Account Manager at Interswitch

Job purpose

The ideal candidate will be able to appropriately identify the needs of both new and current customers in order to aid customers in their success using our product. This will be done by developing an appropriate level of communication with clients and internal team members to better understand and mitigate any issues the customers may face.

Responsibilities

Planning

• Provides cluster specific insights to the Head to support the development of the segment strategic plan and execution approach
• Develops own understanding of the vision and strategy for the Industry
• Prepares the annual cluster plan in line with the Segment strategy and submits to the Head of Banking
• Draws up weekly sales plan for the Team: Draws up an activity list of prospective clients and reviews with Regional Head for possible inputs and approval
• Oversees the generation of relevant cluster market intelligence and feeds this to the Regional Head towards crafting effective strategies to improve product market share

Sales Activities

• Coordinates sales activities (presentation, prospecting)
• Prospects for new opportunities and identifies new profitable customers for Company products/solutions in the assigned cluster
• Mobilises team to build a viable customer pipeline
• Engages with relevant internal and external contacts to generate sales leads /opportunities and product ideas
• Follows up on leads and opportunities to ensure they are translated to sales
• Cross-sells and up-sells group’s products & solutions to existing clients/ customers
• Identifies networking opportunities, sales conferences and events that would provide positive impact to the sales bottom line in assigned sectors
• Attends exhibitions to generate sales leads/opportunities that can be converted to sales post-event
• Carries out external presentations to potential customers; performs customer demonstrations
• Develops proposals for customers
• Negotiates contract & payment terms with clients, reviews and prepare tenets of agreements/ MOU/NDA and works with Legal team to finalize and execute the contracts with client
• Ensures that relevant documents and agreements with clients/sales opportunities are executed and linked to customer profile on CRM
• Actively uses and ensures that team members use the CRM tool to manage sales process and maintain accurate & up to date information on all clients ( customer database)
• Prepares and attends Performance Evaluation sessions with the Head.

Business Development

• Generates demand by pro-actively reaching potential customers to make them aware of the company’s products & solutions

Customer Relationship and Account management

• Develops, manages and sustains accounts relationships for future business success
• Develops and maintains strong relationship with key customers of products in assigned sectors
• Liaises with relevant internal teams to ensure customer issues and complaints with clients in assigned portfolio are properly resolved ( escalates where necessary)
• Carries out account management activities using the key account management framework

Market Polling

• Carries out research with existing clients to gather market intelligence in relation to our products and services
• Provides client feedback about the various products to the relevant groups
• Provides market feedback to Regional Head that will aid the sufficient visibility of payment products in assigned portfolio

Competition/Market Feedback Analysis

• Monitors trends in client buying behaviour and provides relevant market feedback about competing products & solutions to Regional Head/relevant internal teams
• Understands industry trends and sells value proposition based on case studies
• Provides input about competitor product (features/pricing/strategy) that can aid the Company’s offering/sales efforts

Event Management & Product Visibility

• Identifies networking opportunities, sales conferences and events that would provide positive impact to the sales bottom line on assigned portfolio
• Works with Group Marketing to ensure market visibility of products in assigned portfolio

Receivables Management

• Coordinates team members & works with finance to ensure that all balance payments for signed off projects from clients on assigned portfolio are promptly paid within stipulated periods

Risk Management & Compliance

• Promptly flags off any risk or compliance issues likely to affect sales opportunities (existing/potential)
• Ensures proper agreements & MOU are duly executed with clients and securely filed
• Works with Regional Head to close any risks/compliance issues identified during the risk assessment and audit exercise

Regulatory Activities

• Liaises with regulatory bodies to facilitate approvals for Company requests and protect the interest of the company during formulation of regulatory policies
• Provides feedback to the Regional Head promptly on policies and topical issues regulatory bodies are considering from time to time

Performance Review and Monitoring

• Carries out daily review of open opportunities for the team to ensure they are closed in the month of consideration
• Reviews set targets against actual with the Head, with respect to sales turnover and revenue generated using CRM
• Reviews possible revenue lines and income for the coming quarter to ensure that cluster performance remains on track
• Monitors sales performance & deviations from targets

Reporting

• Prepares and submit weekly, monthly reports on sales activities to the Departmental Head
• Prepares periodic reports on growth and opportunities in assigned sector
• Prepares periodic report on revenue analysis
• Prepares ad hoc reports on sales activities as required from time to time

Qualifications

• First degree from a reputable institution
• Previous account management experience
• Articulate and well accustomed to a client facing role
• Willingness and ability to travel

Professional qualification

• Not mandatory but Certified Sales Professional qualification is an added advantage

Experience

• 2 -4 Relevant years