Responsibilities of a Sales Representative Supervisor

Supervisor is a person who coordinates the activities of company employees. Serving as a link between the customer and the contractor, the supervisor supervises the work of about three dozen people.

The main responsibility of the supervisor profession is to control and introduce new trends into the work process.

Types of profession

The work of these people has its own characteristics and certain specifics.

Promoter Supervisor- works on the promotion and promotion of products, organizes advertising events, designates a place for their holding and tasting, gives advice on advertising campaigns, trains staff in the intricacies of sales. Controls the appearance of the employees entrusted to him, the availability of advertising printed materials at their disposal, recruits personnel, and draws up reporting documentation on his activities.
Merchandiser supervisor– solves organizational issues, monitors the quality of work of subordinates. Responsible for the receipt of goods and advises consumers on all product characteristics. Tracks damaged goods and schedules new deliveries.
Sales agent supervisor– recruits staff, looks for clients, develops sales, accepts orders, controls the supply of goods to retail outlets. In addition, he must be able to resolve a conflict situation, organize marketing campaigns, work on sales performance, analyze product consumption and document product sales.
Sales Supervisor– conducts planning and analytical activities, directs staff to increase sales figures, discusses customer needs with managers retail outlets.

Each supervisor specializes in a certain type of activity.

History of the profession

The position of supervisor came to us from the United States of America, where it originated. In the 70s, technology began to actively develop, and a need arose to reduce costs and increase profits. To achieve such results, it was necessary to train people in new techniques and monitor their implementation. Thus the need for supervisors arose.

The professional holiday falls on every third Wednesday in September. On this day, people who work in the field of personnel management celebrate their professional holiday.

All work of the enterprise relies on specialists of this level. They have the most important role - to train staff, organize work, monitor its implementation, and unite the interests of the company and employees.

Pros and cons of being a supervisor

The nice part of the profession is the perspective career growth. The supervisor may apply for the vacant position of sales manager.

The other side of the coin is nervous tension throughout the working day.

Moreover, it is not only your superior management who can throw you off balance. Dissatisfaction with the work of subordinates and the reluctance of promoters to make concessions causes emotional irritation.

Requirements for the profession

In order to be accepted for the position of supervisor, you must:

have a higher education with a psychological or social bias,
master the basics of marketing and sales techniques,
be able to compare and analyze changes in the field of marketing and sociology,
have organizational skills.

The following are valued in a candidate for a position:

basic economic knowledge;
people management skills;
understanding what enterprises specialize in and what they are based on technological processes;
computer literacy, knowledge of basic office programs;
the ability to select personnel in accordance with their professional qualities;
navigate labor legislation, labor safety standards and regulations, labor regulations requirements.

Due to the traveling nature of the work, driving skills and having your own road transport and presence of a driver's license. Preference is given to people aged 25-40 years.

Job responsibilities

According to the duties of his official tasks, the supervisor:

recruits people and forms groups of employees in accordance with the task, keeps their professional activities under constant control;
monitors the implementation of planned work in accordance with the schedule, checks the quality of their implementation;
maintains reporting documentation in accordance with established forms;
allows conflict situations, resolves issues related to the range of his responsibilities.

Supervisor Responsibility

Managing people is not an easy task. A specialist has to be responsible not only for his own actions, but also for the actions and professionalism of the entire team under his command.

The supervisor must follow his job description without exceeding their powers and scope of responsibility.

Thus, the head of the initial level of personnel management does not need to take on more responsibility than is required by his circle of competence. Otherwise, you will have to be punished for someone else’s activities.

However, you need to make it clear to your subordinates that it is you who are leading them and that they are not allowed to carry out commands from outside. This way you will gain the authority of the team and be able to control the responsibility assigned to you.

Supervisor Authority

Middle management of employees gives the right to:

work with personal files of staff;
obtaining accounting information on the remuneration of people subordinate to the supervisor;
submitting nominations for awards for well-proven employees;
participation in organizing the activities of the department entrusted to him, drawing up a work plan regarding his field of activity.

The manager is obliged to demand from senior management to improve working conditions for their employees and provide them with all necessary materials for their effective activities.

Features of the supervisor profession

Willingness and ability to perform the tasks he requires of the people under his command.

