Sales Planning and Operations - Assignment Example

?SB_Sales Planning and Operations Table of Contents Introduction 3 Significance of Personal Selling in the Promotional Mix 3 Consumer Behaviour in the Markets 5 Marketing Strategy of the Company: The Role of Salespeople 6 Conclusion 7 Reference 8 Bibliography 9 Introduction Colin Hendrix and his brother James have a car dealership in Dorset and Hampshire. They have a showroom, garage and workshop to offer maintenance services of the customer vehicles in most of the major towns. In the recent times, they have experienced a downturn in the sales of new and second hand cars. As of now, the company wants to focus on their sales force to boost the business. This report is an effort to signify the importance of personal selling in the promotional activities and how they can be used by the Hendrix brothers to foster their sales and service. Significance of Personal Selling in the Promotional Mix “Promotion is persuasive communication. Companies rely on promotion to inform people about their products and services. Companies also use promotional techniques to enhance their public image and reputation and persuade people that their products are valuable” (Glencoe, n.d., p.362). Non-profit organisations rely on the promotional activities to make the public educated about an issue or to advocate for the changes in a regulation or a policy. The objectives of the promotional activities can be articulated by the phrase AIDA. In the process, the company must attract the attention, build the interest and desire and finally the company must ask for action. Promotion is a significant element of the marketing mix. In the absence of communication, the customers may not be aware of the product and its prospective their requirements and desires. A number of different communication tools form a significant part of communication mix. The organisations must decide which tools are required to be used for the larger sales and in specific proportion. There are four significant components of promotion mix including advertising, sales promotion, personal selling and public relations. Promotional mix is an organisation’s total communication a program consisting of various blends of its components and the mix is used to achieve the company’s marketing goals and objectives. “Personal selling refers to the personal communication with one or more prospective buyers for the purpose of selling a product or service” (NOS, n.d., p.28). Personal selling is one of the most effective tools to communicate with the consumers. Personal selling involves interaction at the personal level and that is why the feedback is received immediately. The communication through personal selling is quite flexible. The sales personnel can adjust the communication according to the understanding of the customers. The personal selling is more persuasive. The selling personnel can convince the consumers about the utility of the product. The efficiency of the impressive salesmen can leave an impression on the potential buyers which in turn would increase the sales in the coming future. There are a number of other forms of promotional mix. Personal selling can offer considerable contribution in the other promotional mix tools. Advertising is an impersonal and paid communication form in order to endorse a physical product or service. The promotional tool can be in the print form as in the newspapers and magazines, in the audio form or in the audio visual form as on the television or cinema screen etc. Personal selling can be used to flaunt the utilities and advantages of the products to intensify the advertisements. Sales promotion refers to the use of short term incentives such as discounts, free gifts, demonstration, store display, free sample coupons etc to encourage the immediate purchase of a product or service. The personal sales team can offer these incentives to the customers to increase the sales and revenue. To a certain extent the significance of personal selling depends on the nature of the product. As a general rule, merchandises which are different and new, technically complex or expensive require a number of personal selling efforts. “The salesperson plays a key role in providing the consumer with information about such products to reduce the risks involved in purchase and use” (IPM, n.d., p.1). Automobile, for an instance, is a complicated technical product which often demands a considerable amount of personal selling. It is significant to remember that for a large number of companies, the sales person can emerge as a key link between the customer and the organisation. Therefore, it is pretty crucial that the company must take advantage of this unique link. As the sales person would put significant effort, a company can build strong relationships with the customers which would stay for a long period of time. Personal selling is a significant entity of the marketing system. Sales people act as an important source of marketing intelligence for the management. Marketing success would depend on satisfying the customer requirements. The sales person can also provide the required information to the customers which would help them through the buying process. If existing products fail to satisfy the consumer requirements then there may arise greater opportunities for the new and improved products. If customers do have some issues with eth existing product, management must be quickly apprised of the fact. In all these situations, sales executives can emerge as the key people to act as the intermediary through which significant and valuable information can be passed back and forth between the companies and the customers. Consumer Behaviour in the Markets Consumer behaviour is dependent on several factors which are required to be considered in any