What is the difference between a regional representative and a general representative. Regional representative of the company: duties, job description and necessary skills

Why do IT companies open representative offices in the regions? The reasons can be different: marketing, "political", economic. Someone believes that the main task of the regional branch is to maintain a warehouse with equipment, consumables and spare parts. Some focus on service, for others, technical specialists and assistance in projects are more important. Well, for some, the very fact of being in the region is important.

“All of the above goals are relevant for us,” emphasizes the director of the department for working with partners of ESET Russia Anton Korolev. - I'll add one more - strategic. As a service-oriented company, it is important for us to quickly respond to even small requests from our partners. Teams of regional offices are always there and in touch with them, ready to meet and help. Despite the increase in the share of online sales, our business is closely related to personal communications, I mean seminars, training, joint planning of meetings with the heads of companies of both partners and customers. We put a lot of emphasis on face-to-face communication, and so far it's working."

Schneider Electric Regional Partner Manager Dmitry Uspensky believes that the presence of branches is one of the reasons for the consistently good level of sales in the regions. Field employees work with customers, partners, designers, provide training, assist in the preparation of specifications, resolve disputes, assist partners and customers with service support, organize and/or participate in marketing events. “It is difficult to resolve many issues from the central office, and they often concern relatively small deliveries or projects,” Uspensky clarifies. - You can not neglect the personal factor. Local employees are well aware of all market participants, which helps in prompt processing of requests and resolving disputes.”

“Our company maintains regional offices in order to be close to partners and to know in person not only the leaders of these companies, but also each seller,” says Xerox Russia Partner Operations Director Anton Borodikhin. - It helps us achieve marketing, economic, and “political” goals. Thanks to our regional presence, we advise and support partners in the implementation of projects and in general in their work with customers.”

According to the CEO of System Software Maxim Tikurkin, the main goal of the regional representation "lies in the plane of the economy: we bring part of the business functions to the regions in order to optimize costs, - modern technologies and streamlined business processes make it possible.” In addition to economic benefits, according to Maxim Tikurkin, the company also implements the function of social responsibility, forming a regional labor market in the technological field.

Marketing Director D-Link CIS and Baltics Sergey Vasyuk also assures that the opening of a representative office primarily pursues economic goals. “In the current situation, the tasks of promoting the company's products and solutions largely fall on the regional offices, which can work locally with integrators and customers at all stages of project preparation and implementation,” Vasyuk emphasizes.

But according to the HR director of Navicon Dmitry Kotov, "the economic reasons for the creation of regional offices, surprisingly, are gradually fading away." “The labor market is leveling off: now the level of wages outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg is somewhat lower, but the difference is becoming less and less noticeable. I believe this is due to the fact that remote work is becoming more common, and job seekers from the regions now have vacancies available from both Moscow companies and foreign corporations. Our regional offices in Kazan and Stavropol can be considered more like solution development centers. We wanted to create a "forge of personnel" - a space where programmers could realize themselves. Already now we have assembled a strong team of specialists in their field - it does not matter to them which client to work with, local or federal. Moreover, the staff turnover in them turned out to be lower than in Moscow, so it’s easier for us to build up our competencies there,” says Kotov.

“The main goal of opening representative offices in the region is to organize a“ first line ”of customer support in the implementation of our products of the 1C: Energy line,” notes Commercial Director GC "Best" Julia Protalinskaya.

According to the CEO of the Remer production group Alexandra Kiseleva, regional offices have essentially become showrooms for the company. It is difficult for customers to choose a reliable manufacturer, understand the variety of products and make a decision to purchase a complex and expensive industrial case without being personally convinced of its characteristics and quality. The entire range of the company's equipment is presented in the regional showrooms, and employees will not only provide technical support, but also prepare commercial offers, determine the channel for the supply of products. “In order to minimize the costs of representative offices, we invited related manufacturers (in this case, a metal tray) to the project,” explains Alexander Kiselev.

“Our presence in the regions is an attempt to better understand the market and the concerns of our regional partners and their customers: the situation in the region, what IT tasks are in priority here, how local market players live, how we can help, as a distributor, today or in the future, - emphasizes the director of business development in the Siberia region and Far East Axoft Alexey Kakunin. - And when we cope well with these tasks - it is reflected in economic indicators. More than 40% of Axoft's turnover comes from the regions."

Director of regional development Konica Minolta Business Solutions Alexander Suvorov assures that the main task of the regional representative offices is "to provide a level of expertise in the region that will meet the company's quality criteria." “Representative offices in the regions help us to reach each client live and tell about our concept, our approach to printing and workflow. For us, a regional partner network is more than just expanding the sales territory: we train partners, certify, help them ensure that the standard of work with clients that is accepted in Konica Minolta,” says Alexander Suvorov.

