Senior Area Sales Manager

Birla Carbon; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 800,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Birla Carbon is seeking a seasoned sales professional for their Bengaluru branch. The ideal candidate will have 6-8 years of experience in sales, specifically within the housing finance sector. Responsibilities include managing branch operations, achieving sales targets, and driving cross-selling initiatives. The role requires strong team management skills and a postgraduate degree. Candidates should possess significant experience in business growth and fine-tuning operational processes.

Qualifications

• Minimum 6-8 years of total sales experience in Banking/NBFC space.
• At least 3-4 years recent experience in HFC sales.

Responsibilities

• Plan and manage sales operations to achieve targets.
• Drive cross-selling across product lines.
• Oversee end-to-end branch operations.
• Manage day-to-day branch administration and customer complaints.

Skills

Business and commercial acumen

Team management and communication skills

Execution skills

Product-market understanding

Operations integration & controlling skills

Education

Postgraduate degree

Job description

At the Aditya Birla Group, our Corporate Vision is aligned and intricately woven with our People Vision.

1) Job Purpose

The purpose of this job is to plan area (city/branch) sales and business growth with the Regional Head (Sales) and achieve set targets through the team while complying with sales processes and guidelines at all times. It takes joint approval decisions with Risk counterpart as per approval matrix, and works with Risk, Operations and Sales Governance teams to ensure portfolio health. It works to support business profitability by addressing underperformance, adopting process improvements, capitalizing on channel optimisation opportunities, etc. It intervenes as required in specific cases/ exceptions and helps address bottlenecks for the achievement of sales targets, hand‑holding team members on complex cases. It also drives cross‑selling across ABHFL and ABFSG products/solutions as per regional plans and unique client requirements.

Job Context & Major Challenges

Organizational Context

Key Aspects:

• Part of the Aditya Birla Financial Service Group (ABFSG), Aditya Birla Housing Finance Limited (ABHFL) is registered with the National Housing Bank as a housing finance company under the National Housing Bank Act, 1987. The company offers a complete range of housing finance solutions such as home loans, home improvement and home construction loans, balance transfer and top‑up loans, loans against property and construction finance. The company acquired its license on 9 th July 2014 and has aggressive growth plans.
• ABHFL operates in the Rs. 11.4 trillion Indian Housing Finance market, which has grown at a steady rate of 17% CAGR over the last 3 years while reporting good asset quality despite challenges in the operating environment. While the industry is dominated by five large groups, there has been an emergence of newer entrants in niche segments like affordable housing and self‑employed borrowers, given the high potential in these segments. Despite increased focus by banks, HFCs have been able to maintain their share in the mortgage market and has remained stable at ~37% as on December 2015.
• The ABHFL Sales organization works broadly with 3 customer segments – retail (individual) customers, institutional customers (for retail and institutional loan consumers) and builders (for both retail tie‑ups and construction finance), with a major share of the business coming from retail customers. Client segments can also be divided into Salaried and Self employed, with both of these having very different preferences and needs.

Job Context

Key Aspects:

• Providing housing finance (to buyers), Loan against Property, Commercial Property Purchase, Lease Rental Discounting and Construction Finance (to builders) solutions, ABHFL caters to a diverse range of customer segments through its various service offerings. Additionally, being predominantly retail driven, the business is characterised by high volume of loan transactions and customer relationships. As a result, ABHFL business performance is strongly impacted by people, process and organisational efficiencies, alongside core business drivers such as product/solution quality, channel and customer relationship management and risk management.
• While unit of sizing up the business is its loan book size, profitability and minimised delinquency are also key business objectives.
• Higher cost of funding impacts profitability as well as competitiveness of loan rates that can be offered to clients.
• For retail customers, identifying and acting on relevant needs for target demographics/ customer segments/ etc., in an efficient manner ensuring process, statutory and regulatory compliance at all times, are key for building business performance and sustainability.
• For institutional/ builder customers, understanding and addressing complex business requirements via proactive relationship management and customised solution fitment, while ensuring compliance at all times, are important to gain competitive advantage in this segment.
• The AH (Sales) – ABHFL is responsible for achieving sales targets as agreed with the RH (Sales) – ABHFL, in terms of targeted book size, profitability, growth & customer service objectives.
• To create a sales operating plan with the team, considering local factors impacting business, such as competitor presence, existing relationships, new prospect opportunities, etc., aimed at achieving sales targets.
• To grow market share as a new brand against established competition, overcoming competitive pressures to create book of desired size for the branch/ city.

