Product Manager - Agrochemicals Firm

Historically in this multinational agrochemical company, there has been little or no marketing activity . It has mostly been label/leaflet printing and some amount of sales co-ordination activities. There are 2 dy. marketing managers who mostly are responsible for sales. Now the company is planning to enhance marketing capabilities and this role will be responsible for crop wise strategy, product life cycle, pricing and new product launches but no sales responsibility

The biggest challenge the PM would face is to build credibility and a strong working relationship with the sales team, and earn their respect and trust. Additionally, they would be required to develop strong market intelligence processes. Opportunities for growth would emerge from their performance in terms of upward mobility as also cross functional assignments in sales and other functions.

In 6 months, the person should have established an excellent rapport with the sales team and understood and demonstrated how to deliver value to them. In 12 months, the candidate should have developed adequate knowledge and understanding of the product portfolio to be considered an expert and specialist who no one should be able to challenge easily on this aspect.

- Formulate the short term and long term product strategy for the products under management in terms of brand strategy, positioning, pricing, promotions, packaging, etc

- Define product position and value proposition across crops and support countries in their implementation

- Devise marketing strategies for the specific crop segments to enable company to introduce a complementary range of products.

- Undertake appropriate review of products portfolio and recommend phase in and phase out decision.

- Influence the crop strategy for strategic crops.

- Define new product requirement, LC activities, new users and portfolio streamlining in line with country customer needs and in close cooperation with R&D/ Project Management.

- Plan for product inventory and execute product allocations in case of shortage.

- Prepare for implement launch of new products within the region; ensure availability and adoptions of brand packages and communication points for key products.

- Define price proposal based upon global guidance (estimate end-user, list price, and price corridors); track price across crops and across the region to ensure price balancing.

- Evaluate market analysis and required market research to determine the market size and market potential for all products under management.

- Drive Sales & Operation Planning process.

Reporting to Vice President- Business Development