|
Muriel DURAND
French citizen
Refining Marketing, Total France - Network
Area Manager.
Earned her degree at Ecole Supérieure
de Commerce de Grenoble, France.
Started working abroad, then moved back
to the service-station network in France.
A break in my Business School course gave
me the opportunity to spend a year in China.
I did a three-month course in Shanghai then
spent eight months working for a big French
distributor there.
A VIE contract
in China.
I moved back to France and graduated, but
really wanted to go back to China; my first
year there had been great. So I applied
for a VIE (Volunteer for International Experience)
job within the Group. They hired me. My
job was to build a network of fast-track
oil-change operations out of Canton. It
was a terrific experience. I am proud I
was on the team that set up 45 centres over
that time.
Back in France, I applied for a job at Total.
After a few more interviews, they took me
on as Network Area Manager in the autumn
of 2004.
Experience with
the Total network.
Total’s service-station network (or
‘web’, as we call it) encompasses
three main channels: ‘official’
service-stations (entrusted to managers),
‘commission-based’ ones (run
by their owners) and resellers.
The ‘Marquage’ (branding) network
encompasses the J&B (‘Jaune et
Bleu’, meaning yellow and blue) stations
which don’t have customer-loyalty
schemes and compete with supermarkets in
the low-cost segment. Motorway and big-city
stations are run by Total’s wholly-owned
subsidiaries Argedis and Proseca.
My position as Area Manager involves a number
of jobs and fields. My area, geographically
speaking, spans part of the Aisne, Somme
and Nord departments.
My work is based on sales (renegotiating
contracts, and building shop and ancillary-business
turnover), finance (assessing private-company
accounts and results possibly entitling
them to support from Total, as well as ongoing
monitoring) and technical aspects (monitoring
fuel levels from remote gauge readings and
helping managers with the computer systems).
I spend two-thirds of my time travelling
around my area and the rest doing administrative
work.
Coaching growth.
My goal, clearly, is to increase the sales’
turnover. We run monthly reviews, looking
at performance indicators with managers.
We also rank them against their peers in
the network, and help them implement corrective
measures when and as required.
We also use Group tools to make sure range
products in stock stay in sync with Total
recommendations (the always-in-stock, essential
and complementary products). This is a starter
job. I found the working atmosphere here
in this Group friendly and professional.
Now I’m here to prove myself in this
job. Then I want to build up more experience
in the hope of working my way back into
a more international job in due course.
|