“We have kept our regional structure because it works,” says OCS Vice President Georgy Kozeletsky. - Because it is needed by vendors, dealers, and even end customers. No, no, we still do not work with the latter, but they appreciate those additional services, which can be provided by a distributor in the region. And if a tripartite alliance represented by a vendor, a distributor and a dealer company is involved in the negotiations, then the chances of competitors are rapidly decreasing.”

At the forefront

Whether such representations should “pay for themselves” is not an unambiguous question. On the one hand, everything depends on the goals pursued by companies entering the regions. On the other hand, one of the main "gods" that business "prays" to today is efficiency. And the fact that with the onset of the crisis, many companies (primarily vendors) closed their representative offices seems to confirm this.

Yulia Protalinskaya notes: “The payback of regional offices is a complex issue. There has been a lot of controversy over it lately. I believe they should be an effective link in the supply chain of a product or service.”

“The issue of direct payback always depends on the goals of establishing a representative office,” says Maxim Tikurkin. - For example, many companies open regional branches in order to stay with customers in the same time zone and quickly respond to their requests. In this case, direct payback is difficult to calculate, but the efficiency of a remote office can be high. Exactly the same situation arises when an IT company creates a representative office for political purposes - for example, to lobby its interests in the region. If a representative office is created for economic reasons, then its payback must be monitored in dynamics.”

According to Anton Korolev, situations are different. “Our representations pay for themselves, and this is important. We do not sponsor subsidized regions, representative offices earn enough money on their territory. Perhaps, any vendor dreams of such. If the company invests, then this may be due to the fact that it is just entering the market, trying to start a business,” specifies Korolev.

“Of course, maintaining people, offices, demo equipment and showrooms is a costly business, but we have our own understanding of payback, which is not necessarily expressed in making a profit at the first stage of the existence of a regional representative office,” says Alexander Suvorov. - We understand that if we are not in some strategically important region, then our business will not be there either. First of all, we research the market, assess how much of its capacity is enough to open a representative office, provide it with personnel or engineers. Assessing the region in the long term, within three to five years, we are building a business there that covers all our investments. This year we have a regional representative in Kazan. This is a typical example of why it is necessary to work directly in the region. Until the moment when we appeared in Tatarstan, we had no sales either. Now both partners and clients have become more active, and they are ready to consider our proposals and invite them to projects. This applies to any region - a personal meeting is important, it is impossible to sell a project remotely.”

“There are no expenses for the sake of expenses,” reminds Alexander Kiselev. - Another thing is that representation is partly a marketing and partly a commercial tool, and it cannot be a profit center as such. Therefore, in general, like any similar tools, representative offices affect sales growth and, as a result, marginal income manufacturer".

It is noteworthy that the majority of vendors and distributors who took part in the preparation of the material assure that payback is a prerequisite for the existence of a regional office.

"Certainly one of the most important criteria assessment of the work of the office, we can consider its “payback” in terms of the volume of the company's products delivered to the region through the channel,” emphasizes Sergey Vasyuk.

"IN major cities representative offices should pay for themselves, - says Dmitry Uspensky. - If the state is not inflated, then it is quite possible. If you want to cut costs, you can always keep the necessary minimum of specialists. In small towns, sales volumes are often small. Keeping a local employee or an entire office in such cases is unprofitable, and an employee of the nearest large office in the region can become a representative in the city. That's enough."

Georgy Kozeletsky has no doubts that regional offices should “pay for themselves”. “Definitely! And what this means, each vendor and distributor understands or considers differently and accordingly makes decisions that come down to various kinds of “optimizations” and “reductions”.

According to Dmitry Kotov, any business expansion, including horizontal, should eventually pay for itself. “If a representative office is opened for full-fledged work in the region, there should already be clients there; if a regional development center is created, there should be projects in which programmers will be employed. It is not economically feasible to open something for the future,” Kotov emphasizes.

“Payback is a mandatory condition,” Alexei Kakunin agrees with his colleagues. - Any business unit, including a regional office, must be efficient. And if this does not happen, it needs to be turned into profit - modernized or integrated into an adjacent division. And only in the most extreme case - to close.

Anton Borodikhin is also sure that payback is an indispensable requirement for the work of regional offices. “Of course, the productivity of representative offices varies, it depends on the market situation and economic potential individual territories. However, thanks to the advantages of working close to partners and customers, none of our regional offices has given reason to doubt its payback. An important basis for economic efficiency is employees, each of whom is a highly qualified expert in their field with experience personal selling for millions of dollars, ”Borodikhin clarifies.

