...MM02 Sales & Distribution Management Assignment – I Last Date of Submission: 15th October 2014 Maximum Marks: 100 Assignment Code: 2014MM02B1 Attempt all the questions. All questions are compulsory and carry equal marks. Section-A 1. Explain the functions of a sales manager in any sales organization? 2 Explain the relative advantages of a line sales organization and line and staff Sales organization? 3. What are the statistical methods of sales forecasting? 4. What is the importance of sales quotas and what are its different types? Section-B Case Study Mr. Dillip Gangadharan is the vice-president (sales) of MRF Tyre Company, who is negotiating with Mr. Chandrapal Singh, the Vice President (Purchase) of Maruti Udyog Limited the leading car manufacturer in India, for a contract to deliver tyres for the new car line called ALTO in the Indian market. Mr. Chandrapal Singh: My position is that we are not prepared to pay more than 1200 INR PER TYRE which has to be steel belted, radial with a warranty of 25000 kilometers. What are you willing to offer? Mr. Dilip Gangadharan: We are prepared to deliver such tyres at 1600 INR per tyre. That’s the rock bottom we can go. We are barely making any profit at this level. Mr. Chandrapal Singh: Come on. Why are you trying to fool me? I am in this profession for quite some time. You people have a reputation of sticking it to your customers. I know your costs cannot be more than 600 INR per tyre. We...
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...Introduction: This report will explain to the management of SPSL about the best promotional tool that they need to use to increase awareness and market share in Manchester based on the case study. Benefits of employing a sales force: The various types of promotional tools that are used by business organisations like SPSL are: advertising, public relations, trade event, direct marketing, sales promotion and personal selling. Advertising: Advertising is the process through which a company draws attention of the members of public about its products and services by communicating it to them through advertisements which are communicated through various sources of medium like TV, Radio, news paper and leaflets. The main disadvantage of advertising is it involves high costs (Bertrand et al, 2010). Public Relation: Public relation is the process through which a company communicates the positive messages about itself and its services through press releases and events that are conducted by the company. The main disadvantages of public relation are that designing and implementing a public relation campaign is a complex process and the success of the process is hard to measure (Karimi, 2013). Trade Events: Trade events are processes through which a company displays its products and services to the members of the public to create awareness through trade fairs to create awareness and increase its market share. The main disadvantage of conducting trade events for a company is that they...
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...Sales Organization Forms from export department to global key account management, application in B2C- vs. B2B-markets Table of Content 1. Sale management in the 21st century 2. Selling in B2C vs. B2B markets 3. Sales Organization • Vertical Structure • Line Organization • Line and Staff Organization • Horizontal Structure • Geographic Organization • Product Organization • Organization by Customer type or market 4. Organizing to serve global key accounts Sales Organization 2 Sale management in the 21st century • customer’s perspective, expectations and needs are changing • salespeople are expected to be connected and available whenever the customer want → changes affect every aspect of sales management: from the way the sales department is structured to the selection, training, motivation and compensation of individual salespeople 3 Selling in B2C vs. B2B markets • B2C: direct sellers residential real estate brokers retail store salespeople • B2B: sales to resellers sales to business users sales to institutions goods and services are more expensive and technically complex customers tend to be larger and to engage in extensive decision-making processes involving many people → Success in either type of selling requires: - - - - interpersonal and communication skills solid knowledge of the products being sold ability to discover the customer’s needs creativity to...
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...01. Use Promotions to Drive Engagement B2B companies aren’t always focused on promotions, thinking it devalues the brand. But take a hint from retailers. It works. And everybody wants a little something special during the new year – your buyers included. Show your new year spirit by giving them a special promotion to support the post-holidays exchange rush. Send out an email blast offering a discount on desirable, or replenishment products – but set some parameters. Require a minimum on orders, and give them a deadline – and be strict about it. People will love your spirit, and respect you more for enforcing the rules. NuORDER Pro Tip: Create a linesheet of great items & email it to your accounts using NuORDER. Offer a promotion to buyers who place orders by a pre-defined deadline! 02. Drive Your Retailers Sales with Social Media When your product flies off the shelf, the orders come rushing in, right? While retailer shoppers are off work, they’re checking social media more frequently. Spend some time promoting your brand and driving awareness. Consider collaborating with your retailers to drive their sales directly – especially in smaller cities without big box retailers. Kicking your social media marketing into action around the new year can boost sales at retail, and result in more orders during the new year. 03. Build a list of new targets During the new year, retailers are busy selling to consumers and have no time to chat with you. Use the free time to plan your...
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...Solution Sales by Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon, and Nicholas Toman Harvard Business Review (The Magazine – July/August 2012) Summary In recent decades sales reps have become adept at discovering customers’ needs and selling them “solutions.” This worked because customers didn’t know how to solve their own problems. But the world of B2B selling has changed: Companies today can readily define their own solutions and force suppliers into a price-driven bake-off. There’s some good news, though, according to the authors, all directors at Corporate Executive Board. A select group of reps are flourishing in this environment—and lessons from the playbook they’ve devised can help other reps and organizations boost their performance. These star reps look for different sorts of organizations, targeting ones with emerging rather than established demand. Instead of waiting for the customer to identify a problem the supplier can solve, they engage early on and offer provocative ideas about what the customer should do. They seek out a different set of stakeholders, preferring skeptical change agents over friendly informants, and they coach those change agents on how to buy rather than quizzing them about their company’s purchasing process. High-performing reps are still selling solutions—but more broadly, they’re selling insights. And in this new world, that makes the difference between a pitch that goes nowhere and one that secures the customer’s business. The End of Solution Sales by...
