SALES REPRESENTATIVE – HEALTH PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTORS x1 Durban and 1x Johannesburg

Introduction

We are recruiting for a external Sales Representatives to be responsible for building and maintaining relationship with different stores in order to increase the sales of the company products in the stores and to acquire more stores to sell the products.

Duties & Responsibilities

CUSTOMER ORIENTATION

The potential or capacity to focus on and achieve standards of service which comply with the highest expectations of clients.

NEGOTIATION

The potential or capacity to use logical reasoning and/or appropriate images, other figures of speech and basic negotiation skills to convince others of one’s own ideas or to reach conclusions acceptable to all parties.

SOCIALISATION

The potential or capacity to mix freely and easily with people; to feel comfortable amongst people; to feel and be accepted by people.

ADAPTABILITY

The potential or capacity to adapt and accept change; opposing views; new ideas; to be imaginative and creative.

INTERNAL ACTUALISATION (LOCUS OF CONTROL)

The potential or capacity to take decisions of one’s own accord; to lead; to perform; to achieve.

TACT

The potential or capacity to be courteous, diplomatic, comforting, respectful when attending to the problems or difficulties people experience.

FEEDBACK

The potential or capacity to provide positive, helpful and productive feedback to co-workers.

ORGANISATIONAL ALERTNESS

The potential or capacity to appreciate and understand how one’s own job fits in with other jobs and the job structure of the company, the contents and importance of company policies and procedures and its contribution to the whole.

KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS:

SALES:

• Maintain a client call cycle to ensure that clients get visited sufficiently by visiting 6 to 8 stores daily, the first visit must be by 9h00;
• Update call cycles when there are new additions or changes;
• Maintain continuous weekly communication with all stores that are not visited weekly to assist and provide stock when necessary;
• Arrange calls and visits with potential clients to establish relationships and promote the products;
• Email wholesale pricelists and customer forms to potential customers timeously;
• Ensure that new customers details and terms are captured and communicated to head office;
• Ensure that each order is placed on the system or manually by submitting orders through to the Sales Order Processers as soon as possible for best customer satisfaction and to fast track the delivery of the products;
• Maintain positive relationships with all stores and stakeholders including Dischem specific stakeholders if applicable (Regional Managers, Store Managers, Health Managers and floor staff);
• Set up meetings with key managers before long trips in order to ensure that the best value is received out of the trips;
• Arrange quarterly meetings with Regional Managers to ensure relationships are maintained;
• Upsell to customers by promotion of product range and by arranging deal negotiations with the MD to offer to the customers;
• Email the monthly deals for product upsell and promotion;
• Recommend changes in products on the shelves to upsell faster moving products;
• Recommend changes on shelf merchandising to increase rate of sales on fast moving products;
• Negotiate extra shelf space for cross merchandising of fast-moving products;
• Negotiate shelf space in stores to ensure the best possible selling space for The Company products;
• Ensure adequate stock levels by means of placing orders timeously;
• Maintain and/or increase stock presence on shelves and off-shelf displays;
• Ensure that pricing, shelf strips, display material, physical condition and expiry dates of stock is checked when at a store;
• Encourage stores to order optimal levels of fast-moving products;
• Encourage stores to increase their product basket;
• Explore and find new ways to increase market share inside stores;
• Collect all necessary point of sale displays as well as shelf strips from the warehouse and ensure all products are displayed correctly;
• Arrange with relevant merchandiser/consultant when applicable to ensure products are displayed correctly;
• Merchandise the stores when applicable with the objective of achieving more space and better brand presence;
• Arrange and provide brand and product training for staff when necessary;
• Respond to customer complaints and queries and ensure that follow ups are done so that queries and complaints are actioned timeously;
• Negotiate extra space for short dated fast-moving articles in store to maximize sales and minimize returns;
• Provide daily sales updates via emails on sales and stock on hand for fast moving articles;
• Negotiate in store on the up sale of articles by comparing year on year sales for the store in the specific month;
• Provide feedback to management when applicable especially in cases of discrepancies at stores, ensure that there is an action plan to address any discrepancies;
• Analyse and assess reports provided by stores as well as Qlikview reports and formulate strategies on increasing sales;
• Maintain a sound knowledge base about the products and continually learn about new developments in health and nutrition.
• Send out an email and WhatsApp notification to stores and regional managers when selected products are back in stock to ensure that the stock is back on the shelves as soon as possible.

STOCK:

• Return dormant or slower moving stock in exchange for up-ordering on faster stock;
• Return all store returns to the warehouse weekly, returns include damaged, expired and dormant line in the stores;
• Deliver stock to customers if necessary i.e.if near the warehouse and the drivers are not delivering in a certain area on the day;
• Perform stock on hand checks in store to ensure stock counts are correct for best possible F&R ordering;
• Continuously rotate stock in store to minimize expired stock and inform the Office Manager of future expired stock to be aware of;
• Monitor slow moving stock to ensure that credits and returns are minimal.

TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS:

• When travelling a long distance, arrange for transport, flights, accommodation and get approval from the Company before placing bookings;
• Pay for the transport and provide the Company with proof of expenses in order for the Company to reimburse the expenses.

REPORTING

• Provide photos of store’s displays to the The Companysales WhatsApp group to keep management updated on the status of store’s displays;
• Pull weekly sales reports, analyse the reports and email the reports to the MD, Marketing Manager and all Sales Representatives for all regions;
• Pull Qlikview reports on sales drawn for any article if and when need be for the MD.
• Monitor sales from Qlikview in certain regions to influence sales to potential customers in those regions.
• Compile and send a monthly report to the MD which includes feedback on your region as well as an explanation as to why certain stores in your region are in negative year on year growth from the sales data and a plan of action as to how they you going to get the store back into positive growth.

FOLLOW-UP ON PAYMENTS AND QUOTES:

• Should clients be behind on payments and have not responded to the office’s requests for payments, follow up on payments with clients as well as unpaid quotes.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS:

• Ensure that store sales figures increase year on year by 20% vertically and horizontally expanding brands into new stores;
• Ensure that 2 new customers are attained every month or 6 customers per quarter, excluding organic growth from existing chains stores;
• Ensure that stores shelves are neat, tidy and appealing to customers and are positioned favourably in order to maximise sales;
• Ensure that stock on hand is managed proactively by continuous monitoring of reports and that stores are contacted timeously to ensure there is always stock on hand;
• Ensure that all clients queries and complaints are addressed timeously, within 1 working day;
• Ensure that all stores assigned to you are visited sufficiently weekly/bi-weekly/once a month based on the store’s requirements.
• Ensure that dormant stock being returned to The Company is minimised by reporting on slow moving stock and applying strategies to create more sales of the stock.
• Ensure that there is no expired stock being returned to The Company by checking stock on each store visit, communicating with the store manager on different approaches to sell the stock faster or moving the stock to another store where it can be sold faster.

Desired Experience & Qualification

1. Grade 12 & a tertiary qualification would be preferential
2. At least 5 years of sales experience;
3. Completed sales courses are a must, whether Miller Heimann or similar;
4. At least 2 years of having worked in the FMCG or pharmaceutical industry;
5. Must have an understanding of sports nutrition, supplements and be committed to their own health and have an active training regime;
6. An understanding of retail would be beneficial
7. Must be computer literate with a thorough knowledge of the MS Office suite of products as well as of CRM systems.
8. Knowledge of SAP B1 would be beneficial

Package & Remuneration

R15k – R20k Plus Commission