“Any business unit should be self-sustaining in one sense or another,” the representative of the regional company believes, CEO Infocom (Vladivostok) Dmitry German. - It is difficult and irrational to keep an unprofitable "enterprise" in the asset. Considering that regional divisions are mostly multifunctional and are practically independent business units, payback for them is a prerequisite for viability.”

Autonomy and corporatism

Another interest Ask How independent are branches? Each company solves this issue in its own way, and it happens that different representative offices of one company may have a different degree of independence.

According to Dmitry Kotov, this question is “very delicate”. “With regard to customer orientation, in this matter the representative office should be able to make decisions with a high degree of independence,” explains Kotov. - And in terms of business security, such an autonomous unit can easily go on its own. Therefore, we at Navicon, on the one hand, give a high degree of autonomy to regional offices, on the other hand, we continuously support our representative offices, integrate regional employees into all corporate processes and promptly respond to any of their requests. Local offices should see the value of the “big brother”, which provides them with resources, loads them with work during periods of calm in the regional market.”

In turn, Georgy Kozeletsky is sure that it is easy to answer the question, “how independent should regional offices be?”. “Everything must comply with the procedures and business processes at the head office. If everything is strictly regulated in the center, then it should be exactly the same in the regions. If independence is valued at the center, then it must be preserved locally as well. And where is the fine line that needs to be crossed, and where is this balance - everyone decides on their own. We have been doing this for almost a quarter of a century!”

Dmitry Uspensky explains that Schneider Electric regional offices can be either independent or tightly integrated. “The main thing is that project managers have the necessary powers and, as a result, a serious level of responsibility for making decisions,” Uspensky emphasizes. - The situation in projects can change very quickly, employees of regional branches should be able to respond quickly. In addition, the level of trust of local partners directly depends on this. The partner must know that the agreements are unshakable.”

“The experience and competencies of regional offices, accumulated over the years of work, allow them to be largely “independent” in terms of goals and daily work,” says Sergey Vasyuk. - Regions differ greatly in the structure of customers and projects (state, law enforcement agencies, corporate: oil and gas sector, real production, energy, agricultural sector, services, etc.) and it is the local office that can most correctly determine priorities in its work, aiming to increase sales of the company's products.

According to Alexander Kiselev, all representative offices legally remain part of one big company. But in terms of management, everyone is endowed with a whole range of regional competencies - making commercial decisions, determining the client audience, marketing events in which you need to take part, etc.

“Our regional offices are responsible for Xerox's local business, including the authorization of partners and the distribution of work between them in the local market, servicing key customers and other areas,” emphasizes Anton Borodikhin. “Yet, Xerox's regional offices have the status of affiliates and therefore are required to follow the basic principles of our company's work in terms of business ethics, financial and strategic priorities.

Alexei Kakunin also believes that regional structures should remain independent. But at the same time, act in accordance with the strategic and tactical goals of the company and within the framework of the adopted corporate policy.

“From my point of view, the most independent leaders should feel like co-owners of the business,” Anton Korolev reflects. - The problem is that it is very difficult to find people who are ready to work remotely for years with full dedication, often 12 hours a day. One of the achievements of our company is the construction of the structure of regional offices. We do not inflate the state, we have a small team, but this experienced people that have been on the market for many years. Extreme situations have taught them to brilliantly understand the topic, they can act as a marketing manager, technical support employee, presale specialist - a universal human orchestra. The downside is that we rarely see each other, the feeling of a single team is sometimes lost, but modern facilities communications still allow you to communicate regularly - video conferences, conference calls, instant messengers, CRM. And business trips, of course, for Moscow managers a trip to the region is always an interesting task, a different atmosphere, other people who are not like Muscovites. In addition, we have days of regions in our Moscow office, when people come to visit us and share their experience.”

Yulia Protalinskaya believes that the answer to this question depends on the goals of the presence of a distributor or vendor in the region. “If a representative office is a logistics point, then, of course, all its activities are controlled by the head office. If a regional representative office is opened with the aim of entering the IT services market, implementing projects or organizing support centers, then the head of the representative office should act quite freely and make independent decisions. However, internal processes in this case should be monitored from above to control the quality of services.”

“We have two stages in the development of the regional representation,” Alexander Suvorov explains. - At the initial stage, employees are independent in terms of daily work, planning, but Feedback rather close: regular online reporting meetings are held with them, lists of clients and project steps are agreed upon. After we appoint the head of the representative office, part of the load is transferred to him, and the office becomes almost autonomous - we only look at the implementation of the sales plan and the growth schedule that we have laid down. We are striving for the representative office to become completely independent, with the exception of some general events that are coordinated from the center.”

