Organizational Context

Key Aspects:

1. As the debt arm of Aditya Birla Capital (ABC), Aditya Birla Finance Limited (ABFL) offers specialized lending and financing solutions in the areas of Capital Markets, Corporate/ Trade Finance, Commercial Real Estate and Mortgages. Currently ranked within the top 25 NBFCs of India, ABFL has made significant progress and the Company’s balance sheet at INR 15,000 Cr plus exceeds that of several mid-sized Banks and NBFCs.
2. The company has a well-defined vision of being one of the most reputed and material financiers within the lending space – spread across Retail HNI and corporate clientele. It has made significant investments in process and system infrastructure towards preparing for the next level of growth and are one of the only financial entities certified for ISO 9001:2008 across all business processes. Spread across 18 cities, it plans on further diversifying its risk and revenue mix through expansion into new geographies and new product segments allowing customers a one-window shop for all their financing needs.
3. Having focused traditionally on secured lending verticals and built a strong balance sheet on the same, ABFL has ventured into Unsecured Business segment in order to effectively capitalize on its financial base with carefully managed exposures in this higher yield and profit segment.

Job Context

Key Aspects:

1. The Unsecured Business segment products line caters to funding short term and medium term working capital needs of Small Businesses and individuals, via a suite of customized short and long tenured products, without any security/ collateral.
2. Offerings comprise unsecured loans to salaried individuals/ self-employed individuals/ non-individual entities, with end use of funds (Medical emergency, Marriage, working capital requirement, business expansion etc.) to be ascertained during the loan appraisal process
3. The business is highly retail in nature, characterized by high transaction volumes, smaller ticket sizes, and significantly higher spread and profit margins (up to four times that of Secured Lending products)
4. Given the unsecured nature of loans disbursed, the business also entails stringent controls and monitoring to ensure portfolio health and quality at all times
5. While unit of sizing up the business is its loan book size, profitability and minimized delinquency are key business objectives.
6. Lending in the Unsecured segment takes 2 forms – Personal Loans and Business Loans, both of which leverage the ABG ecosystem and channel partners for the major share of business.
7. Higher cost of funding impacts profitability as well as competitiveness of loan rates that can be offered to customers
8. Understanding of product market characteristics such as channel relationship management, region specific occupations/trade, local financial preferences and practices are important to gain competitive advantage while structuring loans and identifying leads.
9. The Sales Manager – Unsecured Business is responsible for operationalizing business transactions and liaises with DSAs and/ or end customers in his/her zone to maximize disbursals, profit, growth & customer service objectives.

Key Challenges

1. To deliver on operational plan in the assigned coverage area in a differentiated manner considering local factors, channel dynamics and consumer preferences, that can withstand competitive pressures on the ground
2. To meet business volume/ value targets while keeping abreast with and overcoming competitor product offerings and customer schemes
3. To increase market share in assigned coverage area against stiff competition, overcoming competitive pressures borne out of better established networks, price undercutting, etc.
4. To establish a strong local network and leverage the same to generate business leads, and also identify opportunities for cross sell with existing customers
5. To proactively build new and nurture existing DSA relationships keeping in mind immediate and longer term business interests, and considering the phased manner of team size expansion
6. To constantly upgrade financial & operational know how on efficient loan processing, effective negotiation and relationship building for maintaining credibility with DSA network and profitable target achievement
7. To keep abreast with the latest market trends and local market preferences and needs
8. To ensure loan conversion/ sanction/ utilization percentages are high and a broad enough sourcing funnel is built to meet targets 
9. To ensure credit quality and effective portfolio selection/pre screening thereby minimizing potential NPAs
10. To ensure compliant sales operations despite sales pressures and market cycles

Enabling Skill Sets & Qualifications

1. Critical skill sets required to meet these challenges include execution excellence, business & commercial acumen, sound product understanding, strong communication and influencing skills.

Education & experience required to fulfill this profile are a postgraduate with minimum 4 – 6 yrs of total sales experience/ graduate with minimum 6 - 8 yrs of total sales experience of which at least recent 2-3 yrs experience should be in unsecured lending.

1. Identify and execute sales growth opportunities at a local/ area level, driving channel expansion and new account acquisition
2. Deliver on sales targets by building strong relationships in the DSA network and influencing DSA outcomes
3. Segment the market and identify potential direct clients, approach them and generate business through customized loan structure offerings that meet client requirements and also generate good margins for business
4. Carry out regular meetings and sales calls with prospective clients on a regular basis to source business
5. Augment the sales volumes of Unsecured lending, manage channel databases and tap them tactically to ensure healthy sales pipeline
6. Drive faster TATs through effective loan sanctioning by building strong relationships with internal stakeholders in order to expand channel presence and customer base
7. Track and report on sales operations and productivity metrics, and work towards building a high-performance sales culture

Actively participate in initiatives and contests driven by Business Development teams

Operational Effectiveness

1. Work with dual focus on sales volume and value (IRR)
2. Track & ensure SLA adherence, sales efficiencies and RoI
3. Adopt prescribed improvements in processes and best practices in order to enhance operational productivity and suggest improvements as well 

Analyze and communicate operational information periodically as per agreed timelines and MIS formats for disbursements, profits, NPAs, channel expansion, new product launches, new branches, new channel development, etc. and communicate to ZSM/ ASM as well as down the line