Job Title: Regional Sales Manager
Organisation: Uganda Breweries
Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda
About Organisation:
Diageo is the world’s leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, beer and wine. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, J&B, Windsor, Buchanan’s and Bushmills whiskies, Smirnoff, Ciroc and Ketel One vodkas, Baileys, Captain Morgan, Tanqueray and Guinness.
Job Summary: Provide direction and leadership to the regional sales staff while implementing the company’s sales plans and strategies to maximise growth potential and achievement of the business KPI’s:
Ensure high standards of brilliant execution are met in all outlets to grow the business.
Effectively manage distributors, their performance and KPI’s to ensure they are set up to support delivery of their sales targets.
Identify new RTM opportunities, develop implementation plans to drive market penetration and share.
EABL operates within a multicultural, multinational, multicurrency environment. EABL comprises four business units: KBL, SBL, CGI and UBL. UBL is further categorised into Demand and Supply. The Supply business is involved in production of beer and spirits. The Demand business is involved in marketing and pushing the product to consumers.
This role is located within the Demand Sales business. The RSM role will be critical to the overall UBL short, medium and long term strategy in developing and driving our trade strategy and operational excellence within distributors and our RTM.
The Regional Sales Manager is the high-level contact between UBL and its Distributors and will be in charge of both the “Push” and “Pull” elements in driving volumes / brand growth.
This is a field-based position requiring close liaison with the DSM, CM and Distributor middle and senior management with key influence on effective implementation of Distributor business plans. It also involves working with Distributors to develop their institutional capacity for sustainable mutual business growth.
Market Complexity:
UBL is a dominant player in the Total Beverage Alcohol business with 48-50% volume share of the beer market and ~65% value share of the spirit’s market. UBL operates in a very competitive environment that has seen new entrants such as Heineken and Pernod enter the alcohol industry. The nature of competitors is complex with both illegal and established players operating within a market that has regulatory challenges. The market situation is changing rapidly due to the economic situation, declining disposable income and opening up of the economic trading blocs allowing in flow of products from other markets.
The trade is evolving and becoming more sophisticated especially at retail level. Retailers are becoming more demanding as they become more profit driven and as competitors fight for share. Consumers are becoming more sophisticated which requires more innovative ways of convincing LAD to choose our brands. All channels are important in distribution and availing our products to consumers. Trade partnerships are crucial in ensuring that service to consumers exceeds their expectations. The omni-channel is also growing fast.
Leadership Responsibilities:
The role has direct accountability for a multi-channel region including route to market, off trade and on-trade. Has significant leadership and people management responsibility as the RSM is responsible for leading a team of 3 – 8 sales reps.
The RSM must ensure execution excellence at store level across all channels, ensuring priority brand activity per segment is delivered excellently all the while building the capability of the team, to deliver the plan. Working with other senior functional leaders (marketing, finance, supply chain, OTC, distribution) is critical to the success of the role. The RSM should also constantly monitor and evaluate the distributors and their team’s performance taking corrective action where necessary. The RSM should develop and propose clear actions and plans for improvements and growth in their respective regions.
RSM must act as a strategic business partner to the Distributor, develop and maintaining relations to grow their businesses while delivering the UBL KPI’s and create conditions for people to succeed.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
Distributor & Trade Management
- Implement process and systems to drive customer profitability and achievement of long-term business sustainability for the CD’s.
- Constantly monitor and evaluate distributors and their performance.
- Have a thorough understanding of distributor requirements and operational standards and enforce their implementation across the region.
- Transform distributor management capability through developing and implementing relevant Distributor management programs (BPMs)
- Develop and maintain an efficient distribution network to ensure the comprehensive availability of company products and services across the region to achieve or exceed sales targets.
- Provide distributors and customers in the region with information about new or improved products and offerings in order to drive sales.
- Develop strong relationships with key customers across channels.
- To understand each element of the outlets and UBL business plans and strategy for their implementation.
- Ensure that all coolers in the region are tracked & deployment / redeployment done as per policy, up-to-date contracts, proper maintenance and withdrawal in case of misuse.
