Senior Sales Manager

Job Overview

The Senior Sales Manager role focuses on generating insurance business by collaborating closely with designated relationship and channel partners within a specific geographical zone. The manager aims to persuade these partners to encourage their customers to invest in Birla Sunlife Insurance products. This role requires overseeing both pre-sale and post-sale support and services for partners and clients, alongside managing a dedicated team. The goal is to consistently meet sales targets while ensuring progressive business growth each quarter.

Key Responsibilities and Accountability

• Maintain accountability for meeting premium and revenue targets that contribute to the organization’s overall growth.
• Engage continuously with channel partners, including multiple bank branch heads, to strengthen relationships.
• Map key decision makers effectively and ensure pertinent information is communicated to regional and zone heads.
• Implement all organizational recognition and reward programs aggressively to motivate performance.
• Develop innovative initiatives and branch-level activities aimed at increasing customer penetration.
• Ensure smooth execution of sales and related processes to maximize business potential.
• Communicate any changes in processes, rules, or regulations through various training methods.
• Guarantee seamless handling of sales calls, policy issuance, and complaint resolution processes.
• Manage relationships at various levels within the bank’s open architecture model, delivering excellent services and product knowledge.
• Identify new business opportunities within allocated relationships to boost top-line growth.
• Focus on increasing customer activation, aiming for 40% field-level sales activation with a two-case average ticket size above 50,000 INR.
• Achieve a balanced product mix distribution: 50% traditional insurance, 40% unit-linked insurance plans, and 10% term insurance.
• Contribute ideas for new products and sales pitches based on deep understanding of channel partner needs.
• Assess training needs for both internal and channel partner teams to strengthen capabilities.
• Regularly review business metrics and report insights to senior management.
• Connect with customers through welcome calls and maintain timely communication to meet renewal and persistency standards.
• Ensure customer issues are resolved promptly to facilitate on-time renewals, targeting an 80% persistency rate for premiums and policies over 13 months.

Job Context and Challenges

• Operating in a volatile market, particularly as Birla Sunlife Insurance primarily sells unit-linked policies which can be sensitive to market fluctuations.
• Dependence on the HDFC branch banking model with competing priorities requires effective alignment and collaboration.
• Balancing procedural compliance requirements with the expectations and needs of channel partners.

Key Metrics and Impact

• Manages a workforce of approximately 10 to 11 individuals across various branches.
• Accountable for an annualized premium target between 5 to 10 crore INR.
• Committed to zero customer complaints, reflecting a high standard of service quality.
• Ensures premium and policy persistency at 80%, supporting sustained business growth.