Professional skills and abilities of a supervisor

Ideally, a representative of this profession should be able to plan work and predict the situation.

The manager must master negotiation techniques, understand the specifics of sales and market structure.

A supervisor is, first of all, a leader who must teach the team to obey him.

Personal qualities of a supervisor

Managing people is an art.

It is necessary, first of all, to have the makings of a leader, to have communication and creative skills, as well as organizational abilities.
The position of a supervisor is characterized by a non-standard approach to a situation, the ability to analyze, and the ability to plan a work process.
A manager must be demanding not only of others, but also, above all, of himself, to possess business ethics and the basics of psychology, have a quick reaction, instantly perceive innovations.

Work involves the need to constantly be on your feet, so you need to be active and energetic on top of everything else.

Supervisor career

Leaders cannot go unnoticed, so managers who do an excellent job with their job responsibilities are always noticed by higher management and promoted throughout the state. Successful employees rapidly climb up the career ladder.

If there are simply no prospects for growth in the company where the supervisor works, do not despair. There is always a place for professionals in the employment market, even if they have to switch to the side of competitors.

A mid-level manager may be offered to become the head of a department, or may even be given a vacancy as a director.

However, without systematic training and awareness of responsibility for the entrusted personnel, a career cannot be built.

Work efficiency and professionalism are two components that will lead you to success.

Supervisor's places of work

The professionalism of these people is valued in various fields of activity, such as production companies or advertising agencies.

Specialists of this level are in demand in organizations that deal with wholesale and retail sales. Therefore, the supervisor will always be able to find a job in the field of trade.

Supervisor salary

The amount of income is influenced by the prestige of the company, as well as its belonging to a certain region. As is known, earnings in major cities significantly higher and range from $1,200 to $2,700. In the suburbs, this amount is $500, and if you are lucky, you can find a place that pays $1,000. But you can't rely on luck alone, big role Your skills and abilities play a role.

Alexander Yurievich

Director of a recruitment agency

Level modern trade differs significantly from past relationships between sellers and buyers. At the moment, many professions with names that are unusual for domestic consumers have appeared on the labor market and in the global economy. In this regard, you can often hear the question: who is the supervisor and what does he do?

This is the name of a Western profession that has become part of the modern economic sector. In general, it represents leadership over a group of employees. Basically, specialists in this profession coordinate the work of promoters, managers and sales representatives. To understand in more detail what a supervisor means (who does what and who does what), it is worth considering the job description of this employee.

General provisions

The employee hired for this position is a low or middle level manager. His employment directly depends on the head of the sales department and the main management of the company. Once a supervisor receives this position, he is directly subordinate to these managers and has the opportunity to give orders to his own subordinates. In the absence of one of the subordinates, this employee must take their place, but only a person appointed by the director can take his position.

To obtain this position in the company, the applicant must obtain a higher education degree professional education. Employers rarely pay attention to length of service. But if an employee only has a secondary specialized education and a certificate of completion of courses on working with subordinates, then his work experience in a managerial position must be at least one year. In his work he must rely on legal and regulations, management orders, internal regulations, company charter and instructions.

Knowledge

The main purpose of conducting an interview for a supervisor is to test his knowledge and professionalism. An employee hired for this position must know labor law, the basics of entrepreneurship, doing business and market economy. Before starting to perform his functions, he must familiarize himself with the structure and staff of the company, find out the profile of its activities, specialization and think over the path of long-term development. In addition, the employee must find out how the organization’s personnel policy is maintained, what strategy it is developing according to and what technological processes are taking place at the enterprise.

In order to perform his duties efficiently, the supervisor must know general, labor and special psychology, sociology, the norm and time spent on the work of his subordinates, and methods for assessing the quality of their work. His knowledge should also include ethics business communication, methods by which personnel, organizational and management tasks are solved, as well as the purpose and rules of use modern means computer technology for information processing.

Functions

The very first thing a supervisor does is convey information to his subordinates about the tasks that they have to perform. It is this employee who checks whether they are ready to start work and distributes the total amount of work between them. He coordinates the work and in case of unforeseen circumstances or failure in the overall work process, he appoints a new executor to ensure the smooth completion of the assigned tasks. If necessary, the employee organizes the interchangeability of company employees, he must determine which tasks to complete as a priority, monitors that all employees comply with the work schedule, distributes personnel, assigns shifts to ensure that the expected volume of tasks is completed on time and at a high level.

