Job Description

The role of a product manager is to plan and execute on strategy for a product set, as long as to ensure optimal stock holding for a particular product set.

JOB DIMENSIONS

Product Lifecycle Management

• Keep up to date with the vendorxe2x80x99s product roadmap, and ensure that all relevant information is disseminated with in Rectron
• Ensure that vendor and Rectron product strategies are aligned
• Plan marketing activities in line with the product lifecycle
• Ensure that all the sales, technical and marketing teams are well educated, and have the right tools, on your product set in order to effective sell, market and support
• Send out weekly pricelists internally
• Send out pricelists to key customers that require a personalized pricelist
• Regularly update Rectronxe2x80x99s selling pricelist
• Regularly ensure that Rectronxe2x80x99s ERP systems are stock free
• Work with hardware product managers to ensure that Rectron maximises on whitespace opportunities between brands

Budgets

• Meet and exceed on Rectronxe2x80x99s internal targets (turnover, profitability, partner/customer recruit)
• Meet and exceed on vendor targets
• Proactively track performance against budget requirements and report back to management on performance tracking
• Set budgets for the financial year to be presented to Rectron leadership, ensuring that set budgets balance out Rectron and vendor strategic priorities and revenue / profitability expectations

Marketing

• Work with Rectronxe2x80x99s marketing team to drive marketing strategy for the product set, ensuring that this strategy is congruent with Rectronxe2x80x99s overall product/services strategy
• Ensure that marketing strategy is executed on time and within budget
• Marketing activities that might be considered include PR, advertising, social media, relationship building activities, trade marketing, events, and direct communication
• Work with vendors to ensure that marketing funds spent are claimed as they are spent, through the use of available tools
• Ensure that all marketing activities that are executed are in line with both Rectron and the vendorxe2x80x99s marketing guidelines

Market & Industry Trends

• Maintain a deep level of understanding of the industry trends that will have a direct or indirect impact on your product line
• Understand the competitive market, and competitor strategies, including such things as their unique selling propositions, differentiators and pricing

Customers

• Develop deep relationships with your top customers, as well as high potential customers, and gain a deep understanding their businesses, and how your product fits in with their businesses.
• Recruit customers in order to build up the customer base
• Ensure that you are the largest contributor in terms of customer recruitment in your product line
• Possess a good understanding of the challenges that the market faces, such that you will be able to find innovative solutions for the broader market
• Ensure that all customers with monthly billing requirements are billed accordingly

Vendor

• Develop deep relationships with your vendors
• Understand your vendorsxe2x80x99 short and long-term strategies, and ensure that your vendors have a good understanding of Rectronxe2x80x99s strategies
• Ensure all orders are processed with vendor timeously, working with the operations team to achieve this

Internal Relationships

• Act as the primary point of contact for all queries relating to your product
• Liaise with the sales manager, and regional branch managers, regional product managers, and the sales team to communicate priorities
• Conduct regular training sessions for the sales team on your products
• Maintain close relationships with devices product managers in order to identify opportunities to attach
• Work with the RCT-Cloud support team to proactively identify issues that resellers are facing

Relationships and Communications

• Communicate in a clear and professional manner both internally and externally
• Proactive and timely communications to all key stakeholders
• Respond to all queries in the same day as they are received
• Raise issues to relevant parties as they arise
• Nominate a backup for when you are not in the office, and ensure that your backup is adequately briefed and prepared to assist in your day to day activities where necessary

Knowledge

• Maintain a deep level of sales knowledge on managed product sets, as well as a moderate technical knowledge
• Maintain a moderate level of knowledge across the RCT-Cloud business unit
• Maintain a basic level of knowledge across the entire Rectron product range.
• Keep abreast of technology trends

The candidate must possess the following capabilities:

• New Business Development

o Analyse Rectronxe2x80x99s sales and customer data to identify opportunities
o Identify opportunities amongst broader end customers
o Call downs on the reseller base

