How to determine the functionality of a company's commercial director? What to write in a job description for a commercial director? What are his responsibilities? What is beyond his competence? The answers to these questions may vary from company to company. Eat three main factors influencing the duties and powers of the commercial director:
- Company size: how more company, especially since the commercial director faces strategic tasks;
- Clients of a b2b or b2c company, how simpler product and the sales process, the less Commercial Director concerns specific sales and is more concerned with building a system and marketing;
- Availability of production- how smaller company creates it herself and the more involved in sales, the greater the functionality of a commercial director.
Of course, there are many more company features that influence functions and responsibilities of a commercial director, such as: the participation of the commercial director in the founders, family ties, high leadership qualities and the participation of the head of the commercial unit at the stage of formation of the company, but we will not be able to evaluate all of them. Let us dwell on those functions that are most often prescribed in job descriptions for the commercial director of a company.
Functional responsibilities of the Director for Commercial Affairs:
1. Development of a commercial strategy for the enterprise.
The company's positioning, price segment, long-term and short-term goals, plans and ways to implement sales plans are determined.
2. Organization of interaction between commercial and other units in the company.
All employees are involved in sales in the company. Even the actions of the secretary and specialist will influence the success of sales technical support. The task of the commercial director is to ensure the actions of non-selling departments so that they help, and do not hinder, sellers and sales managers.
3. Determination of sales channels.
Select the most promising channels. Define performance criteria. Protecting your business from having only one channel and constantly developing existing channels is one of the main functions that affects the stability of sales.
4. Formation of an algorithm for the operation of each sales channel.
For a sales channel to be effective, it is necessary to determine the business processes through which sales occur in the channel. Write down these algorithms and consolidate them in the instructions. And the most important thing: make sure that these algorithms work and are not a pile of documentation that interferes with business.
5. Operational control of sales managers.
Even with a perfectly designed strategy, victory depends on the actions of each soldier. A tactical task that determines the success of the entire strategy: how to ensure that outsiders do not interfere with the leaders’ ability to pick stars. And the solution, or rather not the solution to this problem, is the scourge of most companies in Russia.
6. Assessing the performance of the unit and implementing measures to improve results.
It is impossible to build an ideal sales system once and for all. It is important to measure results, innovate, measure again, adjust and do it constantly. Stopping is equivalent to death...
7. Connection to work with key clients.
The famous Pareto rule: 20 percent of customers generate 80 percent of revenue. It is these 20% that the commercial director must personally control; of course, depending on the size of the company, he will control from 1 to 50% of clients.
8. Organization of training for managers.
It is the responsibility of the commercial director to build a training system for new and existing managers. Sometimes personal participation in training managers is necessary.
9. Work with company suppliers.
In a trading organization, this is a sacred duty. In a manufacturing company, the production unit can also handle deliveries, but the commercial director must control this process, since cost is important when selling.
Recruitment of personnel for a large construction company.
Responsibilities:
- Search and attraction of new volumes of construction and engineering services.
- Development of construction, design and other areas of the company’s activities;
- Conducting commercial negotiations within the framework of sales and supply policies, business correspondence with Customers in the interests of the company.
- Analysis of the competitive environment of the construction and engineering services market.
- Formation of a sales plan for the services of a general contracting construction company and ensuring its implementation.
- Organization of work on the preparation of tender documentation and participation in competitions; preparation and calculation commercial offers, concluding contracts, interacting with Tender Committees.
- Management of the activities of the company's structural divisions, supervision of current projects.
- Monitoring compliance with work quality standards, ensuring the organization fulfills its obligations.
- Monitoring the execution of design and construction schedules.
Requirements:
- Construction equipment is desirable;
- Experience in a key management position in construction for at least 5 years;
- Experience working in the structures of a general contractor and technical customer;
- Knowledge of processes and technologies for the construction of class A buildings;
- Knowledge of economics and pricing in construction;
- Experience in managing project managers;
- Experience in construction management and commissioning of large projects.
- PC knowledge: user of office applications, AutoCAD;
A commercial director must know:
- The legislative framework regulating the processes of sales, procurement and marketing activities of the enterprise.
- Fundamentals of transport, purchasing and warehouse logistics.
- Document flow in the field of procurement, supply and sales.
- Structure and prospects of the domestic and foreign markets.
- State standards for products manufactured by the enterprise.
- Basics of labor protection standards and labor discipline.
- Fundamentals of labor and administrative law.
Training program for the position of commercial director If a person does not have experience in sales, but he has the desire and inclination to work in this area, he can take a training course.