On the back side

And how do regional companies treat representative offices? Does the presence of local offices affect their relationship with manufacturers and suppliers? Of course, the requirements for representation vary depending on the profile of a regional company, but the overall picture is unambiguous: a branch is not a luxury, but a real tool for a successful business.

“Regional representative offices are most effective if they are in the same city with you, the further they are, the less useful,” says the commercial director of Fort Dialog (Ufa) Asiya Nabiullina. - If a representative office in another federal district is often more convenient, faster and more efficient to work with Moscow, besides, getting to them is inconvenient, often there is an “extra link” - through Moscow. Often, vendors leave decision making to the manager at the discretion of the regional office, and this blurs the overall policy of the vendor. As a result, in one area there are some accents, in another - others, as they say, "each hut has its own rattles." It is necessary to say about the traditional trouble of regional representative offices of vendors - personnel are recruited, as a rule, from former managers local IT market, and with them the tail of “old attachments” stretches, and vice versa.

According to the director of the trade and service company "Vita" (Samara) Alexandra Platonova, the presence of a regional representative office of a distributor is very important aspect. “The support of a personal manager, harmony with him is always only beneficial,” Platonov emphasizes. - The recent trend of transferring order processing to "telesales" is not always convenient, because the shift manager is sometimes not fully aware of the essence of the project or the history of the order. Another important “plus” is the presence of a regional warehouse. This speeds up the sale by 5-7 days.”

I agree with my colleague and the head of the department for work with manufacturers of the Computers and Networks group of companies (Novosibirsk) Igor Dorokhin: “Representations are needed. All integrators are accustomed to the fact that they can involve both salespeople and technical specialists vendor".

“Partners’ pre-sales and on-site technicians influence the agility and speed of response to customer requests,” says Technical Director HOST group of companies Denis Prozorov. - After the fall of the market and a series of reorganizations, the representative offices of Cisco, IBM, HPE, Veritas in the Urals reduced their staff or ceased to exist. We have to "write out" specialists from Moscow, which increases the time costs. In addition, metropolitan colleagues do not always understand the local specifics, the peculiarities of business with a client. A couple of times the aplomb of the Moscow “guests” complicated the negotiations and delayed the signing of the contract.”

According to Denis Prozorov, over the past three years there have been more distributor offices with local warehouses in the Urals. “But for us it is a non-critical factor. More important is flexible logistics, diversity financial instruments and having direct access to technicians and BDMs. The latter help to close the gaps of vendors and develop business,” emphasizes Prozorov.

“For us, the most important thing is the vendor's assistance in training employees, conducting training seminars and certifications,” notes Yulia Protalinskaya. “In general, the role of regional representative offices is still important in helping to organize marketing events, form information content on the product, and improve the skills of regional specialists. However, when further development Internet technologies, all of the above functions will work remotely.”

According to Anton Borodikhin's "outside" estimates, "regional companies have a positive attitude towards supplier representative offices, provided that each party coordinates the performance of its functions with other participants in the distribution chain. For example, a vendor provides support for partners, while a distributor deals with logistics and financial matters. If the supplier starts working directly with the clients of the regional partner without his participation, then this causes irritation and misunderstanding.”

In turn, Aleksey Kakunin notes: “Partners and customers value those manufacturers whose representatives are located in the region more. This is a kind of signal: our market is strategically important for the vendor.”

“Are representations always needed? - reflects Anton Korolev. “Probably not always, but in our rapidly changing market, I think they will be needed for a long time to come.”

“Are you closing? Oh well!"

One of the indirect indicators of the need for the functioning of the branch, perhaps, can be considered the dynamics of the company's interaction with regional partners after its closure. Does the relationship change with those players who liquidate their local office (or, on the contrary, open it)?

Dmitry German assures: “In a global sense, relations with suppliers who closed their representative offices in our region have not changed. New connections are being established, the interaction model is somewhat changing, but cooperation continues with commensurate efficiency.”

“Not for us, we traditionally receive support from the center and, as a rule, we have a personal manager for the main suppliers,” says Asiya Nabiullina.

“We continue to do business with all partners, regardless of their presence or absence in the Urals. It's just that the relationship has become less comfortable, - says Denis Prozorov. - Telephone and video communication only partly solve the issue of communications. Not enough personal meetings. The frequency of contacts has decreased, because after the staff reduction, the workload was redistributed among the remaining employees of the vendor. Often they are not eager to spend time coordinating business trips and flights to another city. As a result, it has become more difficult to keep up with the pace set by the client. You can’t quickly attract a vendor’s technical specialist to tell you more about the technology or answer a non-trivial question.”

