HEAD, SALES DEVELOPMENT

The Head, Sales Development is responsible for driving sales effectiveness, route-to-market excellence, trade execution, sales capability development, and the deployment of sales technology across the organization.
The role will lead initiatives that strengthen the company's sales infrastructure, improve field execution, optimize distribution and route-to-market models, and enhance the productivity and capabilities of the sales team.
A key focus of the role is to ensure effective Trade Activation, RTM strategy and execution, Capability Development, and SFA/DMS implementation and adoption, while working closely with Sales, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain, IT, and other relevant functions.

1. SALES DEVELOPMENT & STRATEGY

• Develop and implement sales development strategies aligned with overall business and commercial objectives.
• Identify opportunities to improve sales productivity, coverage, distribution, revenue growth, and market penetration and analyze sales performance, market trends, customer behavior, and channel dynamics to identify growth opportunities.
• Develop frameworks, processes, and tools that improve sales force effectiveness.

2. TRADE ACTIVATION & EXECUTION

• Lead the development and execution of effective Trade Activation strategies across relevant channels and customer segments.
• Work closely with Marketing and Sales to translate brand and commercial strategies into effective in-market activation plans.
• Develop trade programs, visibility initiatives, promotions, and execution standards to drive sales and distribution.
• Establish clear execution guidelines, KPIs, and measurement frameworks for trade activation and monitor ROI and effectiveness of trade activities and recommend improvements.

3. ROUTE-TO-MARKET (RTM)

• Lead the development, optimization, and continuous review of the company's Route-to-Market (RTM) strategy.
• Evaluate distribution models, sales territories, channels, customer segments, and coverage structures.
• Develop appropriate RTM models for different channels, territories, and customer segments.
• Drive RTM optimization initiatives to reduce distribution inefficiencies and improve cost-to-serve and monitor RTM performance and recommend corrective actions based on business and market dynamics.

4. SALES FORCE CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT

• Develop and implement a structured Sales Capability Development framework.
• Identify capability gaps across the sales organization and develop appropriate interventions.
• Partner with HR/L&D to design and implement sales training, coaching, and development programs.
• Build capabilities in areas including selling skills, negotiation, category management, trade execution, distributor management, analytics, and leadership.
• Measure the effectiveness and business impact of capability-building initiatives.

5. SFA / DMS IMPLEMENTATION & ROLLOUT

• Lead the implementation, rollout, and adoption of Sales Force Automation (SFA) and Distributor Management System (DMS) across the sales organization.
• Develop implementation plans, timelines, milestones, and adoption targets.
• Work closely with IT, Sales, distributors, and technology partners to ensure successful deployment.
• Drive user adoption, compliance, data accuracy, and effective utilization of SFA/DMS tools.
• Identify process gaps and continuously improve system functionality and usability.
• Develop dashboards and reports to provide actionable sales and distribution insights.
• Ensure SFA/DMS supports sales planning, order management, outlet coverage, merchandising, distribution tracking, and performance management.

6. SALES PERFORMANCE & ANALYTICS

• Develop and maintain sales performance dashboards and management reports.
• Analyze sales trends, distribution, numeric/weighted distribution, outlet productivity, sales force productivity, and channel performance.
• Provide actionable insights to support commercial decision-making.
• Establish sales development KPIs and performance tracking mechanisms.
• Identify underperforming areas and drive corrective action plans.

7. SALES PROCESS & PRODUCTIVITY

• Review and improve sales processes, workflows, and operating models.
• Drive initiatives to improve sales force productivity and effectiveness.
• Establish best practices for territory management, call planning, outlet coverage, sales reporting, and customer management.
• Standardize sales execution processes across regions and channels.
• Continuously identify opportunities for automation and process improvement.

8. CROSS-FUNCTIONAL COLLABORATION

• Collaborate with Marketing on trade activation, channel strategy, category development, and commercial execution.
• Work with Finance on sales performance, trade spend, ROI, pricing, and commercial effectiveness.
• Partner with Supply Chain to improve availability, distribution, and service levels.
• Work with IT and technology partners on SFA/DMS implementation and optimization.
• Collaborate with HR/L&D on sales capability development and talent programs.