industry. The consumer behaviour is very much dependent on the promotions of the merchandises. The manner in which the products are promoted directly put an impact on the consumer behaviour (English Essays, 2011). Each of tools used in the promotional activities has its own significance. In an industry where the products are expensive and technologically complex, such as in automobile industry, personal selling is quite important. Personal selling is believed to foster the promotions and sales considerably and it would help the consumers in the first step of buying decision before actually checking a car out. These are the advertisements and personal selling which mostly attract the customers in an automobile industry. It is the behaviour of the selling executives which would boost the sales and establish a strong relationship with the customers. In a research carried out to find the consumer behaviour in the automobile industry, certain interesting facts were found. Brochures, dealer sales staffs, car magazines, friends and relatives are the most common sources which offer information on the new cars. It was also noticed that a considerable number of the respondents take about 1 month from taking a decision to actually buying a car. In the economics, there is one concept of the rational customer. Economists have assumed that the consumers would tend to act in their self interest while purchasing the products. The lower the price, the consumers will buy more while in the case of higher price, lesser number of cars would have been purchased (Wright, n.d). There are certain features like physical appearance, brand name, features, accessories, after sales service, guarantees or warrantees are the influential factors to decide the consumer behaviour. Marketing Strategy of the Company: The Role of Salespeople The company must start off to enhance the consumer awareness about their products and services. As the company is indulged into car dealership and maintenance of the automotives, the company must try to enhance the quality as well as communicate the same to the consumers. In this case, the contribution of the sales people is unavoidable. The sales people must strive to find out new consumers to try out new customers as well as maintain an enhanced relationship with the existing customers. In the automobile industry, a considerable number of respondents trust on the ‘word of mouth’. So, maintaining a relationship with the existing customers is pretty important. The sales personnel can also be used to offer discounts, gifts and other sales promotion offers to the customers to increase the sales of the cars. The sales personnel can also be used to arrange the promotional events to boost the sales and revenue. The sales personnel should also flaunt off then the features and other advantages in the car models. Apart from that, the sales personnel can also make the customers aware of the new cars and services. A different group of sales personnel can also be used in the marketing of the second hand cars to boost the sales in this division. In each of the cases, the relationship with the customers is important. The company can offer incentives to the sales personnel to boost the sales. It must be taken into account that relationship with the customers is crucial to boost the sales in the automobile industry. Conclusion In the automobile industry, the significance of personal selling cannot be denied. Any car dealer or manufacturer must understand the fact that strong relationship with the existing customers would not only help them to get revenue from the existing customer base, but would also boost sales by reference. Personal selling is integral component of marketing mix to establish a strong link between the company and the customers. Reference English Essays. 2011. Consumer Behaviour in the Automotive Industry in the UK. [Online]. Available at: http://www.englishessays.org.uk/english-essays/consumer-behaviour-automotive-industry-uk.php [Accessed on February 05, 2011]. Glencoe. No Date. Promotion. [Pdf]. Available at: http://ledesma.wikispaces.com/file/view/17+Book.pdf [Accessed on February 05, 2011]. IPM. No Date. Personal Selling, relationship building and sales management. [Pdf]. Available at: http://ipm.ge/article/Personal%20Selling,%20relationship%20building%20and%20sales%20management_ENG.pdf [Accessed on February 05, 2011]. NOS. No Date. Marketing Mix. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.nos.org/srsec319/319-22.pdf [Accessed on February 05, 2011]. Wright. No Date. Consumer Behaviour. [Pdf]. Available at: http://estore.bized.co.uk/freecontent/30005AD7.pdf [Accessed on February 05, 2011]. Bibliography Anderson, E. R. & Dubinsky, J. A. 2004. Personal selling: achieving customer satisfaction and loyalty. Houghton Miffin. Fitzen, L. 2009. Multi Channel Retailing in the Automotive Industry: Determinants of Consumer Channel Choice. GRIN Verlag. Foss, B. & Stone, M. 2001. Successful customer relationship marketing: new thinking, new strategies, new tools for getting closer to your customers. Kogan Page Publishers. Gunnemann, F. 2008. The Effectiveness of Product Placement for the Automobile Industry and Its Impact on Consumer Behavior: A Cross-cultural Perspective. GRIN Verlag. Illmer, S. 2009. Chances and Restrictions of Measuring Consumer Behavior in the Automotive Industry. GRIN Verlag. Kurtz, L. D., MacKenzie, F. H. & Snow, K. 2009. Contemporary Marketing. Cengage Learning. Lamb, W. C., Hair, F. J. & McDaniel, C. 2008. Essentials of Marketing. Cengage Learning. Lindquist, D., J. & Sirgy, J. M. 2003. Shopper, Buyer and Consumer Behavior, Casebook. Dreamtech Press. Stranger, A. W. 1920. Personal selling. The Biddle Publishing Company. Trehan, M. & Trehan, R. 2010. Advertising and Sales Management. FK Publications. Read More