Sales Area Manager: who is and what does he/she do?
The Area Manager is a complex professional figure: those who apply for this role must be able to manage sales, face the competition, understand the needs of customers and match them with the company’s strategies and needs. That’s why the search and selection of an Area Manager represents a fundamental and delicate moment for the company, which must be able to recognize, among the different candidates, the one able to guarantee 360° skills in the sector.
Searching for and selecting an Area Manager
One cannot, therefore, think of finding the right person for this role except with a targeted search, which aims to ascertain both human and technical skills. During the search and selection of a Sales Area Manager, in fact, the following requirements must necessarily be taken into consideration:
- organizational skills;
- managerial skills;
- sales and marketing skills;
- linguistic and IT skills;
- previous experience.
In this way, those who apply for this role will be able to plan, analyse, monitor and collect the results of a well-defined project, which is based on economic, statistical elements, experience and knowledge of the markets in which it operates.
The organizational skills of the Area Manager
The search and selection of an Area Manager must be based, among other things, on the evaluation of the organizational skills of the candidates. Talking about organizational skills may seem relatively simple but, of course, this figure must be able to operate in a different way according to the company’s needs. In fact, programming that can be valid and convenient for one company may prove fruitless for another. In other cases it may occur that the programming defined for a given period in a given company cannot be applied for subsequent periods, due to a change in company needs or strategies. Precisely for this reason, the Area Manager must be able to manage and recognize needs and variables and must always be ready to modernize a specific organizational plan according to the evolution of the company or the environment outside the company itself, i.e. competitors or new customer needs.
The Area Manager’s managerial skills
It may seem pointless and yet it is essential to stress that during the search and selection of an Area Manager the candidate’s managerial skills must be evaluated. This role, in fact, as a manager, requires people able to lead a group of salespeople, creating an environment that guarantees the human and professional growth of all those who work under its directives, promoting continuous updating and training activities. According to the needs of modern companies, the Manager will be able to understand the attitudes of its salesmen, stimulating their strengths to increase productivity and personal satisfaction. Leader and not boss, the Area Manager will be able to motivate his team to create a working environment where you can work in a serene and competitive way towards the outside, without stress and harmful competition or internal envy.
Sales and marketing management
Today, any professional figure dealing with sales cannot fail to be updated and closely follow developments in new marketing techniques. When looking for and selecting an Area Manager you cannot ignore the candidate’s skills in this area, as well as the personal interests he or she shows towards the topic of marketing and sales. In fact, it should always be remembered that when we talk about marketing and sales we are talking about a rapidly evolving sector, especially in recent years, in which the network has become a quick and convenient way to sell and buy products and services. The ideal figure of the Area Manager is therefore the one who, in addition to showing a wide knowledge in the sector, is able to constantly update himself on the different sales and marketing techniques and its uses in order to always find the most suitable ones for the company’s needs.
The Area Manager’s managerial skills
It may seem pointless and yet it is essential to stress that during the search and selection of an Area Manager the candidate’s managerial skills must be evaluated. This role, in fact, as a manager, requires people able to lead a group of salespeople, creating an environment that guarantees the human and professional growth of all those who work under its directives, promoting continuous updating and training activities. According to the needs of modern companies, the Manager will be able to understand the attitudes of its salesmen, stimulating their strengths to increase productivity and personal satisfaction. Leader and not boss, the Area Manager will be able to motivate his team to create a working environment where you can work in a serene and competitive way towards the outside, without stress and harmful competition or internal envy.
Sales and marketing management
Today, any professional figure dealing with sales cannot fail to be updated and closely follow developments in new marketing techniques. When looking for and selecting an Area Manager you cannot ignore the candidate’s skills in this area, as well as the personal interests he or she shows towards the topic of marketing and sales. In fact, it should always be remembered that when we talk about marketing and sales we are talking about a rapidly evolving sector, especially in recent years, in which the network has become a quick and convenient way to sell and buy products and services. The ideal figure of the Area Manager is therefore the one who, in addition to showing a wide knowledge in the sector, is able to constantly update himself on the different sales and marketing techniques and its uses in order to always find the most suitable ones for the company’s needs.
Language and IT skills
Of course, depending on the type of company and especially the presence of foreign customers, knowledge of one or more languages (not necessarily only English) may be required. In many companies operating with the new commercial powers, in fact, different language skills are required, such as Chinese, Russian, Arabic even if, as you can easily understand, English remains the passpartout for communication with almost the entire world of international trade. Precisely for this reason the selection of this professional figure cannot disregard the evaluation of the knowledge of one or more foreign languages.
In many cases it may seem superfluous to talk about computer skills when dealing with the search and selection of an Area Manager. Today, everyone knows how to use a computer and, however, having computer skills is different from simply knowing how to use a computer. What is required of such a managerial figure is the competence in the use of specific programs for sales (such as CRM) and specific programs for analysis and statistics that allow to evaluate sales data.
Not only theoretical skills: the importance of experience
In the search and selection of an Area Manager one of the points to be strongly considered is the candidate’s previous experience. This managerial role, in fact, involves high responsibilities, dependent on a large number of factors, ranging from knowing how to organize and implement a business plan to knowing how to manage the activities of employees and salespeople, from monitoring and evaluation of strengths to weaknesses and much more. Precisely for this reason it is essential to know how to show not only a respectable CV, but also specific previous experience, especially when operating in niche or foreign markets. For this reason, in the search and selection of an Area Manager in some cases a greater experience gained in the field or in similar sectors may be more suitable than some additional theoretical knowledge but little practical experience. These are, of course, aspects to be assessed depending on the case, i.e. the candidates and the specific needs of the company.
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