and goodwill for the mission of Sun King to provide clean, affordable and reliable sources of energy in their areas.
Training of energy officers:
Provide training to Energy Officers: on several aspects of the business such as sales, collections, product, technical, inventory and logistics related. Ensure that they are fully equipped and managed professionally, demonstrating integrity, ethics, and professionalism while dealing with customers.
Provide role clarity to energy officers:
Provide complete clarity to Energy Officers related to their day-to-day tasks, sales & collections plans, routes and targets; this includes ensuring Energy Officers have a pre-arranged sales route/area to sell in, they demonstrate and sell Sun King products, and they have the confidence to present and resolve basic customer queries on the spot. They have access to the Area Business Manager in case of questions and concerns.
Daily field visits:
Have a weekly touchpoint with every Energy Officer in your area – either through in-person meetings, making a sale to the customer in your area or having a call. Resolve all possible issues the energy officers face and report them to your Regional Business Manager every week. Ensure that the first five sales of each Energy Officer are made along with the Area Business Manager in the area by each Energy Officer to ensure that each Energy Officer has full grasp of the core sales and collection process.
Work with energy officers:
Conduct joint fieldwork with a group of Energy Officers to provide sales and collection training weekly and drive EO 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 on the 2nd of every month by your Regional Business Manager. Provide daily, weekly updates on sales, EO recruitments, Customer issues and resolutions, as desired and confirmed with your Regional Business Manager.
Drive robust field sales processes:
Review collection progress with your team 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 ultimately repossessing the systems as a last recourse if the customer defaults.
Resolve customer issues:
Provide world-class customer service to your customers regarding product delivery, training on using and making 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.
Review meetings with energy officers:
Conduct weekly table meetings with Energy Officers and ensure that you have a Regional Business Manager present in those meetings to resolve any outstanding customers or Energy Officer issues. Coordinate, plan and organise the meeting to have maximum attendance and progress. Recognise outstanding performers from time to time and ensure the motivation of Energy Officers is maintained at an all-time high.
You might be a strong candidate if you:
- Hold minimum of a diploma from a recognized institution preferably in sales and marketing. A degree will be an added advantage
- Have at least three years of field sales experience, preferably in FMCG, Micro-Finance, or Telecom.
- Are passionate about working with rural consumers and resolving their issues.
- Are process-oriented and able to work without supervision and manage the area.
- Have a drive for social mission to provide energy to consumers and employment to rural communities.
- Good communication skills, ability to build teams.
- Good communication skills.
What we offer (in addition to compensation and statutory benefits):
- A platform for professional growth in a rapidly expanding, high-impact sector.
- Immerse in a collaborative culture, energized by employees of Sun King who are collectively motivated by fostering a transformative, sustainable venture.
- A genuinely global environment: Engage and learn alongside a diverse group from varied geographies and backgrounds.
- Tailored learning pathways through the Sun King Center for Leadership to elevate your leadership and managerial capabilities
About Sun King
Sun King is the world’s leading off-grid solar energy company, combining cutting-edge product design, fintech, and field operations to deliver energy access for the 1.8 billion people who live without an affordable and reliable electric-grid connection. Sun King has connected more than 20 million homes to solar power across Africa and Asia, adding over 200,000 homes each month.
Sun King makes solar products affordable to low-income households and businesses via ‘pay-as-you-go’ purchase financing. Sun King installs solar after customers pay a small deposit. Customers then make small, manageable payments of as little as US $0.11 a day via mobile money or cash.
Instead of paying for expensive, polluting, and health-damaging kerosene for lighting or diesel for power, customers unlock savings through accessing solar power and after one to two years of payments, customers own their solar equipment outright. To date, our Sun King solar products have saved customers more than $4 billion cumulatively.
Sun King collects payments digitally through mobile money systems and its 28,000 field agents — over 650,000 payments each day. Embedded electronics inside each Sun King device regulate usage based on payments, similar to the operation of a pre-paid mobile or electricity meter.
Sun King collects payments digitally through mobile money systems and its 28,000 field agents — over 650,000 payments each day. Embedded electronics inside each Sun King device regulate usage based on payments, similar to the operation of a pre-paid mobile or electricity meter.
From cost-effective solar systems that provide home lighting and phone charging to robust solar inverters that can power high-energy appliances such as laptops, computers, refrigerators, and more, effectively acting as a full stand-in for grid power, Sun King’s products cater to a wide range of income segments and energy needs. Leveraging its proven distribution network and brand, Sun King is expanding its range of products and services to encompass clean cooking, electric mobility, entertainment, and more, aiming to address the needs of our underserved customers.
Sun King employs 2,800 full-time staff in 12 countries, with specialties spanning product design, data science, logistics, customer service, sales, software, operations, and more — all with a passion to serve off-grid families.
Sun King is committed to gender diversity in the workplace. Women represent 44% of Sun King’s workforce.
