Skip to main content

Acing A Career in Sales : In conversation with Regional Head Sales(North)-Mondelez International

In the light of the poll that we had on the group regarding professions you would like to know more about I was wracking my brain to find the right person on board. One who talks not from the books but from the invaluable experience of working in the corporate sector.

Humayun Shan, Regional Head Sales (North) at Mondelez, Pakistan has been in this field for over ten years now and today he shares with us some tips that will help kindle that salesman spirit in all of you here.  


What are the key 3 things that you look out for in a candidate when hiring new entrants?

There are two sets of candidates that come to us, one group is the experienced lot who have worked in the industry for quite some time and know it inside out so for them the metrics to gauge are totally different, what's more pertinent to this group are the fresh candidates. These are the ones aspiring to enter in their first profession. I look out for 
1) Persistence 
2) Positive (Attitude/Coachable)
3)Passionate 
I would add a 4th one here which in recent times has taken as much importance as the 3 above. 
4) Resourceful (someone who can shift gears if a sale isn't going the way they envisioned. They look for a different approach using creativity and imagination

On many instances, fresh graduates feel that companies negate the idea that they have to start from somewhere and ask for an experience of 2-3 years even for an entry level job. What is your take on it?

Work experience is important in cases where stakes are really high. I look after 35% of Pakistan and Islamabad/Rawalpindi are important parts of my performance. I would hesitate in taking someone on board who has zero work experience as a manager in Islamabad. Whereas I might be very happy taking can them on board as a manager in Jehlum or Abbottabad.

This also depends on an organization and the position. In Mondelez an Area Manager is as significant as Regional Managers of many other companies. So we might not take him/her on as ASM Islamabad but we can look at him/her as Territory Manager Islamabad where he/she will have colleagues and responsibilities will be shared. I also want to add that fresh graduates keep a track of management trainee programs and never hesitate from relocation.

In your view point should everyone at some point in their careers take up sales? Theory says this power to convince people to buy your product/service really plays a pivotal role in one's career success in later years.

A sales based job is always a challenge, making someone to buy products that they might not even sometimes want or consciously think about is even a much challenging feat. However, the growth that one experiences in this job role surpasses all others as the results are so quantifiable. It’s more like you achieve your targets and you can vouch for better future prospects.

 From a financial standpoint a job in an MNC like Mondelez, Nestle, Pepsi Co or RB is very lucrative. They normally pay above market range and the perks are good as well. FMCG sector is a fast paced sector. People mostly get addicted to it. Normally all MNC's share career path ways with individuals. Some call it check in's other call it development plan. I strongly believe that in order to prove yourself in category planning & activation, trade marketing or brand management roles you need to have a little or some experience of sales. You just can't sit in office or do a market visit or two and plan or finalize a trade plan. Most of the companies have now adopted the same approach. They either move people in to sales for a stint or hire people from sales in to positions of trade marketing or brands

Any tips that you might have to offer for our younger lot?

I would say bring enthusiasm to the office when you are aspiring to take a sales position. The start will always be tough, maybe at times tougher than other fields as you have got targets to meet, often seems like a rat race but the consistent players always make it big. Hone your muscles now for its a rocky road ahead with a lot of leg work but that feeling of satisfaction,personal growth and not to forget the perks will make it all worth it!

Humayun Shan
https://www.linkedin.com/in/humayun-shan-b11aa88/
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A rendezvous with Ayeza Sumsam Mohiuddin (Brand Manager,Skin Health Care Category)

My meet-cute with Ayeza was out of any professional and academic settings, we met at a mutual relative's place and instantly clicked. She was a year younger than me and yet her take on life inspired me at that point in time too. We then lost touch of each other only to meet again at IBA, where we used to pass occasional glances and smiles as we both were too occupied to make a decent conversation. Today, when I searched among my Facebook friends for an inspirational marketer, Ayeza's named popped in my mind and on my screen almost immediately,I reached out to her, not expecting her to message so promptly as I knew she is a busy young lady. But, this bright person made me awe struck once again, by the very manner in whichshe welcomed the idea of "The Placement Office", I could feel her giddy with excitement as she answered all my questions pain painstakingly detailing as much as possible.  I hope our conversation with Ayeza today, can inspire hundreds and tho...
2 comments
Read more

Learning,to Unlearn

I was lazily surfing my newsfeed when this video caught my attention  study session  this video shows a mother is force teaching her daughter..people are m a making all kinds of comments on it..some even have the audacity to find the video "cute" and entertaining!! The sight of that child wailing and crying and trying to remember simple counting brought back memories flooding back to my mind of a friend who had to go through to the same ordeal. I was among the cool kids who would spend a good one hour at a task and there you go.it used to be etched in my memory, when teachers would ask  us about the task we would raise our hands up  high to answer the question and get some brownie points...but there in the corner would be my buddy...the uncool one. The one who would sink in the back benches to escape the wrath of the teacher who would miss no chance to sham that poor kid in-front of twenty others just because to her things didn't come as easy as they did to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fields of Gold

I was standing in my kitchen admiring the lush  greens that Islamabad offered me after a short spell of rain...the soothing scent of the first few water droplets hitting the dry barren earth was like magic to my nostrils.....lost in my reverie ...the rain and the weather somehow made me nostalgic, took me back to memories of 82.5. 82.5 was my room at Warwick...the one place where I want to go back to again and again..the one place that set me free from the confines of my own personality...gave me a chance to explore...to create memories that I can always look back to...I still remember my first trip to my room..one of the most hectic journeys for me. I was accompanied by my dad that day, back then we were both new to the English weather..had just left all our family exactly two weeks ago to shift to a land where it never stopped raining! (hailing from Karachi,this seemed like an abnormality to me).  The killing walks Anyways as you can very well imagine we both ...
Post a Comment
Read more