- Ad Hoc route audits to ensure that all outlets and routes are being covered as per TMDR / MDR journey plans.
- Do nocturnal visits (at least 3 nocturnal visits in a week).
Contact & Coverage
- Ensure optimal route to market to deliver improved distribution and market share gains.
- Embed the omni-channel / E-commerce (Diageo One, DTEU etc), by delivering as par set targets on each and get the distributors and distributor teams in the region to embrace the new ways of working and execute them properly.
- Ensure that all the distributors in the region are always tooled right to deliver the UBL business ambitions.
- Daily Route Coverage & VSM Management at all CD points in the region – Robust morning clinics, right route plans, 100% Journey Planning, 100% JPA and route frequencies to cover all outlets in the territory with the correct frequency by the VSMs & self.
- Distributor universe growth, 100% coverage, 100% effective coverage, a minimum of 80% CD strike rate, growth in CD distribution points and achievement of call frequency targets.
Data Governance & Accuracy
- Maintain and develop the outlet universe to correct classification, making resource changes to best service the region’s needs.
- Always ensure that correct outlet segmentation and regions data capture.
- Ensure that DMS stock position always matches the actual stock position in all distributor warehouses in the region (a maximum +/-5% variance allowed).
- 100% Utilization of DMS by all CDs in all selling and marketing activities within the region.
- Ensure that the team TRAX 100% of the targeted retail universe. – Monthly.
People & Capability Development.
- Develop and coach the sales team and ensure that they are well motivated and engaged to stay and contribute effectively to the organization.
- Generate sales of company products in the region through a team of salesmen in order to achieve or exceed the quarterly and annual sales targets.
- Support the development of selling skills within the UBL sales team (DWWS etc), external merchandiser or VSM sales crews and retailer staff to achieve QDVPP standards without having to do it yourself.
- Deliver the VSM Academy by executing and training all VSMs at the region.
- Ensure that the UBL sales team are doing daily van loading reviews to ensure that VSMs have loaded the correct mix of brands as per the route to be covered for the day.
Trade Marketing, Promotions & Activities
- Drive the highest standards of execution throughout the region.
- Develop brand-building & promotional activities for both retail & stockists outlets to implement in the region.
- Run centrally planned TBA & brand led promotional activities in outlets as per brief to deliver the called-out targets.
- Ensure that all assets like coolers and any other UBL collateral and other forms of POS are captured in the system (DMS) and by outlet.
Distributor universe growth, 100% coverage, 100% effective coverage, a minimum of 80% CD strike rate, growth in CD distribution points and achievement of call frequency targets.
- Establish and ensure that all sales administration procedures relation to the region are properly implemented to support the sales teams in their efforts to accomplish the sales targets.
- Ensure compliance with safety requirements at the work environment.
- Conduct regular market visits to check route coverage, competitor activity, and continuously search for new opportunities in order to increase sales in the region.
- Maintain P&L responsibility for the region and manage costs to ensure a profitable business.
- Develop sales plans and budgets to achieve and exceed the annual sales objectives for the region.
- Monitor and control the sales budget to ensure optimum utilization of resources in the region.
Qualifications, Skills and Experience:
- A Bachelor degree in a business related field
- At least 5 years’ sales experience in a fast paced fmcg environment, with at least 2 years in management role
- Strong track record in People Management & / or commercial roles within a consumer goods environment
- Influencing and relationship management skills
- Success in highly demanding sales organization
- Leadership of a medium size team
- Strong track record of sales delivery
- Inspirational leadership
- High levels of financial and P&L literacy as well as strong planning and project management skills
- People management, Performance management & Coaching,
- Influencing
- Selling skills
- Problem solving
- Training & development
How to Apply:
If you desire to join the world’s leading premium drinks business, Diageo, in the aforementioned capacity, please click web link below.
Deadline: 30th October 2025
For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline
Level of Education: Bachelor Degree
Work Hours: 8
Experience in Months: 60