According to Alexander Platonov, the closure of an independent branch of one of the distributors that took place a few years ago caused a decrease in the volume of purchases through this supplier. “Sellers simply could not keep up with the volume of orders in a timely manner. But over time, the staff of regional sales managers was increased, everything gradually returned to good volumes, ”Platonov emphasizes.

According to Igor Dorokhin, the closure of the office reduces the promptness of responses and the success of participation in projects. “A Moscow manager cannot always be on the road and often travel to the regions. This applies to both vendors and distributors. For the latter, the presence and filling of regional warehouses is generally very important, ”Dorokhin specifies.

Director of Abak-2000 (Volgograd) Stanislav Vinnikov assures: “Other things being equal (and now they are very similar in the market!) we are more likely to work with a company that has people on the ground who can be seen live, ask questions and solve problems.”

According to Anton Borodikhin, “partners' relations with suppliers change if they close their regional offices. Distributors who decide that their presence in the region is not justified for economic or other reasons lose a lot in the level of interaction with partners. This also applies to vendors that close representative offices when restructuring costs. For regional companies, the presence of a supplier “in the field” is a very important factor that directly affects the decision on cooperation and the choice of partners.”

All kinds of mothers...

The question of which representations are needed - vendors or distributors - does not look as rhetorical as it might seem at first glance.

According to Igor Dorokhin, the answer is ambiguous. “Who do you love more, dad or mom? They usually love both. Everyone must be in their place. Problems with distributors / vendors arise only in one case - if the customer is removed from the transaction local company and the work is going “directly,” emphasizes Dorokhin.

I agree with my colleague Denis Prozorov: “We have a single sales channel: vendor - distributor - integrator. Each participant in this scheme is equal and irreplaceable. Distortions in the importance of one or another player lead to variations of Krylov's fable "The Swan, the Cancer and the Pike", from which business throughout the channel suffers.

Dmitry Uspensky is sure that both are important. “It is important for small partners to have a distributor, since not all vendors have representative offices, and a distributor will help in matters of communication. In addition, the distributor can provide qualified assistance in the selection and adjustment of equipment, and regional partners will certainly use this service, even if we are talking for a very small purchase. For large regional players involved in project business, it is important to have vendor employees on site who understand the ongoing processes and can make decisions quickly.”

But according to Stanislav Vinnikov, in the regions, representatives of manufacturers are more needed. “First of all, to help with projects (if we talk about design vendors, without touching retail ones), Vinnikov specifies. - The vendor knows his product better, can bring to the attention of the client more complete information, help him make a decision in his favor. It is difficult to do this remotely over the phone, and one-time visits do not solve the problem. Plus, any complex and large project is being prepared for a long time, during which many negotiations take place. And if the vendor is in place, then with the help of a partner, he has a much better chance of reaching an agreement with the customer.”

Asiya Nabiullina also believes that vendors' representatives are more needed, "from a distributor, a regional warehouse is enough."

And according to Alexander Platonov, distributors are needed in the region. "Vendors - they electronic means Almost everyone can make connections.” At the same time, Platonov emphasizes that companies need vendor support "in terms of training, authorization, project approval." “We need vendor training seminars. It is on them that employees can get information, answers to questions, communicating interactively. Of course, events like DIF(OCS) combine both a partner conference and vendor training, but not all employees can take part in such an event,” says Platonov.

Wishes

It is significant that training (from vendors and distributors) is exactly what regional companies still lack the most. And this is despite the widespread use of various forms of distance learning, webinars and trainings.

According to Alexander Platonov, the only “minus” of the work of regional representative offices in recent years is “a reduction in the number of trainings for vendors (rather than multi-vendor events for distributors).

Stanislav Vinnikov emphasizes that his company lacks “training, both sales and technical. “There are many vendors, technologies are developing rapidly and it is always a big problem in the region to introduce new products to the entire state. Usually you have to go to Moscow, and this is time and financial costs, plus people are interrupted from work, ”says Vinnikov. Among other wishes of the company "Abac-2000" - marketing support. “We need materials, demo equipment, tests. Often we do this at our own expense and with our own resources, which are always in short supply, Vinnikov complains. - In addition, we need support in the negotiations. It happens that the customer hesitates - to entrust the solution of the problem to a specific partner or not. Vendor recommendations needed. And of course, the warehouse, especially assembly and consumables. No matter how you plan and agree on the deadlines, situations always arise when some little thing is needed urgently. And it is not always possible to deliver it from Moscow.”