• Computer literacy and PC skills

o Ability to effectively navigate and use a Windows based PC
o Microsoft Word: Proper formatting, typing up of documents
o Microsoft Excel: Pivot tables, v-lookup, filtering, sums
o Microsoft PowerPoint: Putting together basic, neat presentations
o Microsoft Outlook: Sending/receiving emails, out of office settings, scheduling meetings, attachments
o Skype for Business / Teams: Sending/receiving messages, joining conference calls
o SharePoint: updating content; finding content across the organisation

• Effective Communication

o Clear, professional communication
o Getting back to stakeholders timeously
o Manage expectations with stakeholders
o Teamwork
o Moderate presentation skills

• Organisation

o Time management
o Prioritising of tasks
o Planning and organising

• Problem Solving

o Listening to and effectively analyse problems as they arise
o Proactively find solutions to problems using all available resources
o Knowing when to ask for help either from internal or vendor resources

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Targets

• Meet and exceed on all Rectron targets
• Maintain a clean stock file on a monthly basis

Reseller Engagements

• Monthly meetings with an identified set of strategic resellers
• Ad hoc meetings with other resellers that you need to develop
• Provide feedback on all reseller engagements, along with suggestions on activities that should be run
• Ensure that queries are responded to within a reasonable time frame

Administrative

• On time submissions of accurate weekly reports (deadline for weekly reports is COB Mondays)

o Report must include: Current month tracking against target, current stock holding levels, aging stock levels and feedback on action items, reseller feedback, activity feedback, planned marketing activities, executed marketing activities, and feedback, information on pending deals, shortfall to target and how this will be made up

• Send out weekly management pricelists to all regions, ensuring that the management pricelist is kept current and accurate
• Weekly updating of Rectronxe2x80x99s main pricelist

Training and Sales Engagement

• Keep up to date with online training on vendor portals
• Provide regular training to the Rectron sales team to ensure that knowledge is kept up to date within the organisation xe2x80x93 training must be conducted once every two months at a minimum

Marketing

• Forward planning of marketing activities
• Timeous and on budget execution of marketing activities
• Ensure that vendor marketing claims are completed on time and accurately

Education/Qualification

• Minimum: Matric, University degree with either a business or information technology background preferable

Experience (experience required for the job)

• Minimum 3 years in a solution sales environment, with experience in software/cloud solutions an advantage
• Product management experience an advantage

CHARACTER

• Tenacious
• Proactive
• Organised and Methodical
• Works well in a high-pressure environment
• Flexible
• Respectful
• Appreciates customers
• Self-learning
• Discipline
• Honest
• Accountable
• Actively helps team members out

RELATIONSHIPS
Internal

• RCT-Cloud Team
• Rectron sales team
• Branches
• Finance
• HR
• Logistics

External

• Vendors
• Resellers
• End customer

TRAINING & EXAMS
Mandatory

• Bitdefender (http://elearning.bitdefender.com)

o Bitdefender Business Portfolio Commercial Training and Test

• Palladium (https://university.palladium.co.za)

o Palladium training for Rectron resellers xe2x80x93 all modules

• Acronis (https://partners.acronis.com)

o Acronis Sales Professional (class and exam)
o Acronis Product Specialist (classes and exam)

Recommended

• Microsoft Partner University (http://partneruniversity.microsoft.com)

o Cloud Suite Offers for Education (MPN17988)
o Microsoft Azure xe2x80x93 Modern offers and licensing (16808)
o Pitch Perfect: Azure (MPN17008)
o Azure Basics for Partner Support Agents: Cloud Computing Overview (MPN17158)
o Microsoft 365 Business Sales Resources (MPN18192)
o Microsoft 365 Business Sales Series (MPN18191)
o Understanding the Security & Compliance Benefits in Office 365 (MPN18133)
o Office 365 Cloud Solution Provider (MPN15824)

• Time management
• Sales skills
• Rectron product training sessions
• Presentation skills

REVIEW SCHEDULE

• Quarterly review of KPIs xe2x80x93 please ensure that you attend the session prepared to review your own activity for the previous month
• Bi-annual full performance appraisal

Rectron