Area Business Manager, Dokolo job at Sun King

About the role:

The Area Business Manager at Sun King will coordinate sales, collections, and distribution operations in the area they are assigned for the direct distribution of Sun King Solar products sold on a Pay-As-You-Go basis (also called and recognized as the “EasyBuy” Business unit) through a network of agents called " Energy Officers.”

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 source of energy in their areas.

Training of Energy Officers: Provide training to the Energy Officers on several aspects of the business such as sales, collections, product, technical, inventory and logistics related. Ensure that they are fully supervised in the best professional manner demonstrating highest levels of 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 sales route/area to sell in, they know on how to demonstrate and sell Sun King products, they have the confidence to be able to present and resolve basic customer queries on the spot and they have access to Area Business Manager at all times 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 faced by the Energy Officers and report them to your Regional Business Manager, every week. Ensure that first 5 sales of each Energy Officer is done along with the Area Business Manager in the area, by each Energy Officer to ensure that the core sales and collection process is fully understood by each Energy Officer.

Work with Energy Officers: Conduct joint field work with a group of Energy Officers to provide sales and collection training on a weekly basis and drive EO engagement. This includes doing night activations, market activations, visiting local communities and gatherings such as SACCOs, Self Help groups, retail centers and markets to make group sales.

Exceed your sales & collections targets: Meet or exceed sales and collection targets established on 2nd of every month by your Regional Business Manager. Provide daily, weekly updates on sales, EO recruitments, Customer issues and resolutions, in alignment with your Regional Business Manager.

Drive robust field sales processes: Review collection progress with your Energy Officers daily and provide adequate training to them on driving 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 in case the customer defaults.

Remain externally focused: Keep an eye on companies selling similar products within your area and ensure you take adequate measures to protect and grow our business from pressures. Pre-inform your management team and take measures to ensure Sun King remains a paramount brand name in Solar products for your area.

Resolve customer issues: Provide world-class customer service to your customers as it relates to product delivery, training on how to use and make payments, installation, 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.

Control Marketing & Other spend: Provide adequate marketing materials & equipment (such as smartphones) necessary to all your Energy Officers. Ensure we get maximum return on investment for all the costs we incur in areas of marketing, supply chain, store maintenance and smartphone issuance.

Review meetings with Energy Officers: Conduct weekly table meetings with Energy Officers and ensure that you have RBM present in those meetings to resolve any outstanding customers or EO issues. Coordinate, plan and organize the meeting to have maximum attendance and progress. Recognize outstanding performers from time to time and ensure the motivation of Energy Officers is maintained at an all-time high.

Grow Retail presence: Ensure the retail network in your Area grows with the help of an Area Retail Coordinator, hired under you. Ensure all retail related activities are followed per process and the base of high-selling retailer grows exponentially within your area of operation.

You might be a strong candidate if you

A degree in a Business-related field OR equivalent and at least 3 years of hands-on experience in Sales.

Ability to source, hire, and retain sales personnel.

Experience in using diverse recruitment channels, including community influencers.

Proven experience in direct sales and field sales processes.

Good knowledge of route planning and sales territory management

Ability to set, monitor, and achieve sales and collection targets.

Experience in tracking daily and weekly sales performance.

Critical thinking skills to assess sales data and improve performance.

Good customer service skills with the ability to resolve customer complaints efficiently.

Proactive in implementing strategies to increase sales and collections.

Knowledge of the solar energy industry is a plus.

Ability to provide structured reports and updates on sales, recruitment, and customer issues.

Good negotiation and persuasion skills.

What Sun King offers

Professional growth in a dynamic, rapidly expanding, high-social-impact industry

An open-minded, collaborative culture with enthusiastic colleagues driven by the challenge of innovation and making a profound impact on people and the planet.

A truly multicultural experience: you will have the chance to work with and learn from people from different geographies, nationalities, and backgrounds.

Structured, tailored learning and development programs that help you become a better leader, manager, and professional through the Sun King Center for Leadership.

• Coordinate sales, collections, and distribution operations in the assigned area for Sun King Solar products sold on a Pay-As-You-Go basis through a network of agents called "Energy Officers."
• Hire, train, and maintain a team of at least 40 Sun King Energy Officers.
• Utilize multiple avenues for finding talent, including village influencers.
• Build reputation and goodwill for Sun King's mission.
• Provide training to Energy Officers on sales, collections, product knowledge, technical aspects, inventory, and logistics.
• Supervise Energy Officers with integrity, ethics, and professionalism.
• Provide role clarity to Energy Officers regarding daily tasks, sales & collections plans, routes, and targets.
• Ensure Energy Officers have sales routes/areas, know how to demonstrate and sell products, and can resolve basic customer queries.
• Conduct daily field visits and weekly touchpoints with every Energy Officer.
• Resolve issues faced by Energy Officers and report them to the Regional Business Manager weekly.
• Ensure the first 5 sales of each Energy Officer are conducted with the Area Business Manager.
• Conduct joint field work with Energy Officers for sales and collection training.
• Drive Energy Officer engagement through night activations, market activations, and community visits.
• Meet or exceed monthly sales and collection targets.
• Provide daily and weekly updates on sales, recruitment, customer issues, and resolutions.
• Review collection progress with Energy Officers daily and provide training on improving collections.
• Conduct customer and area profiling, ensure timely collection follow-ups, and resolve customer issues.
• Repossess systems as a last resort in case of customer default.
• Monitor competitors selling similar products and protect/grow the business.
• Provide world-class customer service related to product delivery, training, payments, installation, and warranty issues.
• Ensure all customer issues are resolved within 24 hours.
• Provide marketing materials and equipment to Energy Officers.
• Ensure maximum return on investment for marketing, supply chain, store maintenance, and smartphone issuance costs.
• Conduct weekly table meetings with Energy Officers, with Regional Business Manager present.
• Coordinate and organize meetings for maximum attendance and progress.
• Recognize outstanding performers and maintain Energy Officer motivation.
• Grow the retail network with the help of an Area Retail Coordinator.
• Ensure retail activities follow process and grow the base of high-selling retailers.

• Sales
• Collections
• Distribution
• Hiring
• Training
• Team Management
• Recruitment
• Community Engagement
• Sales Training
• Collection Training
• Product Knowledge
• Technical Skills
• Inventory Management
• Logistics Management
• Supervision
• Integrity
• Ethics
• Professionalism
• Customer Service
• Role Clarity
• Sales Planning
• Collection Planning
• Route Planning
• Territory Management
• Sales Targets
• Collection Targets
• Field Sales
• Customer Issue Resolution
• Reporting
• Negotiation
• Persuasion
• Marketing
• Supply Chain Management
• Retail Network Growth

• A degree in a Business-related field OR equivalent
• At least 3 years of hands-on experience in Sales
• Ability to source, hire, and retain sales personnel
• Experience in using diverse recruitment channels, including community influencers
• Proven experience in direct sales and field sales processes
• Good knowledge of route planning and sales territory management
• Ability to set, monitor, and achieve sales and collection targets
• Experience in tracking daily and weekly sales performance
• Critical thinking skills to assess sales data and improve performance
• Good customer service skills with the ability to resolve customer complaints efficiently
• Proactive in implementing strategies to increase sales and collections
• Knowledge of the solar energy industry is a plus
• Ability to provide structured reports and updates on sales, recruitment, and customer issues
• Good negotiation and persuasion skills