Asiya Nabiullina complains about the lack of technical specialists in the region.

“We want more marketing activities and technical courses, full warehouses, perfect service support and big discounts", - says Igor Dorokhin.

According to Dmitry German, often regional offices do not have the authority to solve a number of tasks and problems. “Sometimes local offices slow down the process of resolving certain issues, as they need to contact the head office,” Herman explains. - At the same time, some regional offices, even being limited in their capabilities, provide the maximum possible support and resolve disputes in favor of their clients. It all depends on the competence of specialists. positive example The interaction of a distributor with a regional company can serve as our cooperation with OCS Distribution. Over the years, OCS has become a key distributor for us, and now a large number of our projects are based on OCS offerings. Flexibility of solutions, quality of service, focus on joint success, marketing support - this is what OCS wins and what partners in the regions often lack.”

Denis Prozorov notes that his company would like to receive more sales and technical support at the project development stage. “No matter how competent our own employees are, we cannot know the product better than the manufacturer. Although, of course, there were also reverse precedents,” Prozorov clarifies. “The main requirements for distributors from HOST Group are “adequate financial conditions and logistics without failures.” “Firstly, I want the equipment to reach the customer in its original form, the trucks do not get lost on the road and do not get into accidents,” says Denis Prozorov. - Secondly, we need financial support and risk sharing. Both government and commercial organizations, and deferred payment hurts the integrator's business. In order to implement projects, we have to take loans either from distributors or from banks. If you strive for dialogue and find compromises, then there are no difficulties in business with partners. Good relationships with vendor teams have helped us keep our share of the business even with the closure of local offices.”

But according to the representative of the vendor Anton Borodikhin, partners expect from the distributor, first of all, the availability of regional warehouses. “Marketing support, local expertise and other similar advantages of a distributor are less important for a channel,” says Borodikhin. - The main value of the manufacturer, from the point of view of partners, is its direct participation in closing deals. If a highly qualified vendor representative accompanies a regional partner during the presentation of solutions and encourages the customer to cooperate with him, this makes sales much more successful. The participation of the manufacturer is especially important when working with large companies, which perceive it as an additional guarantee in unforeseen situations. In this case, the customer understands that if something goes wrong, there is a vendor behind the partner, who can also be contacted. Along with participation in sales, partners expect from the vendor steps in the field of training, consultations and regional events held on a regular basis. With a local presence, meeting these needs is much easier.”

Alexander Suvorov names three "growth zones" that his company is working on in the regions. Firstly, it is "a clear affiliate program, with clearly defined rules and support procedures." Secondly, providing required level knowledge”, which involves the organization of periodic technical and product sessions, to which all authorized partners can join. And, thirdly, "increasing expertise in the region as a whole." First of all, we are talking about the desire to "push" partners to sell more complex solutions in the field of print management, document management, business process automation in general.

A regional representative or sales agent is one of the most sought-after professions in various companies. And this is absolutely no coincidence: the work of a regional or sales representative is, in fact, quite exhausting both physically and psychologically and requires a lot of perseverance, stress tolerance and excellent interpersonal skills.

If you think that you have all of the above qualities and want to try to prove yourself as such a highly active worker, then our advice will not be superfluous for you.

So who is the regional representative

Regional or Sales Representative, first of all, is an agent who is engaged in commerce. We can say that this is a freelancer whose task is to engage in purchases or sales or carry out various kinds of transactions for potential customers or the company he represents.

In recent years, the role of regional representatives has increased significantly. This is especially true for companies using various systems and channels aimed at attracting the end consumer. Such a specialist may work in a particular company or act on behalf of one particular person. Sometimes a sales agent works for several companies or people at the same time.

What knowledge do you need to have to work as a regional representative

Typically, a sales representative or regional representative performs work related to a particular branch of trade, having and applying knowledge of certain group goods. This may be the sale of seeds - in this case, it would be nice for the regional representative to have knowledge in the field of agronomy. And if he represents the manufacturer computer technology, then knowledge in the field of electronics will be very useful.

What is the salary of a regional representative

His remuneration is interest or commission, the amount of which directly depends on sales volumes. Less commonly, it is a fixed rate plus additional interest, bonuses and other rewards.

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Purpose of the position: Achieving the planned sales volumes in the assigned territory

1. General Provisions

1.1. Name structural unit: Representation

1.2. Reports to (supervisor position): Regional Manager

1.3. Is the head (positions of direct subordinates): No

1.4. Replaces (positions, the functions of which are performed by the employee, in their absence): No

1.5. Deputy (positions that perform the functions of an employee in his absence): No

2. Job responsibilities

2.1. Regularly, according to the route list, visits each client, in accordance with the approved scheme, in order to place an order for the next delivery and track the balance of goods.

