Merchant Success Partner

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together…one story at a time.With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.My Career Development Portal: Wherever you are in your career, we are here for you. Design your future. Discover leading-edge guidance, tools and support to unlock your potential. You are Absa. You are possibility.Job Summary The incumbent to this position has the chief responsibility for acquiring merchants (both offline and e-commerce) thereby growing the overall merchant base as per the set targets with the emphasis on creating & expanding the footprint Providing top-quality support to our new and existing merchants while ushering them into new markets, products or operations, helping to ensure customer satisfaction and strengthen merchant relationships. Expand current relationships with customers, focusing on the development of new products and operations. Analyze prospects’ business requirements and work closely with the relevant internal stakeholders to help customize specific products to meet their needs. Provide the Product team with customers’ feedback to help identify potential new features or productsJob DescriptionSeamless Merchant / Business OnboardingPrimary objective of this role is to drive business in the designated territory, by selling Absa’s digital merchant payments and banking solutionsSetting up of an acquiring strategy to increase merchants in-store as well as e-commerce merchant footprint across the islandDevelop daily / monthly market visits as per the Beat Plan and create a healthy funnel for the business at any point of time to meet / surpass the assigned targetsIdentify, develop, pitch and execute quick closure of deals. Right sell and up-sell products and services as introduced from time to time and as per assigned targetsDefine and run a referral program amongst the merchants to increase the business baseCollection and verification of KYC documents at the time of onboarding and as & when required by the merchant or the bankHandholding the merchants / businesses ensuring simplified & smooth onboarding including QR collaterals, app downloads and training of the digital products & servicesPartner in Business SuccessBuild and maintain strong, long-lasting personalized relationships with the merchants resulting in Absa being the preferred payment collection and business partner with highest market shareProactively reach out to merchants, anticipate the Merchant needs and their potential problems and seek out ways to increase merchant satisfaction and active usage of our products & servicesEnsuring that all merchant concerns and complaints are satisfactorily resolved within the given timelines.Empathize the merchants’ needs and recommend existing or customized solutions to meet the demandsAlways be available for the merchants as & when requiredAnalyze prospects’ business requirements and work closely with the relevant internal stakeholders to help customize specific products to meet their needs.Understand customers’ needs and suggest upgrades or additional features to meet their requirements.Always-ON Customer ExperienceAlways have a “Customer” first attitude and ensure all merchant queries / calls are attended to on top-priority.Provide the Product team with customers’ feedback to help identify potential new features or products.Monitor the gaps which comes in the way customer experience or internal process or system issues or competitive benchmarking and continuously feedback the project teams with innovations & suggestions to improve the product / processAct on customer feedback and internal stakeholders’ feedback to constantly improve the product proposition. Participate in internal brain-storming sessions for development of new products and services or amendment to existing servicesRegular internal follow-ups for open customer issues and ensure that customer’s TAT is not impacted by providing alternative or workaround solutions to get the work done.Accountability: Control and GovernanceEnsure that all activities and duties are carried out in full compliance with regulatory requirements, Enterprise Wide Risk Management Framework and internal Absa and Policy Standards. Understand and manage risks and risk events (incidents) relevant to the role.On a monthly basis review all reported incidents or risk events together with supporting investigating documents. Identify high-risk areas and create mechanisms to address risks in future.Ensure that adequate controls are in place and drive a culture of proactive compliance in the function.Determine action plans to effectively reduce and manage risk issues related to Absa Internal Audit findings, Management Assurance findings, Compliance issues, SOX requirements and operational risk.Ensure that there are zero findings on internal, external or regulatory auditsStakeholder ManagementCustomer is your first stakeholder and ensure all we do is by keeping customer at the centreBuild and maintain strong relationships with the business & support teams for driving the customer obsession agenda within the BankManage vendors and be able to liaise with external stakeholders as the situation may require. Proactively develop relationships with key external stakeholders and vendors and key clients and external regulatory bodiesHave the ability to present to and influence senior stakeholders to quickly be able to drive process changes across the BankRegularly communicate the Customer Obsession vision and direction to all stakeholders, including the team.Education And Experience RequiredShould preferably be a Graduate with more than 3 years of prior experience in a similar roleExperience in dealing with customers to ensure high-quality interaction management and query handling.Passion for customer success and deep interest in understanding client needs.Must have a strong knowledge on MS ExcelBe able to deal with unclear requests and high volume of requestsAbility to work under time and target pressureStrong digital acumenStrong interpersonal, communication & relationship management skillsStrong problem-solving skillsKnowledge & Skills: (Maximum of 6)Makes prompt clear decisions (Advanced)Takes responsibility for actions, projects & people (Advanced)Takes initiative, act confidently, works independently (Expert)Initiates and generates activity (Advanced)Keeps up to date with competitor info (Advanced)Relevant business and technology knowledge (Advanced)Displays leadership(Advanced)Demonstrates integrity (Advanced)requiredCompetencies: (Maximum of 8 competencies)Deciding and initiating actionAdapting and responding to changeEntrepreneurial and commercial thinkingRelating and networkingPersuading and influencingCreating and innovatingWorking with peopleEducationFurther Education and Training Certificate (FETC): Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)