Assistant Sales Manager: Qualifications and Responsibilities

Assistant sales manager is one of the newfangled professions of our time. But it has its own qualification requirements and responsibilities. It is very important to understand such details in order to understand whether such an activity will suit or not.

The assistant sales manager, also called an assistant in a number of companies, is actually the closest associate of this manager. The most important positive aspects of such a position:

• an opportunity to enrich your experience (improve your qualifications);
• impressive career prospects.

In a number of cases, this outweighs a significant load in the physical and intellectual plan, which inevitably falls on the assistant managers of any type of activity. The specific range of tasks assigned to the assistant is determined by the specifics of the company and what it sells. Most often, assistants work on a five-day week, and the wage bar ranges from a minimum level to 20,000 rubles, occasionally exceeding this level.

Assistant positions, if experience is not required, usually include those who have not previously worked for any reason, as well as recent students, graduate students, and so on.. In this work, they, in fact, gain experience. Often, the position of assistant becomes a stepping stone to independent transformation into a manager. This is usually practiced where current managers soon leave for promotion or will be sent to another unit.

Education requires different things, which again is determined by the specific place of work. In some cases, secondary vocational training is enough. In other situations, assistants with higher education are needed, and in the third, only an assistant with specialized university training will arrange the boss. The main emphasis is on the possession of economic knowledge in general, the ability to sell and knowledge of psychology. Knowledge of foreign languages ​​is welcome.

As for work experience, the situation here is also not too clear. To sell auto parts, products or clothes with shoes, he, of course, is desirable, but not categorically. But trade in overalls, special types of food (exotic, unique), complex types of industrial products without experience is not very realistic. Owning a computer and basic programs is already the norm for everyone involved in the field of management, and will soon be implied by default.

In job descriptions, qualification requirements for assistant managers are voiced more clearly. They need to own:

• basic laws and key by-laws (including departmental ones) governing the commercial trading activity of production;
• current state of the economy;
• basic principles of commercial activity and trade;
• the situation on the market (in general, with the company itself, with its competitors, in related industries, in different regions);
• market dynamics and main trends in supply and demand;
• the main assortment of goods (services) sold, their classification, purpose, key characteristics and opportunities that these goods (services) really give to the consumer.

Sure, will have to monitor the current price level. Moreover, knowledge of management theory and practice, principles of administration in the organization will be very useful. Assistant managers draw up various documents and participate in negotiations, so they you need to know the paperwork and paperwork, the psychology of trade.

Additionally, you will have to master:

• ethics of business interaction;
• business networking approaches;
• sociology;
• staff motivation;
• modern computer programs and network services that facilitate the work.

The main responsibilities of such an employee are:

• assistance to the manager in organizing and debugging the sales network;
• collecting information about the demand for goods or services, analysis of the reasons why it is changing;
• finding additional buyers and intermediaries, establishing contacts with them;
• negotiating with a clientele;
• preparation of documentation at the pre-contractual stage;
• conclusion of contracts;
• organization of deliveries of goods in accordance with contracts;
• tracking payment of goods delivered and services rendered, compliance with other conditions;
• the study of the main claims and wishes for the quality of goods and their characteristics;
• analysis of the quality of after-sales service;
• analysis of the number of sales and their dynamics.

The assistant manager takes into account consumer complaints and understands what is the reason, who is right, how to prevent such complaints from now on. This employee is actively involved in marketing and promotions. It is charged with collecting data on consumers and entering them into databases, expert systems. Also necessary prepare reports on work, draw up analytical reviews and references (topics which are determined by the manager).

Assign manager assistants and remove them can only be the head of the organization or branch (structural unit), and representations are made by the manager or other official. While the assistant is absent, he is replaced by a person appointed in an official manner. Then the same rights and obligations pass to the shift. Assistants have the authority to:

• get acquainted with all the documents regulating their activities;
• request all information for work (including in other structural divisions);
• make suggestions on how to improve the work.

They are responsible for:

• failure to fulfill one's duties;
• violation of the civil code;
• violation of the criminal code;
• administrative violation;
• material damage or data leakage.