Sales Director Profile - Tom Devine, Vodafone - 01 April 2009

Tom Devine left school at 16 with very few qualifications, and began work as an apprentice service engineer for British Gas. Today he is Director of Consumer Sales at Vodafone UK, in charge of a division of 3,300 people with an annual turnover of £1 billion a year. It has been a spectacular rise through the sales profession, and during that journey Devine has seen at first hand what works in sales, and what doesn’t. Anyone who works in sales and who wants to reach the top of the tree could do a lot worse than listen to his advice. 

Stay on the move

His first piece of advice is to not stay in any one job for too long. He says: "If you want to reach director level you need to get a wide spread of experience. I’m not suggesting you move job every six month, but you should be looking for a fresh challenge every two or three years. Most importantly, be prepared to take risks with your choice of jobs. Don’t just go for the safe option."

It is a philosophy that he has certainly followed himself. After several years fixing boilers he moved into his first sales role, targeting businesses and consumers for British Gas, and shifting jobs every couple of years before moving into general management. Having run one of British Gas’s eight UK call centres, he moved back into B2B sales and his final job at British Gas was Head of Direct Sales.

He felt he had learnt all he could from that one company, and so he moved to a Sales Director role at Singlepoint, part of the Cauldwell Group. In 2004 Vodafone bought the Group and since then Devine has had three jobs at Vodafone, finally moving into his current role two years ago

Pick the right people

He is now responsible for more than 400 stores around the UK, for an 800-strong telesales team, for an online sales department, and for a department that works with the retail trade. Much of his time is spent looking two to three months ahead, working with other parts of the business so that his salespeople will have what they need to meet their targets.

However, he always ensures that he begins his week with updates from his four direct reports, and his second piece of advice is to be very careful in who you recruit.

"As you move up the greasy pole you spend less and less time actually doing things," he explains. "You spend all your time directing, and that’s why you need to be absolutely certain the people you hire to do things will do them as you would do them. Spend time getting the right people in place, and never be afraid to hire people who are better than you at what they do."

Overcoming challenges

"Sales is never easy," says Devine. "But when you get to this level the pressure is extreme and continuous. I would advise anyone who wants a job like this to think very carefully about whether they want that in their lives. Do you really want someone constantly demanding you achieve more, never letting you rest on your laurels? Will you enjoy it? Is that fun for you?"

At Vodafone he has faced, and continues to face, significant challenges. "We are in a market that is only 25 years old," he says. "It is maturing rapidly and our focus is shifting away from customer acquisition to retention and development. We’re having to adapt to that within the context of the most competitive mobile market in the world, and in the face of the worst recession the world has seen for decades."

Alongside those broader challenges Devine has spent much of the last two years addressing the issue of multi-channel sales. He explains: "We cannot afford to have our retail, online and phone sales operations operating in siloes. 60% of people who buy in our stores have already done some research online. Customers need to see one Vodafone store however they approach us."

He continues: "At the same time, there are differences between the three channels, and we must adapt our sales approach accordingly. If people come into our stores we need to let them see and feel the phones. If they go online to buy they’ll expect a good deal, so we need to tweak the offer in that direction. And of course we have a much better profit margin on online sales, so we want to encourage that without damaging our other channels. It’s not an easy balance to get right."

Success through hard work

It is though a balance that Devine and his team appear to be achieving. Vodafone has doubled its online sales in the past 12 months. It has won several prestigious call centre awards. And in the last three years it has opened 75 new shops around the country.

He attributes a great deal of this success to the quality of his people. "We look for people who can understand an relate to people, who can work well in teams, and who have great drive and determination. I use the phrase ‘balanced ambition’, meaning that they should want to go further, but only by doing a good job."

Devine admits that the recession is making consumers less willing to part with their money, but he believes that his team are up to the challenge. It might be hard work, but that is something that he, in his rise from apprentice engineer to one of the country’s leading salespeople, has never shied away from.

Indeed, his last piece of advice to the up and coming sales professional is to be prepared to put in the hours and to invest in your own personal development. He says: "In my early career I spent seven years going to night school, and then I spent weekends doing an MBA from Cranfield. It was hard work, but that’s what it takes to reach the top.

Alex Blyth