Job responsibilities of the commercial director
Attention
Such a specialist, making informed decisions, will be able to guide and train his subordinates and employees of related departments, leading them in the direction necessary for the company. A candidate for this vacancy must have and understand the company’s own goals and objectives, among which the main one is regular profit making. A person must have high level responsibility and breadth of thinking, because his position is associated with coordinating the work of all leading departments and controlling the flow of cash receipts.
And, of course, this specialist simply cannot be not proactive, not communicative, irresponsible and not purposeful. Responsibility for the finances and economics of a trading company In many organizations, the responsibilities of the commercial director of an enterprise overlap with the functions of the financial director.
Commercial Director
Requirements for a commercial director Since it is necessary to manage almost the entire enterprise, the requirements for a commercial director are serious:
- higher economic, financial (less often technical) education;
- Experience in management positions - from 3 years;
- HR management experience - from 3 years;
- Experience in building and managing a sales department;
- solid knowledge of advertising and marketing;
- strong leadership and communication skills;
- experience in negotiations and sales;
Also often welcomed:
- experience in the chosen field (for example, construction company encourages experience in construction);
- knowledge of English;
- experience in automating business processes (most often sales);
Sample resume for commercial director Sample resume.
Commercial director: responsibilities, requirements and personal qualities
The commercial director is guided in his activities by: - legislative acts of the Russian Federation; - the organization's Charter, internal labor regulations, other regulations of the company; - orders and directives of management; - this job description. 2. Job responsibilities Commercial Director The Commercial Director performs the following job responsibilities: 2.1. Organizes management of the material and technical supply of the enterprise, activities for storage, transportation and marketing of products (sale of goods, provision of services). 2.2.
Coordinates the development and preparation of long-term and current plans for logistics and sales of products (sale of goods, provision of services), financial plans.2.3.
Job description of commercial director
Info
Protecting the business from having only one channel and constantly developing existing channels is one of the main functions that affects the stability of sales. 4. Formation of an algorithm for the operation of each sales channel. For a sales channel to be effective, it is necessary to determine the business processes through which sales occur in the channel.
Write down these algorithms and consolidate them in the instructions. And the most important thing: make sure that these algorithms work and are not a pile of documentation that interferes with business. 5. Operational control of sales managers. Even with a perfectly designed strategy, victory depends on the actions of each soldier.
A tactical task that determines the success of the entire strategy: how to ensure that outsiders do not interfere with the leaders’ ability to pick stars. And the solution, or rather not the solution to this problem, is the scourge of most companies in Russia. 6.
Typically, the following requirements are imposed on a candidate for the position of commercial director: the ability for three-dimensional, spatial thinking, a logical and analytical mindset, adequacy, rationality, the ability to identify and identify problems and prioritize their solutions, consistency and focus, high efficiency and communication skills, the presence of a higher economic education and at least three years of experience in management positions. INSTRUCTIONS OF THE COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR I. General provisions 1. The commercial director belongs to the category of managers.
2. A person with a higher professional (economic, legal) education and at least 3 years of experience in management positions is appointed to the position of commercial director. 3. The commercial director must know: 3.1.
Profession commercial director
At the same time, a significant addition to it is the compensation package: payment for a company car (or gasoline), communications, medical insurance, payment for recreation, sports, etc. Where to get training Besides higher education There are a number of short-term training programs on the market, typically lasting from a week to a year. Interregional Academy of Construction and Industrial Complex and its courses in “Entrepreneurship and innovative development business."
Important
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Responsibilities of the commercial director, his role in the organization and main tasks
Represent the interests of the enterprise in relations with government agencies, third parties and commercial agencies. 2. Establish job responsibilities for subordinate employees. 3. Request from the structural divisions of the enterprise information and documents necessary to fulfill his official duties.
4. Participate in the preparation of draft orders, instructions, directions, as well as estimates, contracts and other documents related to the decision commercial issues. 5. Interact with the heads of all structural divisions on issues of financial and economic activity of the enterprise. 6. Endorse all documents related to the financial and economic activities of the enterprise (plans, forecast balances, reports, etc.).
7.
Responsibilities of a commercial director of a trading company
The main activity of this employee is in this case is to promote the brand and products of an enterprise on the market in order to make a profit. To achieve these goals, work is organized in several directions:
- determination and construction of marketing policy;
- control over accounts receivable;
- formation of procurement and sales plans, supervision of their implementation;
- selection and training of a sales team;
- creation of a motivation system and certification of managers;
- sales process inspection;
- monitoring customer requests.
The responsibilities of the commercial director of a trading company additionally include planning and managing assortment policy, knowledge of logistics and the basics of product distribution, interaction with key clients that are important for the enterprise, and participation in negotiations that are important for the organization.