Responsibilities

The supervisor's responsibilities include checking that his subordinates have all the necessary materials, technologies and information, without which they will not be able to perform the tasks assigned to them. He must prevent downtime in work and ensure that there are no emergency situations or stoppages in the work process.

The employee is obliged to eliminate and prevent conflicts between subordinates, to assess the quality of work of each subordinate individually in order to determine the rationality of assigning these tasks to him and whether it is possible to increase the number of his responsibilities. Thanks to his knowledge of psychology, he tests workers for loyalty, balance and degree of trust. The supervisor’s responsibilities also include analyzing employee behavior when working with clients, checking professional behavior and reporting to subordinates about the mistakes they have made and the need to correct them.

Other functions

Among the functions of this manager, it is worth highlighting providing subordinates with instructions regarding mandatory tasks, checking for readiness to perform various types of work, as well as monitoring the condition of employees, analyzing the ability of them to perform work without causing harm to the company, and in the event of the removal or replacement of an employee, he is obliged to notify his superiors about this management.

Ensures that the system of rewards and penalties for employees is applied in a timely and effective manner, and also conducts conversations with them, finds out the reasons for job dissatisfaction and helps in solving personal and corporate problems. If one of the employees is not able to cope with the tasks assigned to them, organizes special events to increase their professional skills and, if this does not help, submits a request to management to dismiss the lagging employee.

Other responsibilities

The supervisor's responsibilities include determining the criteria and requirements for applicants to get a job in the company and selecting candidates for the position. He must introduce new employees to the team, provide them with everything they need to navigate the new workplace, and explain the principles of the company’s personnel and labor policy.

In addition, he must ensure the interconnected work of his department with other divisions of the organization, keep records of the employment of his subordinates and the work performed by them. The employee must document the quality of the work, the timeliness of its completion, and the reasons for the violation of the work schedule for reporting to superiors. If necessary, independently solves some problems of his employees.

Rights

The supervisor's job description assumes that this employee has the right to access all personal matters personnel subordinate to him, participate in the development and approval of company plans, including changes in company divisions. If changes occur in production policy, he has the right to convene an ad hoc meeting to explain the new data to his subordinates. In addition, his rights include the ability to demand from management to provide his department with all the necessary materials, resources and information necessary to complete the assigned tasks.

The sales supervisor can obtain from the accounting department any financial information related to his employees, and also make proposals for material incentives or penalties from specific workers for how well and timely they perform their duties and adhere to company rules.

An employee has the right to act as an intermediary between his subordinates and senior management in the process of resolving production issues and conflicts. He can improve his knowledge, get acquainted with the necessary documentation, and also demand that he and his subordinates be provided with optimal conditions labor according to current legislation countries.

Responsibility

The supervisor profession assumes that an employee, having received a job, is responsible for the quality and timeliness of the performance of his duties, and is also responsible for the work of subordinate personnel, their improper performance of their functions and all offenses. In addition, he is responsible for any violations of current labor, administrative and criminal legislation in the course of implementing his labor activity. He may also be held accountable if his actions or the mistakes of his subordinates led to material damage to the company.

Supervisor skills

A candidate for this position must have certain skills and qualities. Employees with systems thinking are highly valued, who can not only look at the situation from the outside, but also make a forecast in which direction it will develop. It is very important to understand the structure of the trading business, to know the specifics of the area in which the company operates, as well as to have business speech and be able to negotiate.

In terms of personal qualities, employers highly value resilience stressful situations, exactingness, the ability to observe and analyze what is happening, as well as the ability not to lose performance even under stressful conditions. But, the most important thing that company managers look at is the leadership qualities of applicants and their ability to organize collective work. Well, since representatives of this profession are lower-level managers, the ability to listen and carry out instructions from management is valued no less than the rest.

Conclusion

Supervisors are lower-level managers, mostly subordinate to a small staff of sales employees. It is believed that this position is the beginning of a career path in the company and opens up great prospects for the person. It is by occupying this place in the company that employees begin their path to high leadership positions and hone their management, planning and promotion skills.

