What Does an Area General Manager Do?

An area general manager is a person who oversees the day-to-day operations of stores within a designated area. It's his job to maximize company revenue and to make sure that his stores operate efficiently. Success in this career requires an individual with leadership skills, decision making abilities and innovative thinking. While the types of businesses that an area general manager may work in can differ, his basic duties are the same. These include hiring store managers, monitoring store performance, providing feedback, solving conflicts and developing improvement strategies.

One of the most important duties of an area general manager is hiring store managers. Since an individual usually oversees multiple stores, it's up to him to find knowledgeable and effective managers for each store. This job aspect typically involves an area general manager conducting interviews and assigning a manager to each store. Since the performance of each individual store manager is a reflection on him, it's crucial that he finds managers who are good fits for the business.

Another large part of this job involves monitoring the performance of each store in one's area. This practice can be done in several ways, including analyzing sales reports, observing customer complaints and visiting stores. Basically, an area general manager will look for patterns from each store to get a clear idea of its overall performance.

As he learns more about each store's performance, an area general manager will usually provide store managers with feedback. If sales reports are favorable and customer complaints are minimal, he is likely to provide positive feedback and reward the store's manager. On the other hand, if sales reports aren't meeting expectations and there is a pattern of customer complaints, he might provide negative feedback and perhaps take disciplinary measures. Basically, an area general manager must take the necessary actions to help each store meet expectations.

Solving conflicts is another task that these individuals will often be responsible for. This could encompass a variety of scenarios ranging from issues with suppliers, missing money, customer complaints and problems with employees. Consequently, this position requires a person who can think objectively, quickly make decisions and take the necessary actions to get a store back on track.

An additional element of this job is continually developing improvement strategies. Even if area stores are operating relatively well, company executives will often expect improvements. It's the responsibility of an area general manager to always be on the lookout for new ways to improve business. This could involve implementing changes in store policies, working on store organization, developing new marketing techniques or striving to improve customer service.