Manages the development of measures to save resources, improve inventory rationing, improve economic indicators, increase the efficiency of the enterprise, and strengthen financial discipline. 6. Coordinates development marketing strategy. 7. Provides recommendations and advice to managers and specialists in financial planning, marketing, sales; controls their work.
Ensures timely preparation of cost estimates, financial and other documents, calculations, reports on the implementation of logistics and sales plans finished products(selling goods), financial activities. 9. Endorses the enterprise budget for the operating year and manages it. 10. Organizes a system for recording all financial transactions and preparing financial reporting documentation.
11.
Let us dwell on those functions that are most often prescribed in job descriptions for the commercial director of a company. 1. Development of a commercial strategy for the enterprise. The company's positioning, price segment, long-term and short-term goals, plans and ways to implement sales plans are determined. 2. Organization of interaction between commercial and other units in the company.
All employees are involved in sales in the company. Even the actions of the secretary and technical support specialist will influence the success of sales. The task of the commercial director is to ensure the actions of non-selling departments so that they help, and do not hinder, sellers and sales managers. 3. Determination of sales channels. Select the most promising channels.
Define performance criteria.
Commercial Director - key position for any company. He is primarily responsible for customer service and company profits. But there is some confusion about what the responsibilities of a commercial director are. Recruitment consultants for the Ankor company P. Shukhman and E. Evstyukhina talk about this.
In different companies, people in this position actually perform different functions. IN Lately The positions of commercial director and sales director are also often confused http://professional-education.ru/director-sales.html. The maximum range of what a commercial director can do is simultaneously managing sales, marketing, purchasing, and logistics services. Often the position of a commercial director is perceived only as the head of the sales and marketing service, sometimes only as the head of the sales service. Today there is general idea, What this person manages the company's sales.
Where is a commercial director needed?
There are quite a lot of commercial director vacancies on the labor market. It is very difficult to accurately calculate their number, but we can certainly say that there are more than a hundred of them, constantly open. The specificity of most of these vacancies is that they are open for a very long time. This is due, firstly, to the long process of searching and selecting a candidate, and secondly, to the fact that often, having joined the company, new commercial directors leave after working for less than a year, and sometimes less than three months. This situation, in turn, is explained by the complexity of building relationships with founders.
Such vacancies are mainly open in loosely structured Russian companies. The reason for the long search is that the company has never had a commercial director, but the volume of operations is growing and management using previous methods is proving ineffective. The founders are trying to increase the efficiency of the business by attracting a competent manager from outside.
Sometimes a company has had one commercial director in its entire history, and this is either one of the founders or an employee who has worked since the company's founding. Now this person moves on to other tasks or gets promoted to general and needs a strong replacement. As a rule, in this case, the founders also count heavily on the specialist’s competence and on new management methods that will significantly increase efficiency.
If we are talking about structured business (primarily Western companies), where moods and personal sympathies are less important than professionalism, then the situation here is fundamentally different: a commercial director is a position whose functionality is clearly defined in the structure of the company’s business processes.
Perhaps only Western companies have clear requirements for education and skills. Russian companies very often ask to find a “wizard”. This is a kind of dream about a know-it-all who will come and alone, with virtually no support, will take the business to a high level. In principle, such people exist, but they are usually already owners own business. In such cases, I enter into a process of negotiations with the client, often lengthy, the purpose of which is to identify the portrait of the commercial director needed by the company. It happens that a company does not need the declared “know-it-all”, since in fact it requires solving specific local problems, and after that you can think about more.
Basic requirements to the commercial director
This employee must be able to:
- develop and supervise the promotion of the company’s products on the market;
- discuss the budget together with the financial or general director;
- form and control distribution channels;
- create a system together with the director of personnel services material motivation company employees;
- participate in the formation of personnel policies for hiring sales department employees and maintain control over this department;
- control sales reporting;
- personally conduct particularly complex negotiations with large clients;
- sign contracts;
- participate in the development pricing policy and discount campaigns;
- approve or reject advertising projects, promotion programs, branding.
Note. For Western business, the candidate must:
- have an MBA degree,
- own English language at least at the level of reading commercial documentation,
- have long-term experience in sales management in a Western company (5 years or more).
If a person’s responsibilities include marketing, logistics, or purchasing, then experience in these areas is often required.
Director's portrait
Personal qualities are perhaps the key point when searching for a commercial director. They include management style, delegation of authority, and features of interaction with subordinates. Of course, a commercial director is required to have high communication skills and the ability to manage people. His personality type itself should be determined by the corporate culture of the customer company, if it has been formed, or by the personality type of the founder or founders, if corporate culture not expressed in the company. Customers, as a rule, are also interested in general management skills and organizational skills in forecasting, planning, budgeting, etc.