Translated from in English the word supervisor can be literally interpreted as “curator”, “manager”, “manager” or “controller”. This profession belongs to the management level, which gives rise to a number of specific duties and responsibilities. Depending on what the supervisor’s work is related to, responsibilities will be formed based on the specific area of activity of the company itself. This could be trade, advertising, production, and so on.

A little history

The supervisor profession began its rapid development in the second half of the 20th century in the United States, where, along with the growth in the number of companies, certain job responsibilities of a supervisor were highlighted. Subordinate to this representative of the company is his own group of promoters, managers, sales consultants, merchandisers and other specialists.

Company directors have high hopes for supervisors, since they are the ones who manage the entire team, are in search of new clients, places to work for their subordinates, explore every retail outlet and look for ways to improve the business, increase sales and increase competitiveness. Depending on the field of activity in which a company representative will work, he will perform specific job responsibilities, which include several points, the implementation of which affects the entire work.

Main responsibilities of a supervisor

The list of responsibilities assigned to the supervisor can be constantly adjusted and changed, but only if this is provided for in the relevant paragraph employment contract. The specifics of the activities of a particular company determine the main job responsibilities of the supervisor, which include the following points:

conversation with candidates for a specific position to form a team;
conducting trainings and educational programs;
motivating company employees;
carrying out negotiations with regular and potential clients;
providing retail outlets with the necessary promotional products;
searching for profitable places for promotions and the work of the promoters themselves;
bearing responsibility for each subordinate employee;
competent work with each newcomer, assistance in his adaptation, getting to know the team, the work in general, understanding his responsibilities, and so on;
introducing all kinds of innovations for the productive work of the entire team, maintaining a constant attitude and creating a positive atmosphere that motivates success;
objective assessment of each subordinate, individual conversation, assistance in development, dismissal or promotion;
creating a work schedule, vacations, sick leave;
conducting training courses;
Preparation of reports for management, which will correctly reflect the result of the work performed, its quality, tasks completed and much more.

Qualification requirements

It is safe to say that the supervisor is right hand any company leader. There may be several such managers, and each will be assigned to a specific area of work. In accordance with this, you need to choose a worthy candidate who will be subject to the appropriate qualification requirements:

presence of higher or secondary specialized education;
ability to use a PC and understand basic programs;
experience in this field - from 1 year;
availability of a personal vehicle;
communication and management skills, ability to work with large group people, a responsible approach to work, quick decision-making, the ability to persuade, quickly remember information, organizational skills and much more.

Depending on the specific field of activity and the tasks that are set, specific responsibilities of the supervisor are formed in trading company. The career and salary of the supervisor will depend on how correctly they are performed.

What is the asking price?

A supervisor's salary directly depends on the company in which he will work. If you carry out average rating salary level, then on average such specialists earn from $700 to $1,300 per month, although there is no limit here. However, it is worth understanding that the higher the salary, the more extensive the supervisor’s job responsibilities, but these tasks are quite feasible.

In addition, in such a position there is always the prospect of a rapid rise up the career ladder, for example, to branch director or even higher; everything will depend on personal desire to work, love for your profession and the desire to develop in this area. So the job of a supervisor is an excellent chance for people who want to build a successful career. In any case, such a position provides extensive experience in various fields of activity. This is the ability to manage and collaborate with people, set tasks and successfully complete them, which ultimately leads to the formation of valuable experience that will be useful in other professions.

Is it difficult to work as a supervisor and how to become one?

When considering this vacancy, you can see many offers from a variety of employers. As a rule, advertisements contain detailed information, which clearly states what the supervisor’s responsibilities are. The applicant, based on this list, can realistically assess his capabilities. This work is promising, and difficulties can arise only at the first stage of activity - getting to know the team, the company, its individual characteristics and requirements. But it’s all a matter of time and adaptation, and the faster it goes, the better for a supervisor’s career.

Basic qualities

A person who wants to master this position must quickly perceive information and be able to offer interesting ideas, who will be useful for the company and will be able to make a proper contribution to its development. The director must be calm about his business and it is important for him to receive short but accurate answers to all questions and an appropriate response about the work done, where the positive result of the supervisor’s work will be visible. This is the only way to achieve trust in your person, respect and a speedy promotion.

