Are you interested in sales, marketing or service delivery? Do you want to start a career in one of these spheres of activities? Or are you just looking for a suitable job for you? If the answer is “yes” at one of these questions, then this article is definitely for you.
We contacted four professionals from four different companies and asked them details about their jobs. So, we found out directly from the source what studies and skills you need for working in sales and marketing, how a regular day looks like, what are the main responsibilities and so much more.
Based on these insights, you can make up your mind if sales, marketing or service delivery is indeed your area of interest. Afterwards you'll have a bigger picture about what it takes to work in such an environment.
Therefore, let's meet these professionals, see what are their jobs and where do they work.
Jean Louis Doucrou is responsible with Sales & Marketing at Cdiscount Sénégal, Groupe Casino France, E.commerce, and he told us that he has a Masters Degree in Marketing Management.
Pedro Filipe Figueiredo is the Director of a Board Advisory in International Markets and he said that he studied Law and International Markets for three years and Chinese Language for two years.
Kevin Omondi has a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and he works, obviously, in IT – he is the IT Service Delivery Executive at Kenya BixaLimited.
And Rasheed Olayiwola is currently working as a Business Manager at Bharti Airtel Networks Ltd.. He studied Economics and Statistics.
So we got in touch with these great professionals and asked them a couple of questions. Here’s what they shared with us:
1. How does a typical day look for you?
“My day always starts with a report about my results regarding the sales from the day before”, says Jean Louis Doucrou.
He continues:
“I share this file with my team. I also check the status of the tasks that have been established for the whole week. I make calls to certain customers to make sure they are satisfied with our services or if they have received the emails confirming their orders, because I am working in a domain where the client's satisfaction is my priority. Then, with the help of Google Analytics I monitor the performance of my actions, to make sure that these functions well”.
For Pedro Filipe Figueiredo, the day starts similar, with checking the actions from the previous day and contacting the clients:
“My day starts with a check in the financial department – if our clients have paid”, he says. Then “I go in the factory to look at clients' orders, next I go to my office to contact and make proposals to the different markets”.
Kevin Omondi mentions his daily schedule – he works from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm – and he told us that he handles the users' support queries and he has meetings with his colleagues, the Heads of Departments, to speak about their ongoing ICT projects.
On the other hand, Rasheed Olayiwola spends his mornings in meetings with the territory managers and he also works with them on the field, to help them develop. Rasheed also has leadership conference calls. Last but not least, he visits the channel partners to make sure they have the proper stock, afterward he returns to his office to attend other meetings, to write e-mails or other office requirements.
2. What are your main responsibilities?
As for their responsibilities, Jean Louis Doucrou says that his tasks “revolve around the development and the implementation of the business model in a new market, the E.commerce”. He has to raise awareness of the brand of the company, the company's products, the way the system functions. He considers that his job can be described in three words: Inform, Educate and Communicate.
Pedro Filipe Figueiredo takes care of all the deals in the company with their international clients, Kevin Omondi is the man that ensures that Kenya BixaLimited has a competitive edge when it comes to technology innovation. Rasheed Olayiwola is responsible for achieving the sales target in his area, as well as paying attention to the development of the market.
3. What is the most powerful motivator for you at this job?
To keep doing what he does, Jean Louis Deucrou needs to know his customers are happy because of his work.
Pedro Filipe Figueiredo feels that, if he achieves his objectives and finds new strategies to reach all the markets, he is more than satisfied.
Rasheed Olayiwola likes very much to work with people and to have a very good team, whereas Kevin Omondi loves to be challenged daily at his job.
4. What advice do you give to people that want a career in your industry or people who want to pursue a similar career path?
Jean Louis Deucrou: “You simply have to love to satisfy the people's needs. You have to adore communicating with different people, it will open many doors for you. Because the E.commerce is new in Africa, you must be prepared to inform and educate both yourself and the others and you must be able to communicate very well that particular business model. You really have to be creative.”
Pedro Filipe Figueiredo: “You must be a resilient person, and learn to deal with the different kind of velocities each market has. It is a very competitive industry and we had to be very inventive and think out of the box to seek new and different kind of deals.”
Kevin Omondi: “I would advise you to develop passion for your job. It will be like fuel and it will drive you to greater heights.”
Rasheed Olayiwola: “You must be a person focused towards the people's needs and you must have passion to help the others meet their goal. A salesman is a pathfinder, after all.”
5. Where do you see yourself in the future? What’s your career path?
As you may have realized, the people with whom we talked are very well prepared in their domains. We were curious to know what are their future plans and, as we expected, they believed time is not to be wasted when it comes to your career. They are very orientated towards learning as much as they can and they want to grow more and more.
For example, Kevin Omondi sees himself as the Information Technology Director very soon and, at some point, even start his own ICT consulting firm.
Pedro Filipe Figueiredo plans to present a very good project in a bigger country in Africa in order to revitalize the cereal culture and to help the farmers. He really wants to contribute in creating new opportunities for the industries that are facing challenges right now.
Jean Louis Deucrou says his career is on the right track, he worked hard to get to be the Responsible with Sales & Marketing at Cdiscount Sénégal and he also thinks he will be Director at Cdiscount Sénégal, in one of the countries from West Africa.
As for Rasheed Olayiwola's future plans, becoming the Chief Sales Officer in his company or in any future company is the next career step that he desires.
To sum up, we wish these shared insights helped you make a clearer idea of how the sales, marketing and service delivery areas look like. Passion, dedication and well trained skills seem to be the secret recipe for some and it might work for you as well.
Start growing now! Learn new things, study more, update your profile, apply to the new posted jobs, prepare yourself for interviews and have a career like theirs! Career matters!
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