Big salary for chief merchant
The commercial director (sales director) receives one of the most significant remunerations in the company. Average offers start at approximately $5,000 in total monthly income. Behind Last year the maximum I've seen is up to $20,000 in total monthly income in a large Russian company.
Western companies and some Russian ones also offer a social package, which usually includes:
- health insurance;
- car (or compensation for the use and maintenance of your own car);
- nutrition;
- mobile phone traffic.
Reliability check
The candidacy of a commercial director must be checked, but each recruiting agency has its own methods. In any case, unfortunately, none of the existing assessment methods provides a 100% guarantee. The only relatively objective assessment is the candidate’s direct work in the employing company, i.e. probation which is typically six months for this position. If for some reason a person does not pass it, then the recruiting agency makes a one-time free guarantee replacement.
What attracts candidates in the first place?
In order to find the most suitable top manager for your company, formulate the requirements for the position, explain to candidates their future responsibilities and not scare off professionals with unreasonable expectations, you must first of all imagine yourself in the place of the future commercial director and in your imagination live out a typical working day for this manager . Many illusions about how much one person can accomplish in 8 to 10 hours disappear after such an exercise, and a fairly clear description of the position appears.
It is very important that CEO(founder or owner) has clearly defined for himself the following parameters that will be transferred to the commercial director:
- the degree of his freedom;
- terms of reference;
- available resources.
The commercial director is one of the first persons in any large organization. We can say that this is the first person after the chief manager, because he is responsible for both the internal and external environment. In addition to prestige, such a position also carries with it enormous responsibility. Sometimes it happens that a given person in an organization becomes practically equal to the general director.
Who is a commercial director
Undoubtedly, each individual employee is invaluable to the enterprise. However, the role of the commercial director in the successful functioning of the organization cannot be overestimated. It is not simple right hand manager, but he is also the face of any organization. He is responsible for almost all processes that are associated not only with supplies and sales, but also with some production issues.
Despite the fact that there is a generally accepted instruction for a commercial director that defines the scope of his responsibilities, in fact these boundaries are quite blurry and depend on the specifics and scale of the organization’s activities. So, if the enterprise is large, then the commercial director has enough wide circle responsibilities associated with almost all departments. In smaller organizations, this position allows you to concentrate on working with external environment and expansion of sales channels.
Also, do not forget about such a position as deputy commercial director. He has the same rights and responsibilities as his immediate superiors if he acts on his behalf and on his instructions. The commercial director delegates a number of his functions to his subordinate, who at the same time has a smaller area of responsibility.
The commercial director of LLC, CJSC, OJSC and other companies is also responsible for working with shareholders and shareholders. He is engaged in informing them, as well as searching for new participants.
Job description of commercial director
When choosing a profession for yourself, you need to clearly understand what kind of work you will have to do. So, job description The commercial director has the following responsibilities:
- drawing up strategic and operational plans for the economic and production activities of the organization;
- analysis of current work and quick response to deviations in the production process in order to normalize the situation;
- studying financial indicators for the purpose of making management decisions;
- control over compliance with the budget for the enterprise as a whole and for its divisions;
- monitoring the execution of developed plans not only for the enterprise as a whole, but also for individual divisions and departments;
- development of measures to expand sales markets and increase sales volumes.
What rights does a commercial director have?
A person holding the position of commercial director has not only responsibilities, but also a number of rights in the organization:
- making independent decisions regarding the effective marketing of products within the scope of competence;
- the opportunity to put forward proposals to the general director to improve the operation of the enterprise;
- the right to reward subordinates for special merits (or submit similar petitions to the manager);
- the opportunity to participate in the collective bodies of the enterprise when it comes to improving the production process, expanding distribution channels, and marketing policy issues.
Functions of a commercial director
The commercial director's instructions allow us to highlight a number of mandatory functions that this position entails:
- identifying and expanding distribution channels for goods and services;
- drawing up long-term strategic plans;
- conducting negotiations with suppliers and buyers;
- management of sales activities;
- budget execution control;
- development and implementation of marketing policy;
- development of measures to reduce expenses.
What should a candidate for the position be able to do?
It's not an easy job. A commercial director must be able to perform a fairly wide range of responsibilities. In this regard, the applicant for this responsible position must have a range of knowledge and skills:
- be able to regulate the movement of finished products both within the enterprise and outside it;
- know the intricacies of budgeting;
- have the ability to search for sales channels;
- have basic knowledge regarding enterprise personnel management;
- have negotiation skills;
- be familiar with the development of advertising projects.
