Which is the “Most Important” role in Sales?

I graduated from a “Pure Sales Operation” role into a General Management role back in 1996. My training and experience in Sales came from the best FMCG Company in Pakistan, Unilever.

In my GM role I was responsible for the bottling operation of Coca Cola Beverages Pakistan which had just entered the Pakistan market through acquiring Karachi & Hyderabad bottling operations of Coca Cola. I credit my entry to the Beverage world through a friend Asir Manzur who was heading the CCBPL HR at the time. We met on a flight from Lahore to Karachi and he casually said, you should join us in bottling operations. About Asir it was known that if “he wanted his man, he got his man”. He definitely got me and I came on board CCBPL & my life changed forever after entering the beverage business. However even as a GM responsible for the business, the closest function to me was the sales operations as I have always considered sales the engine of any business which impacts the speed, growth of any business.

Spent about 7 years with Coca Cola on the bottling side which took me to Vietnam as General Director and then brought me back to Lahore as GM heading Bottling Operations for 5 newly acquired bottling units in Punjab. In 2002, I went back to the Unilever as Sales Director where I had initially started my career as a management trainee back in 1984.

The reason for sharing my background is to let you know that whichever role I was assigned, Sales was closest to my heart and this allowed me to drive the business and lead from the front.

As a senior manager in various companies in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam and short term “Fix It” assignments in some countries, I was often asked by people, Ali, which is the Most Important role in Sales? I would always respond and I strongly believe, the TSO/ MDE is the most important role in sales in any FMCG Company. This is the front line which is responsible for actively supervising the Sales drive of the Company.

Sales Director, National Sales Manager, Regional Sales Manager, Zonal Sales Manager, Area Sales Manager are all important roles in any Company, these roles have defined responsibilities and play a major role in driving policies and processes. However, I strongly believe that MDE / TSO is the most important role which can deliver sales expectations for any Company. I often say, if the “front end” supervisory role is effective, the Company and senior management will never have to look back.

Firstly, an effective MDE & TSO is with his Distributor / Order Booker / Spot Seller on daily basis. He can measure their actual performance at outlet level on daily basis. At Pre-Seller level, he can monitor important KPI’s, visit stores where orders were booked, verify bookings and ensure bookings are being made at the outlet rather than in a park or hotel or home through telephone. A strong TSO / MDE drives sales through strong supervision of his order bookers, actually booking orders and ensuring 100% delivery of orders.

Secondly, He has to manage distributor and ensure Company stock levels are maintained as per Company policy. If a distributor does not carry the entire range of SKU’s, retail sales will suffer.

In our own distribution business the “secret of success” has not been the maintenance of Company required stock level, but actually it has been the range of brands / SKU’s available on our floor. At times maintaining Company required stock levels actually hampers a distributors ability to maintain “SKU range” as his major investment is stuck in stocks which are either slow moving or higher than required level due to requirements of target achievement.

On the other hand, a weak MDE/ TSO causes immense damage to the Company if he is not playing an effective role in fulfilling his “daily supervisory obligation”. If he does not visit the market and spends most of his time at the distributor premises, market will suffer as he will not know how his order bookers are performing at ground level. We see KPI’s monitored at senior level and decisions taken accordingly. However, if the TSO / MDE manipulates data to show better KPI performance, decisions taken by senior managers will not be effective. A weak & corrupt TSO/MDE along with distributor “passes” secondary sales on paper for achievement of target and incentives, and in turns approves several type of false distributor claims, the Company suffers serious consequences. Senior Managers are as much to blame who look the other way as long as the numbers are come through.

One of the major mistakes most companies make is to involve the MDE's / TSO into needless reporting and paperwork. Marketing, Trade marketing, Sales regional & Head offices all require information which can easily be obtained through appropriate IT infrastructure. I have seen team of MDE's & TSO's sitting in offices for days involved in paper work. The result is total neglect of market where these guys should be pursuing targets. One of the worst activities is to make them "SETUP" markets for visits from head office officials or other senior colleagues. Markets should always be seen as there are. Seniors and head office officials should come with a 'mindset' of adding value and not as "Policemen" to criticize and penalize sales teams. Responsibility of sales team is to ensure there markets are always at their best.

My advice to senior decision makers is to hire young men / women at TSO / MDE level with fire and ambition, Invest in training them, pay them well, pay them more through incentives, empower them and hold them accountable. Give them a sense of belonging and above all show them respect. Provide them with good coaches and mentors. From my experience we at Unilever were the 1st ones to introduce TSO level in sales including female TSO’s in the Company. They were young and aggressive, came from good families and well educated. We went through real rough times at Unilever and because I used to deal directly with them, I know the pressures they faced and proud that most of them faced these pressures well and performed to the best of their ability. If I was to start a new Company again, I would have hired majority of them. The female TSO’s were absolutely fantastic and carried their responsibilities very well.

At the end, I would ask any Company:

·      Look after the engine which pulls the company forward – Sales 

·      Compensate the front line well through high incentives – TSO’s MDE’s

·      TSO’s / MDE’s - Train them, empower them & hold them accountable 

I hope the above contribution proves useful !