Enabling Skill Sets & Qualifications

• Business and commercial acumen.
• Team management and communication skills.
• Execution skills.
• Product‑market understanding.
• Operations integration & controlling skills.

Education & experience required to fulfil this profile are a postgraduate with minimum 6‑8 years of total sales experience in the Banking/ NBFC space, of which at least recent 3‑4 years should be in HFC sales.

Key Result Areas

Branch Sales Planning & Management

• Work with RH (Sales) – ABHFL on devising the branch sales plan and team approach for achieving targets, considering product‑environmental factors, competitive forces and local trends, and cascade the same to the branch team(s).
• Track industry and market developments, scanning the local market and competitive offerings on a periodic basis.
• Oversee end‑to‑end branch operations and performance, covering all aspects such as sourcing, effectiveness, governance, productivity, channel management, etc.
• Report on and direct teams‑based emerging trends and opportunities.
• Manage day‑to‑day branch operations and administration.

Provide data for, compile and review periodic MIS reports for disbursements, profitability, NPAs, market expansion, etc. and communicate to RH (Sales) – ABHFL as well as to team members.

• Identify local business growth opportunities, drive expansion and new customer acquisition initiatives to create a book of targeted size.
• Work closely with team members, hand‑holding critical/complex transactions to ensure favourable closure with customer satisfaction.
• Communicate sales targets and provide team members clarity on business goals, role expectations, product characteristics and USPs to enhance effectiveness of sales efforts.
• Track cases in the complaint tracker/ escalations received, liaising with relevant stakeholders as required to drive satisfactory closure.
• Deploy efforts/ initiatives in consultation with RH (Sales) – ABHFL, arising from customer satisfaction survey and resulting NPS, targeting identified focus areas.
• Propose and deploy approved solutions and schemes to drive sales and enhance profitability, ensuring dual focus on sales expansion and cost optimisation.

Serve as a point of escalation and manage customer complaints/ grievances effectively, intervening especially for key relationships.

Operational Effectiveness

• Drive adoption of efficient business processes/operations across the Customer Lifecycle (Sourcing, Approval, Servicing, Collections).
• Manage local distribution across channels, interfacing with senior/critical partners/ stakeholders as required for smooth operations.
• Drive process efficiencies and faster TATs through interfacing with stakeholders across processes and functions (Risk, Operations, Sales Governance) and efficient operations.
• Drive high performance by reinforcing focus on business and sales growth objectives, effective client engagement, monitoring sales operations and productivity metrics, and providing support and guidance as required.

Drive the implementation of improved processes and best practices in order to enhance operational effectiveness, productivity and overall business impact.

Team and Internal Stakeholder Management

• Guide and develop team members for enhanced customer acquisition and engagement efforts, helping them achieve superior performance standards and hand‑holding where required.
• Nominate teams for relevant technical and behavioural trainings/ seminars and work on self‑development initiatives.

Proactively liaise with internal stakeholders for smooth cross‑functional coordination and alignment towards achievement of business objectives.

Job Purpose of Direct Reports

Responsible for building book size as per assigned targets for the branch/area, through efficient sales operations across the customer lifecycle (Sourcing, Approval, Servicing, Collections), while ensuring sufficient sourcing funnel, revenue generation, profitability, MIS, portfolio management, as per desired levels; to ensure the end‑to‑end management of solutions and transactions with adequate credit quality monitoring of new acquisitions.

Responsible for building book size as per assigned targets through Channel Partners/ Agencies, ensuring compliance and productivity to achieve target achievement; to ensure the end‑to‑end management of solutions and transactions with adequate credit quality monitoring of new acquisitions.

Relationships

• Internal: Region Head, Business Development Team, CRM Systems, Monthly Review Meetings, Business MIS, Review of new market development, product performance & progress on objectives, escalations, etc.
• External: Existing and prospective customers, External Forums & Networking platforms; CRM for relationship management and understanding needs for customised solutions; Developing relationships in the market, scanning current trends/dynamics & building awareness on new business.