You are being considered for the role of sales manager for your current employer, Fly Athletic Company. They are a rapidly growing athletic equipment and apparel company looking to expand globally to compete with companies such as Nike, Adidas, and REI. The previous manager left to work for another sales organization without providing a two-week notice, and he is not available as a resource to train for the position. The company is giving you a trial period of one month as an "interim" sales manager since you've only been working for the company for three months. If you do well, you will be promoted to the position officially.

 

As interim sales manager, you will work to develop the team's structure, organization, and communication cadence that will enable the team to deliver successful sales results for Fly Athletic. The team members are relatively new to the company and require strong leadership in business and financial acumen from you. You will hire a new employee to fill one open position on the team as well. You will have access to Rita McMahon in Human Resources (HR) to provide company records for your employees if necessary. She will also be available to aid in the hiring process so that the proper protocol is followed.

 

Your manager at Fly Athletic would like for you to provide an overview of how you will manage customers, determine financial viability of sales proposals, and what your overall general business savvy is.

Develop a comprehensive Business and Financial Acumen presentation 

• Define both business and financial acumen 
• Build a comprehensive business acumen to apply to yourself as a sales force manager
• Make a financial acumen that you can teach to your team 
• 2 explanations of how this makes you as an employee more valuable to the company

 

Be sure to demonstrate a thorough understanding of both internal and external business and financial acumen. As the sales force manager, you will need to support your employees when they sell projects to their customers as well as internally to the cross functional departments (many times selling new business internally is just as challenging as selling it externally). A strong business and financial acumen can set a sales leader apart from all others, and it's vital that you explain how your business savvy makes you more valuable. This is a chance to show your senior leadership why you are the right fit to have this role full time.