2.2. Controls the sending of the order to the point of sale, on time, in terms of sales volume, range, completeness and quality.

2.3. Monitors the status accounts receivable for its clients and promptly informs the management about possible delays in payments, as well as other factors affecting the solvency of the client.

2.4. If necessary, collects cash for the delivered goods.

2.5. Promptly responds to customer claims regarding the quantity and quality of the delivered goods in accordance with the supply contract.

2.6. Identifies the causes of violations of the terms of contracts, takes measures to eliminate them and prevent these causes.

2.7. Behind reporting period visits all outlets (active and potential) in the area of ​​responsibility.

2.8. He constantly searches for new customers and concludes supply contracts with them.

2.9. Advises clients on the consumer characteristics of products that contribute to the satisfaction of the needs of end customers.

2.10. Reports to direct management about all changes in the state of the market identified in the course of work and collects marketing information if necessary.

2.11. Conducts motivation programs for sub-distributors / key customers aimed at increasing the quantity and quality of distribution

3. Administrative work

3.1. budgeting: no

3.2. Scheduling: daily, weekly, monthly.

3.3. Reporting: daily, weekly, monthly.

3.4. Personnel work: No

3.5. Document development: no

3.6. Supports in up to date information, databases: contact persons and their management, features outlets, exact addresses, phone numbers, working hours.

4. Has the right to make decisions on issues

4.1. Financial: no

4.2. Partner selection: search for new clients

4.3. Approval of documents: no

5. Documents regulating the work

5.1. External documents: Legislative and normative acts.

5.2. Internal documents: Civil defense standards, Regulations on the branch, Job description, Rules of internal work schedule, Standards of work of employees of the wholesale and retail direction.

6. Criteria for assessing labor efficiency

6.1. Implementation of weekly and monthly planning activities, for which he is responsible.

6.2. Implementation of the quality of weekly and monthly planning activities for which he is responsible.

6.3. Performing weekly and monthly planning activities for which he is responsible.

6.4. Satisfaction of internal customers.

6.5. Satisfaction of external customers.

7. Interaction, information exchange

7.1.Receive information

	Provider	Issues	Form	Periodicity
	Regional Manager	Plans, tasks	Meeting agenda	Monthly
			Meeting agenda	Weekly, as needed
		Data on overdue receivables		Weekly
		Planned promotions, changes in work	Meeting agenda	Weekly, as needed
		Routes, price list, accompanying documentation	Report (Excel)	Weekly
		Collaboration Results	Report (Excel)	According to the schedule of joint work
		results legal expertise contracts submitted for approval; coordination of claims and lawsuits against counterparties regarding their violation of contractual obligations	memo	Of necessity
		Data on the implementation of the sales plan	Report (Excel)	Daily

7.2. Transfers information

	Destination	Issues	Form	Periodicity
	Regional Manager	Daily report	approved form	Daily
		Application for POSM	memo	Monthly
		Sub-distributor inventory report		Weekly
		Report on quantitative distribution; on sales of sub-distributors / key customers by channel		Monthly
		Contracts for the supply of products		As needed
	Distributor / Sub-distributor		By mobile phone or on the form	Daily

8. Qualification requirements

8.1. Education: higher, incomplete higher, secondary special

8.2. Special training, permits: driving license category B

8.3. Skills: negotiation

8.4. Work experience: at least 1 year in the food market

8.5. Professional knowledge:

• Progressive forms and methods of trade and marketing;
• The procedure for the conclusion of contracts of sale and registration required documents;
• Conditions for concluding commercial transactions and methods of bringing goods to consumers;

Instruction agreed:

Head of Motivation Department ________________________________________________

Head of Branch Office _____________________________________________

Executive Director block ________________________________________________

Familiarized with the instructions:

Name, date, signature

____________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________

I. General provisions

1.1. Name of the structural unit: Representation

1.2. Reports to (head position): Regional Manager

1.3. Is the head (positions of direct reports): no

1.4. Replaces (positions, the functions of which are performed by the employee, in their absence): no

1.5. Deputy (positions that perform the functions of an employee in his absence): no

2. Responsibilities

2.1. Regularly, according to the route list, visits each client, in accordance with the approved scheme, in order to place an order for the next delivery and track the balance of goods.

2.2. Controls the sending of the order to the point of sale, on time, in terms of sales volume, range, completeness and quality.

