Job Functions - Customer Related Jobs Part - 1

This post is about Customer Related Jobs in "B to C" companies which sell to individual consumers rather than to other companies. Examples include FMCG companies like Hindustan Unilever or Nestle, OR Garment companies like Raymond or Levis, Mobile Handset manufacturers like Nokia and any such companies.


Usually these companies have Marketing Functions and Sales Functions and based on the size of the company, there could be more or less specialization.

Let's take Marketing first. Marketing normally means the functions associated with the "Four Ps" - Product, Price, Promotion and Place.

Product here refers to product attributes, Price is self explanatory, Promotion includes all methods by which product attributes are presented in the most attractive manner to the consumer and Place indicates where and how it is available to the consumer.

Together these Four Ps create the "Positioning" of the product and make it attractive to a "Target Group" of consumers. All the tasks associated with the above are executed by the Marketing Team in a company.

Typical Jobs in Marketing are:
Brand / Product Manager
Category Manager
Marketing Manager
(who have general or broad level responsibilities for either individual brands or products, "Product Categories" OR a set of similar products like detergents, or skin care products or washing machines etc OR for the entire Marketing activity of a division or Company as the case may be)

Specialist jobs in the Marketing Function include:
Advertising Manager (Responsible for advertising, a part of "Promotion")
Merchandising Manager (Deals with "Place")
Market Research specialists (who try to understand the consumer needs)

The marketing team decides and tries to create and present products that are most needed and most attractive to consumers. They work closely with advertising agencies, the commercial and manufacturing departments (to bring out products at the right price and time) and with the sales departments, supporting them with communication material and appropriate consumer communication.

Marketing jobs require an MBA qualification and excellent communication abilities. Depending on the specific product, marketing personnel would be required to understand the technical attributes of the product they are marketing.

The actual Sales are executed by a sales team which sells to the Customer. In many cases the Customer is not the End Consumer but an Intermediary like a Dealer or Distributor OR Wholesale or Retail shops. The sales team deals with the "Channel" and ensures that the product reaches the End Consumer through this channel. The sales team also collects money from the channel. Typical positions in sales are:

Sales Representative
Area Sales Manager
Branch Manager
Regional Manager
National Sales Manager etc.

Sales jobs involve travelling to customer locations and Booking Orders and require good communication and persuasive abilities. Since sales managers usually have the discretion to give incentives and discounts, they need to have good commercial capabilities. Sales managers need to understand numbers and should be able to drive targets.