In all large trade organizations today, an employee who is called one of the currently fashionable foreign terms, “supervisor,” performs his duties. From English this word is translated as “controller, inspector, observer”, therefore, the main function of this official is to control professional activity employees.

Despite the youth of the supervisor profession in the Russian labor market, it is relevant and in demand, especially in the field of trade relations.

History of the profession

The history of the profession dates back to the 70s of the 20th century, when in the USA, as a result of the rapid development production technologies, for the first time, employees appeared who exercised control over other employees. Such activities brought good results, especially during the period of introduction of new technologies, as it provided high-quality execution assigned tasks.

In the Russian labor sphere, the position of supervisor appeared approximately 10–15 years ago as a result of borrowing foreign economic experience. In our country there is a historical analogue of the supervisor profession - this is the position of a foreman in factories and factories, which is a working specialty. The foreman exercised control over the activities of subordinates in the work sphere, while the position of supervisor is aimed at carrying out administrative and management functions.

To learn about who a supervisor is, watch the following video:

Responsibilities and functions

The main task This employee is to improve control over the professional activities of enterprise personnel, as well as ensure competent interaction between company management and performers. The supervisor usually leads a group of subordinates of up to 20 people, with each member of which he maintains personal contact.

In addition to monitoring the activities of employees in pure form, he organizes work on the ground. The prefix “super” indicates the universal nature of his professional duties, the list of which is quite wide.

As a kind of intermediary between the working staff and management, the supervisor performs the following actions:

setting work tasks for subordinates, checking readiness to complete them;
distribution of areas and volumes of work among employees, analysis of priority and priorities;
technical, material and information equipment of employees;
training (mentoring, patronage) and motivation of the work team;
conducting interviews with applicants for lower-level positions;
introducing new employees to internal rules companies;
ensuring interaction of the team with various departments of the organization (HR department, accounting department, etc.);
presence when employees communicate with clients and visitors to analyze their professional behavior, identify errors and recommend how to eliminate them;
psychological conversation with employees, finding out the reasons for unsatisfactory work, joint determination of solutions to corporate and personal issues;
preventing operational failures and unforeseen situations, making effective decisions during this period;
if necessary, organizing the interchangeability of workers (in exceptional cases, he should be ready to replace a colleague himself);
preventing and eliminating conflict situations in the team, creating a friendly atmosphere;
analysis and assessment of the quality of work of both the team as a whole and each performer, monitoring the level of professionalism of subordinates;
identifying and eliminating the reasons that reduce the quality of the team’s work;
control over employees' compliance with work schedules;
correction of shortcomings in the work and appearance of subordinates;
determining the possibilities and methods of applying the company’s system of rewards and penalties;
regular reporting to superiors on the work done;
maintaining at the proper level corporate culture organizations.

From the analysis of the supervisor’s professional responsibilities, we can conclude that its main functions in production are: organization, direction, control and motivation of personnel. He distributes tasks, monitors work results, reports to his superiors for his subordinates, and, in fact, manages sales with the help of other people. All these actions must be daily; the supervisor’s work schedule is intense - 10-12 hours a day.

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Position Requirements

A candidate for this position may be subject to the following: requirements:

Rights and competencies

Basic rights and competences of this employee consist of issuing orders, providing instructions to subordinates, as well as personal responsibility for the results of work and the actions of each of them. At the same time, the supervisor does not bear budgetary responsibility and does not have the right to hire and fire workers.

There is no legal description of the position, but it is subject to traditional social guarantees in the sphere of labor. An employee can either be a member or be hired from outside to carry out one-time assignments. The relationship between the supervisor and the organization is also determined by the job description drawn up in accordance with local regulations.

The supervisor has the right: provide access to personal files of employees; obtain information from the accounting department about the terms of remuneration of employees and other financial information; require management to provide appropriate organizational and technical conditions for successful work employees; participate in the development of company plans, make proposals for rewarding outstanding employees, and also undergo additional training in accordance with the assigned tasks.