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...fruits and vegetables are purchased locally from distributors that ensure the highest quality products. The dairy products are local and the meats are form all over the country. Wine and cheese is imported through national and international wholesalers. Purchasing Kudler Fine Foods only allows purchases from approved vendors. There is no purchasing department, but all three stores follow the same procedures. The department managers determine the amount and items that are orders. The daily sales are uploaded and the purchasing program runs. The sales data is combined with the inventory data and the business rules are applied. Some of the business rules are, but not limited to: • Quantity on hand • Quantity of discount purchases • Number of days since last order The results are reviewed and approved. The purchase orders are then released to the vendor, managers, and general accounting. Purchase order forms are mailed, handed, faxed, or e-mailed (if acceptable) to the sales person. The purchase order form is the tracking and financial document for an order. Kathy’s policy is that a stock out should not occur more then 2-3 times a year. The desired customer service level is 95%; this means that 95% of the time a...
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...refining your Sales organization’s response to the new realities Managing the future Most executives recognize that the real assets of a company are embedded in the quality of the relationships between the company and its most important stakeholders, such as clients or customers, employees and suppliers. Developing strategic relationships with customers should therefore be a central issue on the CSO’s agenda moreover in current context. Key Account Management is a systematic process for managing key interactions and relationships with most valuable customers. It focuses on the creation, implementation, execution and evaluation of an overall plan to guide the account team in developing new relationships at the C-level, aligning the best resources to the most profitable opportunities and delivering what was promised. Everybody would agree on the strategy, even more when you know that the Pareto principle applies here also with 20% of the customers generating 80% of the revenue/profit. However when looking at our recent CSO Insights’ study, execution seems different: 51% More than half of the companies recognize that they need improvement in selecting key accounts 60% CSO interviewed understand they lose deals because their competitors have established a better relationship with their customer 52% Also recognize their Key Account plan need improvment 2 Why Key Account Management has become increasingly important The consolidation of buying power in the B2B sector over...
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...I would suggest that HubSpot target only to Owner Ollie’s with a heavy focus on B2B. Back to the time when the case was written, HubSpot had 1,000 diverse customers, including small business owners, marketing managers of large firms in the health care, real estate, and construction industries. The inbound marketing did not target a specific type of customer and ignore 50% of the leads. Since each segment had its own needs and service requirements, gaining economics of scale was difficult, so were the implementation of strategic planning and pricing. Single-Segment Concentration would allow for the company to maximize its efficiencies as it would only need to support one type of customers. The rational to choose Owner Ollie over Marketer Mary is as follows: * Owner Ollie presented 73% of Hbspot’s customer base and was much easier to sell products to than Marketer Mary. Even though, Owner Ollies required less up-front costs $1,000 compared to $5,000 and lower monthly customer fee $250 versus $500, the much larger sales volume and shorter selling cycle of Owner Ollie could compromise the lower costs HubSpot charged to individual Owner Ollie customers. An up-front price increase is easier to be done, because Owner Ollie customers were not likely to shop competitors pricing and would be able to absorb a price increase. * Although, Owner Ollies presented a higher churn rate than Marketer Mary, they displayed higher possibilities of relying on HubSpot’s content management...
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... Review questions and application exercises on p. 134 and 135 Ch. 7 Product-selling Strategies that Add Value Article: Harte Hanks; Create and Nurture B2B demand with social media, 2010 Article: Ricci, L.R., ― What changed our sales cycle and Why?‖, 2005. Review questions and application exercises on p. 154 and 155, case on p. 155 Ch. 8 The Buying process and buyer behaviour. Article belonging to CH 8: How you slice it; smarter segmentation for your sales force. Describe positioning as a product-selling strategy Explain the cluster of satisfactions concept Discuss product-positioning options Explain how to sell your product with a price strategy Explain how to sell your product with a valueadded strategy Positioning involves: • Those decisions and activities intended to create and maintain a certain concept of the firm‘s product in the customer‘s mind Differentiation refers to: • Your ability to separate yourself and your product from that of your competitors • It is the key to building and maintaining a competitive advantage The set of benefits and values the company promises to deliver to customers to satisfy their needs A well-informed customer will usually choose the product that offers the most value • • • Applies to both new and existing products May be necessary to reposition products several times Salespeople have an important and expanding role in differentiating products • ...
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...J A N U A R Y 2 012 Artwork by Dieter Braun o p e r a t i o n s p r a c t i c e The human factor in service design John DeVine, Shyam Lal, and Michael Zea Focus on the human side of customer service to make it psychologically savvy, economically sound, and easier to scale. Poor customer service isn’t a headache just for consumers; it’s a problem that vexes senior managers too. Balancing the trade-offs between the cost of services and the customer experience benefits they provide is difficult. Ensuring that frontline workers can efficiently and consistently execute service offerings across a far-flung organization is harder still. Along the way, many com- panies lose sight of what makes human beings tick—for instance, by overlooking well-known principles of behavioral science when delivering services—and thus unwittingly predispose customers to dissatisfaction. At the same time, the customer service landscape is changing as social media and new mobilephone technologies give com- 2 panies unprecedented access to data on customer interactions, while the technologies are changing the nature of the interactions themselves—for example, by amplifying the speed and impact of customer complaints. 1 How human is our service? Three questions Against this backdrop, some organizations are making strides in the design and delivery of services. By focusing more thoughtfully on the human side of customer service, these companies are lowering costs by 10 percent...
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...Individual Assignment Company Reports Individual Assignment: Sales Strategy and communication – (20% of total marks available) Due session 6 in class This individual assignment is designed to give the student a practical approach of how to find and qualify potential customers for an organisation they may be working for as a sales person. It is also designed to highlight the importance of research in developing effective sales strategies. You will also develop an understanding of why it is important to have a sound knowledge of both your company and the potential company you wish to sell to, the market in which you are operating and the competitive landscape. The objective of the report is to uncover essential and relevant information that can be used in your Sales Call and Sales Presentations In this assignment you are required to write a 3-4 page business report. This is a B2B report not B2C You are required to choose a company whose product(s) you wish to sell (you will be assuming the role of a sales representative for the company you select) This company will also be used for your Group assignment. This is to be agreed upon by all group members prior to the commencement of this individual section. Then select the organisation that would potentially be a suitable candidate for your product (Buyer) N.B., the company you select must not be already buying the product from the selling company. Each group member is to select a different buying organisation for...
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...telecommunication expo. The reason why I visited this trade fair is that we had to visit a b2b trade fair, and most b2b trade fairs you cannot visit as a student without an invitation or without paying al lot. And with this fair it was possible because it was the first time they were organizing this fair. The telecom Expo & Cloud Expo NL was specially organized for the IT sector but everybody from every company could go to this trade fair if they wanted. The target group for this trade fair were it-professionals in all sectors. This was because those people need this kind of systems which were exposed on the trade fair. There was definitely a connection between the lay-out/set-up of the trade fair and the target group. Because it was really IT like, with all high tech equipment. It also had colouring, but totally different than on a trade fair like “de huishoudbeurs”. My first impression of the Telecom Expo & Cloud Expo NL was that it was small, but really good organized. Because at the entrance they checked you invitation. If you had forgotten your invitation or even didn’t had one they had a few computers were you could subscribe or just print your invitation. They took care of everything, and even had catering. Even it was the first time the organized the Telecom Expo & Cloud Expo NL it really looked professional. Four characteristics of good/effective sales techniques that I have noticed at the Telecom Expo & Cloud Expo NL are: * Start talking...
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...Company & the Purchases, including : a) the Products Purchased in the past, b) Response, c) Liking & Disliking, d) interests of The Persons to be Contacted, etc; 4) The Approach: Now Prepare your Presentation by Selling Features Vs Benefits & also keep in mind the A.I.D.A - Techniques. A= Attract Attention, I = Create Interest & Maintain it, D = Arouse Desire & Offer to Fulfil it, A = Make the Customer to take ACTION ! & CLOSE the Sales.(The Most important Step!) 5) Follow-up: This is another Most important Step for the “Continued Residual income”. 1. Prospecting * The first step in the process involves prospecting. With this step in the process, sales representatives look for new customers that they can potentially sell their products to. This can be done by cold calling or by going out into the market and talking to people. This part of the process is a numbers game, and the sales...
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...problems exists. Identify the primary or secondary business activities (Porter) impacted by the problem. * High volume of information – Inbound Logistics. Handling this volume of information was a challenge for cisco because they were only using manual processes, such as receiving orders that were faxed or entered individually on a web portal. This problem was affecting the profits and operational costs of the company. The high volumes of transactions and data created substantial costs and o perational burdens. * Track inventory – Outbound Logistics. It was also critical for Cisco to track the large amount of continual inventory and manufacturing data to control cost, track order status, and match product availability with sales forecast. Being unable to track inventory was affecting the...
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...purchases per year, to separate high buyers and low buyers), and on-line vs. representative access. Q2) Should Avon sell direct to the consumer? Why or why not? Avon should not sell direct to the consumer. They shouldn’t sell direct because most likely, as was the case when Avon tried to sell by direct mailings, the orders may be too small to meet Avon’s required profit margins. Additionally, Avon would have to make drastic changes to its current business model with regards to sales representatives. The sales representatives would either be completely cut out of the deal (which would not go over well within the company or with the sales representatives) or would most likely not be able to make as much money through an internet sale as an in-person sale and so would not be incentivized to send customers to the website to make purchases. This would require Avon to completely renew their customer segment. The consumer that Avon is targeting is one that wants or needs the assistance of a sales representative for the...
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