Area Sales Manager - HDFC Relationship (All Verticals)

Role Summary

This position focuses on growing business through an assigned region by strengthening the relationship with HDFC Bank and driving performance across all verticals. The role also involves leading a sales team, improving process execution, and ensuring consistent delivery against business goals.

Job Details

• Function: Sales
• Department: HDFC Relationship
• Reporting to: Vertical Head, HDFC Relationship
• Reporting line above: Relationship Head, HDFC
• Business unit: Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Ltd
• Business: Life Insurance
• Location: Tamil Nadu, India
• Date mentioned in source: June 2017

Job Purpose

The role is responsible for delivering business growth and target achievement in the assigned area. It requires building and sustaining a strong channel-partner relationship, supporting smooth business operations, and guiding the sales team to execute the process correctly and consistently.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver premium and revenue targets and contribute to overall business growth.
• Maintain regular communication with channel partners as per the defined review cadence.
• Map key decision makers and set up review mechanisms based on agreed intervals.
• Push and implement all sales recognition and reward activities from the company side.
• Ensure sales and related processes run smoothly to unlock maximum business potential.
• Share updates on product changes, process changes, and regulatory or internal rule changes through training modules.
• Support sales and service activities, including calls, policy issuance, and complaint resolution.
• Control expenses by assessing need, obtaining partner commitment before spend, and maintaining expense tracking by Sales Manager.
• Maintain the right people in the right roles to improve productivity.
• Work on people retention at 90% levels.
• Hire, develop, and train team members to increase output.
• Fill position gaps or vacancies within T+15 days.
• Review business quality regularly and perform checks to support a profitable business mix.
• Monitor customer complaints and follow the prescribed resolution TAT of T+72 hours.
• Take documented action against employees who do not meet quality or conduct standards.
• Drive persistency from the second year onward, including 13-month rolling premium persistency.
• Share renewal-related MIS and communication with channel partners on a T-30 basis.
• Resolve renewal queries promptly and follow a fortnightly internal renewal review process.
• Identify fresh business opportunities and improve database penetration in the assigned relationship.
• Focus on activation targets, case conversion, and average ticket size goals.
• Maintain the desired product mix: Traditional 50%, ULIP 40%, Term 10%.
• Provide inputs for new products and sales pitch development based on channel needs.
• Identify training requirements for internal teams and channel partners.
• Share product updates and comparative analysis with bank leadership and hierarchy.

Team Leadership and Stakeholder Management

• Lead and support a team of Sales Managers / Senior Sales Managers.
• Coordinate with internal teams such as TPD Support, Training, HR, Customer Service, and Client Service.
• Work closely with the bancassurance partner and handle business and service issues for prospects and clients.

Key Challenges

• Working within a bank relationship where partner priorities may differ from business requirements.
• Balancing internal process expectations with channel-partner expectations.

Additional Role Metrics

• Manpower handled: 4–5 direct team members depending on the relationship, with an indirect span of 20–25.
• Individual target: Annualized premium between 5 and 10 crore.
• Customer complaints benchmark: zero.
• Persistency benchmark: 80% premium persistency and 80% policy persistency.
• Business mix focus: 40% activation with 2 cases per active at ATS of 50K.
• Business growth aspiration: 15% business above TATA.

Direct Report Purpose

The Sales Manager / Senior Sales Manager role exists to generate insurance business from the assigned relationship or channel partner, support customers and the relationship through the full sales cycle, and drive steady quarterly business growth.

Internal and External Relationships

• Internal teams engaged daily or weekly include TPD Support, Training, HR, Customer Service, and Client Service.
• External interactions are primarily with the bancassurance partner and client prospects on a daily basis.

Other Information

This role sits within the Life Insurance business and is part of the HDFC Relationship vertical. The source also included organizational relationship references such as Head HR & Admin, Chief Manager - HR, and Performance, Compensation & Benefits, along with sign-off fields for job analysis.