How to become an expert in this field

In higher educational institutions There is no training for the specialty “supervisor”, so knowledge and experience are acquired only in the process of work. Particularly valuable in this work are Practical skills. The position becomes available only after completing a certain career path, usually as a sales representative or merchandiser within two to three years. This allows you to study the specifics of work “from the very bottom.” Many companies organize educational lectures, seminars, and training sessions for their employees to improve their skills.

The main criterion Employment requires one to three years of experience in sales or management. Since the position of supervisor is managerial in nature, the applicant must have experience in managing a team. A supervisor is an intermediate step on the career ladder between a sales representative and the head of the sales department. This a great opportunity apply in the future for the position of manager or head of the sales department.

It would be desirable to have higher education psychological or sociological profile. It is possible to get a position with a secondary specialized education, but the salary in this case will be lower. The candidate must good orientation in the basics of marketing and sales techniques, features labor legislation, personnel policy, market economics, labor protection, psychology and ethics of business communication. Possessing such a complex of knowledge, the supervisor will be able to competently organize the work of his subordinates and motivate them to achieve high results.

Qualities required for supervisors

To carry out his professional tasks, the supervisor must have near personal qualities. This is what his psychological portrait looks like: he is a successful organizer, a leader, subordinate to a team of employees of different personalities. He has sociability, because for each subordinate he needs to find individual approach, is flexible and demanding at the same time.

To the supervisor characteristic activity, determination, observation, analytical mind to cope with an extensive list of responsibilities. He is stress-resistant, dynamic, and knows how to work in a team. This position is a godsend for young ambitious careerists.

Wage

High responsibility of supervisors implies decent wages, which consists of a fixed salary and a percentage of sales. Salaries in large cities can reach from 50,000 to 70,000 rubles. In the regions it is somewhere from 15,000 to 30,000 thousand.

Pay for new employees is about a third less. Work experience, as well as the availability of knowledge, skills and abilities matter. There are also various bonuses and additional payments based on work results. Supervisor services provided through can cost from 200 rubles per hour (including commissions) to 1,500 rubles per day.

Work specifics

The work of a supervisor is predominantly traveling in nature; the employee constantly moves between retail outlets and venues for promotions. He spends the rest of his time in the office, where he compiles various reports and current documentation.

Supervisor develops development plan territory entrusted to him, monitors the developing objective situation on it and determines the potential for its development. The employee records basic information, as well as the daily results of his activities, in supervisor workbook.

Nuances of professional specialization

Depending on the area of work performed, the supervisor has his own specialization and corresponding specifics of activity.

creates appropriate conditions for the promotion and promotion of goods and services, develops a route for advertising events, negotiates with the administration shopping centers about an advantageous place for promotions, consultations and tastings. He explains, often by personal example, how to carry out promotions, how to address passers-by and interest them. Ensures that promoters are provided with booklets and promotional materials, product samples, gifts for drawings, and delivers supplies if necessary required material from warehouse. He also monitors appearance employees, their professional behavior, makes personnel changes if necessary. Upon completion advertising company the supervisor provides a report on the work done.

Merchandiser supervisor monitors the conscientious performance of their work by employees and resolves organizational issues. He checks the layout of goods on the shelves of the outlet, provides consultations to customers about the quality and benefits of products, and controls the remaining goods in the warehouse. He has to move a lot between retail outlets during the day, monitor product volumes and cases of defects, develop delivery schedules and displays of new products.

Sales Representative Supervisor forms a team of employees, controls the acceptance of orders, search for clients, and sales development. His activities include monitoring the activities of retail outlets and commodity supplies, organizing marketing campaigns, assistance in achieving planned targets, and resolving conflict situations. The supervisor's responsibilities also include analyzing sales dynamics and maintaining reports.

Sales Supervisor organizes the work of employees to achieve optimal trading performance within a certain time frame, negotiates with managers of retail outlets and clients, carries out auditing and reporting, orients employees to results, and resolves conflict situations. Special attention here the focus is on planning and analytical activities.

The supervisor, when performing his professional duties, should in no case feel “above others.” He is not so much a controller and inspector as an assistant and partner for his subordinates, operating in an atmosphere of mutual trust, able to give advice correct solution in difficult work situations. It is the supervisor who is responsible not only for the profit in the segment entrusted to him, but also for human capital.

Rules for working as a professional in this field using the example of one of the companies: