Introduction

The market sales planning operations assignment report will discuss in detail about the sales planning and the operations required performing the sales in a perfect a manner. The report will discuss in detail about the sales planning and importance of personal selling in a promotional mix (Kotler, & Armstrong, 2013). The report will throw light on sales management and sales process which marketing management needs to take in order to achieve the target effectively.

Task 1

LO 1. Understand the role of personal selling within the overall marketing strategy.

1. Explain how personal selling supports the promotion mix.

Personal selling is a form of selling where employees of the business which manage product development or services supports comes face to face with the potential customer and sell the product in the best possible manner (Kotler, & Armstrong, 2013). The product or service can be pitched and promoted through various ways and angles where the sales man can use his or her appearance, attitude and also the unique product features to sell the product or services.

Promotion mix is part of marketing mix which is mainly defined as 4 Ps. Promotion is very important aspect of any business where organisations with the help of different organisations try to sell the product to the customer by creating the awareness and curiosity about the product (Albers et al, 2010). The one is very significant element which helps in achieving the goal and objective of the business. Promotion mix consist of sales advertising and promotion, public relations and personal selling etc.

Personal selling is a big part of promotion mix. It is a process of persuading the customer to buy the product and for this other elements of promotional mix will be used to convince and pitch the product in the best manner (Albers et al, 2010). Personal selling may also include sales presentations, sales meetings and many more. It can be face to face and telephonic also. Personal selling supports promotional mix in a big way where the manager gets the chance to get the direct feedback from the customer which can help them to change the promotional mix if in case, there is any flaws in the process. Also personal selling is can help the organisation to create an image of the product an organisation in the mind of the customer which can be very helpful in the long run. The sales man who conducts this personal selling process is a man who takes the product in the general public which can be a big success in promotional mix.

2. Compare buyer behaviour and the decision making process in different situations.

Buying behaviour of the customer plays a very big role in the decision making process of a customer (Sheth, 2011). There are basically five stages through which a customer undergo which making a decision.

Any customer who is making some decisions regarding the purchasing of any product goes through this process or model (Sheth, 2011). This model is also very crucial for the marketing manager because it can help him in achieving the goal more efficiently because the he can now understand the whole buying process easily and can influence the choices of the customers.

During any purchase the consumer’s crosses all the stages mentioned in the diagram. Although when it comes to routine purchase decision like buying grocery or daily routine items, people usually miss the few steps and after recognizing the need they directly jump to looking for alternatives and then taking decisions (Sheth, 2011). But in case when the customer has make purchase which require them to be more proactive in gathering the information and then customer usually follows the whole process from recognising the needs to collecting information, checking the alternatives, purchase and post-purchase experience.

Different situation demands different amount of information of the product and different attention from the customer.  Buying behaviour is completely different when the customer has to buy a small thing like milk for home. In this case, the customer never borrows to collect information as every customer has a specific demand and need. So the consumer directly jumps to purchase (Sheth, 2011). But as the price of the product rises, the buying behaviour changes and they usually start spending time in collecting information and checking the alternatives.

3. Analyse the role of sales teams within the marketing strategy.

The sales team of any organisation plays a very important role in the business of the organisation. It has an immense influence on the overall profitability of the organisation and the maximum contributions come from their side. It is very important for the organisation to analyse the role sales team and then define the responsibility clearly in order to achieve the success (Blocker et al, 2012). Therefore, when a marketing manager define the marketing strategy of the business, the role defined for the sales team is the most crucial decision and the team needs to set the targets which can be met effectively and within time limit. Following are the role of sales team in marketing strategy: -

1. Market segments: -the sales team is responsible for defining the sales targets with in the market segments (Blocker et al, 2012). It is also important that the sales team understand the nature of market segments and plan future action accordingly.
2. Strategy: once market segment is defined, now it is the time formulates strategy. It is the time to define the marketing strategy which addresses the need of the segments.
3. Marketing plan: once the team develop the strategy for marketing, then every member has the responsibility to develop a plan which contributes in the success of overall plan called as marketing planning
4. Outcomes: an effective team gives effective results no matter what is the situation is. What is important here, the company should take responsibility of the work they wanted to achieve and work in a common direction to achieve that goal.

Task 3

LO3 Understand the role and objectives of sales management

1. Explain how sales strategies are developed in line with corporate objectives.

Sale strategies are formulated as per the objective set by the organisation and there are lot of activities organisation need to undergo to meet the objective on time.

Corporate objectives are the statement which is mainly developed to give direction to the activities of the organisation in order to achieve the mission (Ingram et al, 2012). So many terms like mission, vision, objective and goals tend to confuse the main objective of the firm. Corporate objective basically helps in clearing the mind of the management and getting the idea of the main objective which can define the clear targets to meet on time. Sales business strategy is planned strategies which clearly defines the prospective customers and the methods to attract them. It also includes formation of policies, identification of prospective customers, sales presentation and order generation which will lead to achievement of sales targets (Ingram et al, 2012). Following are the sales strategies which are developed in line with corporate objectives: -

1. Effective sales strategy will help in improving the loyalty which the client has towards the organisation.
2. Sale strategies also help in improving and shorting the sales cycle with the help of suggestions from outside help.
3. Proper and planned strategies help the management in offering the best solutions in order to get more and more customers and have an edge over competitors (Ingram et al, 2012).
4. It also helps in achieving the corporate objective by targeting the most profitable segments in the market.
5. It also helps in giving a competitive edge over competitors by creating product differentiation (Ingram et al, 2012).
6. It helps in establishing a plan which can be used to strengthen the market and more customer generation.

2. Explain the importance of recruitment and selection procedures.

Recruitment and selection process is the most crucial and important process for any organisation. At the same time it is also a costly process which is not very easy to execute. When organisation select right people for the right job, train them to achieve the best results and motivate them in correct way, then these employees not only help in achieving the best results but also would like to stay with the organisation for a long period of time (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The company can have the best technology and equipment in the world but they do not have the right people who will utilise those resources to achieve the desired result then it will be of no use. Following are the point which explains why effective recruitment and selection procedure is important all across the world: -

1. Cost: Recruitment and selection is very important because it help in saving the cost of the organisations. There are many examples all across the world where the poor process of recruitment has resulted in disaster for the financial strength of the company (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). So an effective recruitment process is very important because it will save a lot of money in long run.
2. Retention: -high turnover is common problem in organisations where the recruitment process is not followed in the right manner (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The recruiter has to be very careful right from the beginning and adopt all the steps which make sure that he can get the best people for the right job.
3. Loyalty and productivity: - these both the terms are interconnected as far as organisation is concerned. Loyal and dedicated employees will work hard to get the positive productivity in the organisation (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). So the recruiter must check by asking question which proves his or her dedication level in the organisation. A good record and the length of work will prove that the employee can prove to be loyal and effective.
4. Legal issues: - effective recruitment and selection process also make sure that there is no discrimination while selecting the employee for the organisation (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). Many government bodies have recognised it as a serious offense and there are laws against the organisation which practice discrimination.

3. Evaluate the role of motivation, remuneration and training in sales management.

Employees can be motivated by different methods like effective and proper job design which suits the capabilities of the employees, proper and equitable compensation, and the proper treatment of the employees since they are also stakeholders of the company (Johnston & Marshall, 2013).  Following are the points which can be used to motivate, remunerate and train the sales employees: -

1. Participation by the management shows the clear interest of them in employee’s work which can be very helpful in motivating the employees. The management team should also work on influencing the employees in an effective manner so that the employees get the chance to give their best (Johnston & Marshall, 2013).
2. Proper job design is also very crucial which proves that the organisation can motivate the employees to get the work done effectively. In addition to this, it also helps in achieving the maximum potential of the business (Johnston & Marshall, 2013).
3. Compensation also helps in motivating the employees and it includes bonus, various types of benefits and also commission. These benefits are especially very helpful in case of sales people who mostly depend on variable income and the overall compensation is usually related to the quantity and quality of the work they do and number of sales they generates (Johnston & Marshall, 2013).
4. The employees should be compensated in appropriate manner and they should also feel that their hard work is recognised and rewarded properly.
5. Training also helps the employees to achieve the desired target on time and that too effectively which helps the organisation in a long run. Proper training also helps in motivating the employees (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 2013).

4. Explain how sales management organise sales activity and control sales output.

There are basically two activities which can be used to coordinate and control the sales which are known as sales output control and language. Sales output control is entered in the sales document sometimes automatically and sometimes manually. As far as automatic recording and determination is concerned, it is important that output condition records are maintained (Simons, 2013). Sales output can also be controlled using the market condition which can be determined by using foundation of sale documents which also includes maintain billing type, sales order, delivery and type of sales order. The standard format which is used everywhere is sales order which is referred as OR, bill which can be called as F2 and delivery which is commonly known as LF and all these terms are put under standard output which is known as V100000.

Another important point here is output control which can be done by EDI, Fax and like print. The time of sending the output is spontaneous or sometime it also go in batch to the functions of the business partner to whom it can be send. Language is another important criterion where output conditions are maintained and also controlled for automatic output determination (Simons, 2013). Language is crucial points which tend to offer flexibility of completely changing the control in documents.

5.  Explain the use of databases in effective sales management.

Database help in maintaining the record of the customer and it help in keeping the tap of the customer activities (Feldman et al, 2014). Maintenance of database helps the manager to manage the large sales team and also ensure that the business grows and prospers. Following are the advantages of maintain the database: -

1. The database software should be choose very carefully as the software used to maintain the database merges the monthly sales output goes to different representatives which is messy and also cannot be trusted completely (Feldman et al, 2014). Proper database software is very important as it helps in keeping a track of sales leads and online CRM.
2. It also helps in improving the pipeline management and also increases the visibility of the sales data which can help in identifying the important and crucial sale potencies at every step of the sales cycle and also checks targets (Feldman et al, 2014).
3. It also helps in improving the accountability of the team by tracking the activities of the salesman and the leads they achieve every day,
4. It also helps in strengthen the sales team with the help of the information available in the pipeline. The representative can be accessed easily and they can also monitor their work easily with the help of database (Feldman et al, 2014).
5. It also helps in managing the sales team as the sales manager desire. They can customise the sales requirement as per their need and also manage the sales team very effectively with the help of the database maintenance.

Explore solution of Unit 4 Personal and Professional Development

Task 4

LO4: Be able to plan sales activity for a product or service

1.  Develop a sales plan for a product or service

Sales plan can be defined using following steps in detail: -

1. Define the value of the product: - the first step is to identify the value proposition of the product and define it so that the product can be positioned in a different manner (Stark, 2011). The value can also be defined as the utility that the product can create for the customer.
2. Identification of position in the market: - it is also very important to before pitching the product in the market that the proper market analysis is done well in advance. It will help in determining the strategies for the product in the market (Stark, 2011).
3. Examination of price structure: - Price is the most crucial element in the whole process and it should be communicated with a planned and careful action. Price set should be competitive and also profit generating (Stark, 2011).
4. Short-term and long-term revenue goals:- the forecast should be realistic and practical which will help in achieving the target in an effective manner.
5. Advertising approach:- advertising defined should be selected very carefully. There are various medium of advertising which the company can adopt to promote the product in the market.
6. Planning the activities for the sales team and marketing team: - sales activities which have worked in the past must be included and it should be applied by experienced people (Stark, 2011). Strategies should also be defined on short term and long term basis.
7. Inclusion of all revenue possibilities: - in a sales plan all those activities should be included which generate revenues (Stark, 2011).

2. Investigate opportunities for selling internationally

Following the opportunities for selling internationally: -

1. Increase in sales, revenues and profits because of the bigger market.
2. Exposure to innovation and technology (Baldauf & Lee, 2011).
3. Increase in potential of sales for the products which are not so popular in local market.
4. Diversify and expand the foundation of the customers which also reduce the dependency of the company on individual customers (Baldauf & Lee, 2011).
5. Diversification of the market which help in reducing losses due to seasonal fluctuation in demand (Baldauf & Lee, 2011).
6. It is very beneficial for long run for the organisation.

3. Investigate opportunities for using exhibitions or trade fairs.

Trade fair and exhibition is generally organised for people who are interested in that specific industry and also it can be an amazing way to advertise and exhibit the product among the target market (Gopalakrishna & Lilien, 2012). Exhibition opens the gate for the larger audience and gives a perfect platform for the business to promote the product or service on the wider base and increasing their knowledge about the product. Exhibition also gives an opportunity for business to business trading and also has an effective database of the customer.

Conclusion

The report have discussed about the sales planning and understanding the sales process in order to get the clear idea of the importance of sales planning and operations.

References

Albers, S., Mantrala, M. K., & Sridhar, S. 2010. Personal selling elasticities: a meta-analysis. Journal of Marketing Research, 47(5), 840-853. Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Baldauf, A., & Lee, N. 2011. International selling and sales management: Sales force research beyond geographic boundaries. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 31(3), 211-217. Bartlett, C., & Ghoshal, S. 2013. Building competitive advantage through people. Sloan Mgmt. Rev, 43(2). Blocker, C. P., Cannon, J. P., Panagopoulos, N. G., & Sager, J. K. 2012. The role of the sales force in value creation and appropriation: new directions for research. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 32(1), 15-27.

For further help in market sales planning operations assignment, order us now

Contact us

Get assignment help from full time dedicated experts of BTEC HND & HNC assignments.  

Call us: +44 - 7497 786 317

Email: help@hndassignme=nts.co.uk