2.3. Monitors the status of receivables for its clients and promptly informs management about possible delays in payments, as well as other factors affecting the solvency of the client.

2.4. If necessary, collects cash for the delivered goods.

2.5. Promptly responds to customer claims regarding the quantity and quality of the delivered goods in accordance with the supply contract.

2.6. Identifies the causes of violations of the terms of contracts, takes measures to eliminate them and prevent these causes.

2.7. During the reporting period, visits all retail outlets (active and potential) in the area of ​​responsibility.

2.8. He constantly searches for new customers and concludes supply contracts with them.

2.9. Advises clients on the consumer characteristics of products that contribute to the satisfaction of the needs of end customers.

2.10. Reports to direct management about all changes in the state of the market identified in the course of work and collects marketing information if necessary.

2.11. Conducts motivation programs for sub-distributors / key customers aimed at increasing the quantity and quality of distribution

3. Administrative work

3.1. budgeting: no

3.2. Scheduling: daily, weekly, monthly.

3.3. Reporting: daily, weekly, monthly.

3.4. Personnel work: no

3.5. Document development: no

3.6. Maintains up to date information, databases: contact persons and their management, features of outlets, exact addresses, telephones, operating modes.

4. Has the right to make decisions on issues

4.1. Financial: no

4.2. Partner selection: search for new clients

4.3. Approval of documents: no

5. Documents regulating the work

5.1. External documents: Legislative and normative acts.

5.2. Internal documents: Civil Code Standards, Branch Regulations, Job Description, Internal Labor Regulations, Work Standards for Wholesale and Retail Employees.

6. Criteria for assessing labor efficiency

6.1. Implementation of weekly and monthly planning activities, for which he is responsible.

6.2. Implementation of the quality of weekly and monthly planning activities for which he is responsible.

6.3. Performing weekly and monthly planning activities for which he is responsible.

6.4. Satisfaction of internal customers.

6.5. Satisfaction of external customers.

7. Qualification requirements

8.1. Education: higher, incomplete higher, secondary special

8.2. Special training, permits: driving license category B

8.3. Skills: negotiation

8.4. Work experience: at least 1 year in the food market

8.5. Professional knowledge:
- Progressive forms and methods of trade and marketing;
- The procedure for concluding purchase and sale agreements and processing the necessary documents;
- Conditions for concluding commercial transactions and methods of bringing goods to consumers;

Other instructions in the section:
-

Satisfaction of daily human needs is impossible without market system. It is through trade that people can sell and buy what they need on this moment. The origin of such a concept as “market relations” happened so many centuries ago that it is perceived as something completely settled. In fact, the market has nothing new to offer - this is what most people who are not knowledgeable in business think. However, it is in conditions of fierce competition that brilliant ideas are born. For successful operation, enterprises and organizations selling their products need the maximum possible coverage of the market, for this purpose, even the most slightly significant company in the state has an employee listed in work book or contract as a "regional representative".

Who are you?

Nowadays, it is not difficult to buy goods from the USA or Europe in Russia. Not every manufacturer is able to create a new enterprise on the territory of another state: the high cost, features of the tax and legislative framework, standards and norms, the lack of suitable raw materials do not allow the construction of factories around the world. But if the demand for a particular product is everywhere, then it must be satisfied. Then a regional representative comes to the aid of the buyer and the manufacturer - a hired employee who is the official and authorized representative of the company in front of customers in the territory entrusted to him.

The need for such specialists to be on staff is not only for overseas companies. At the local, regional level, it is impossible to achieve full-fledged cooperation with a large number of clients, unless some duties are shifted to a sales manager, agent (the regional representative may be called that).

Activities and responsibilities of the "regional"

This can be manifested in the wearing of branded insignia (accessories, clothes), the pronunciation of branded phrases during a greeting or farewell. Whatever level the company is at, it is unacceptable for its regional representative to appear at work in shales and shorts or a stretched T-shirt: business style in clothes is a guarantee of a serious attitude on the part of the client. Ability to negotiate, gently defend your position and settle conflict situation- qualities that will be a good help for a career.

Not by bread alone

Trade is a complex field of activity, nevertheless, a huge number of people are employed in it. It is profitable, interesting and promising. It is difficult to find a more eventful job, in addition, such work is often well appreciated. Salaries of several thousand dollars for regional representatives are not an empty phrase. Large companies encourage their employees, develop them by organizing trainings and seminars, arranging corporate holidays (often extreme ones). Getting a job, although difficult, is quite possible even without higher education. Experience in distribution, the ability to cooperate with people and a loose tongue, if not brought to the capital, then brought to the regional level.