It is also worth noting some personal qualities that a commercial director must have:
- communication skills;
- stress resistance.
Special knowledge of the commercial director
The commercial director of the company must thoroughly familiarize himself with the following information about the organization’s work:
- rules of law governing the activities of commercial enterprises;
- organizational structure of the company;
- comprehensive information about the range of products and their manufacturing technology;
- methods of research and analysis of existing markets, as well as methods of searching for new ones;
- existing, as well as promising or reserve sales channels;
- general information about the state of affairs in the industry in which the organization operates;
- rules and procedures for concluding contracts with suppliers and customers;
- theoretical aspects of marketing;
- foreign best practices in managing marketing and sales activities;
- standards for ensuring worker safety.
Powers of the commercial director
Of course, the main person who manages all processes in the organization is the general director. The commercial director has the following divisions of the enterprise under his control and subordination:
- advertising and marketing departments that create the organization’s image in the external environment;
- public relations department, which ensures recognition of the enterprise;
- the sales department, which determines sales channels, as well as the logistics department, which determines the most profitable ways to deliver goods from the manufacturer to the consumer;
- warehouse service, where raw materials and supplies are received, as well as unshipped products.
Working conditions
The work of a commercial director has a number of characteristics and features:
- The work schedule and workday schedule are determined by the internal labor regulations (however, due to high responsibility, it is sometimes necessary to work overtime);
- one of the responsibilities of the commercial director is to go on business trips related to the need for business negotiations with suppliers or buyers of products;
- in some cases, the commercial director is provided with official transport or the cost of fuel consumed during business trips is covered;
- the commercial director has the right to sign a number of documents that fall within the area of his responsibility and job responsibilities.
Area of responsibility of the commercial director
The commercial director bears quite serious responsibility for the activities of the organization. It implies the following points:
- organizing processes for marketing products and delivering them to intermediate or final consumers;
- compliance not only with one’s own labor discipline, but also with control of these processes regarding subordinates;
- ensuring complete confidentiality of all information regarding the organization of production, technological features, financial transactions, marketing methods, and so on;
- ensuring proper working conditions for their subordinates;
- responsibility for safety, including fire safety, in those premises where units controlled by the commercial director are located.
Failure to comply with rules and failure to fulfill duties
Sanctions and penalties may be applied to the commercial director in the following cases:
- improper performance of one's duties or evasion of them;
- failure to comply with orders and instructions from senior management;
- abuse of official authority or use of official position to achieve material or other personal goals;
- providing false information and reporting to management or government agencies;
- negligent attitude towards fire safety and other circumstances that pose a threat to the life and health of employees;
- personal failure to comply with labor discipline, as well as failure to take measures to ensure it among employees;
- criminal, administrative or civil offenses;
- causing material damage to the organization, which arose both as a result of unlawful actions and as a result of negligent inaction.
Who evaluates the quality of work of a commercial director
To determine the quality of work of the commercial director and the conscientiousness of the performance of duties, inspections are periodically carried out. The following persons or bodies may be involved in this:
- daily control is carried out directly by the general director of the organization, who interacts quite closely with the commercial director on almost all issues related to management;
- At least once every two years, a special certification commission checks all documentation, as well as the results of the commercial director’s activities.
In both the first and second cases, the work of this specialist is assessed according to certain indicators: the quality of task completion, as well as the completeness and accuracy of reporting.
How to find a job
Of course, for many applicants a position such as commercial director is quite desirable. Vacancies in this area are constantly available, as companies strive to find the most professional and valuable employees. But not everyone will be accepted for such a position.
A prerequisite for employment will be a higher education in economics or marketing. In addition, the cumulative experience in management positions must be at least 5 years. Thus, if you have just graduated from university or have no previous management experience, then you are unlikely to be able to immediately become a commercial director.
If you want to get into a prestigious organization that provides decent wages and working conditions, then you should not look for vacancies on the Internet or in newspapers. Most the best option- This is to directly send your resume to those companies where you would like to work.
In 80% of cases, large organizations prefer to appoint their own employees who have sufficient work experience and are well familiar with the structure and specifics of the enterprise to the position of commercial director. Therefore, if you do not immediately manage to get a high position, this is not a reason to give up. By conscientiously fulfilling your duties and showing initiative, you have every chance in a few years to become a highly paid commercial director from an ordinary specialist.
An interesting fact is that a number of enterprises do not see the need for a commercial director. We are talking mainly about monopolistic organizations for which selling products does not pose a particular problem. Also, this position is not necessary when the responsibilities for organizing supplies and sales are already distributed among individuals or departments. This is also possible in the case when an enterprise has several founders who can distribute these areas of responsibility among themselves.