The Expansion of Product Lines and Promotional Programs - Essay Example

Sales Management The expansion of product lines and promotional programs to match changing population trends demand new methods of marketing and new channels. Telemarketing itself is a rapidly growing form of retailing and is used both in support of traditional retailers and as a freestanding channel1. Once such an inbound telemarketing operation is successfully established, the firm might wish to experiment with an outbound effort to initiate calls and learn if those called have any interest in receiving literature or even attending a party. Such interest can be followed up by one of the firms salespeople. Direct mail incorporating an 800 number can be used similarly to the Yellow Pages, as can advertising in many other media. «Outbound telemarketing takes many forms, but it most resembles traditional, unsolicited door-to-door sales. Contacts are made through cold calls (random), warm calls (referrals) or hot calls (customer-initiated requests for information)”2. For example, manufacturers who were primarily communicating with customers through nonintegrated channels are now finding it is possible to reach them also through telemarketing efforts at a substantially lower cost than other integrated channel alternatives. In this case, manufacturers increase their channel control by adding an additional in-house channel (telemarketing) while keeping cost efficiency high through the application of information technology. At the same time, firms must move with caution as the increase in integration is likely to result in less flexibility. However, the net result is that new technologies allow firms to enter customer segments much more easily than before. In other words, market entry barriers are no longer so high, as new technologies enable firms to enhance market coverage while containing costs3. Both direct selling and direct marketing make wide use of telemarketing techniques. Studies noted earlier show that the public perceives some disadvantages in buying from a telemarketing firm. Evidence also exists that image questions still haunt the perceived legitimacy (e.g., pyramids) and ethical propriety of direct selling, as well of selling in general4. Major negative factors attributed to telemarketing by a cross section of consumers are high-pressure selling, unreliable salespeople, and loss of contact after the sale. While some instances of these behaviors undoubtedly exist, they are far from endemic to the industry. These image problems should be addressed and alleviated job satisfaction, commitment, and productivity and eventually hasten their termination. Telemarketing can provide firms with cost-efficient means to contact prospective customers. Currently most direct marketers use the same approaches as fixed-location retailers, that is, they attempt to have a fairly wide range of products, although the products may be in a specialized category. They then attempt to sell these products through telemarketing systems to a broad audience5. They rely on common offers through catalogs or mailings and seek an essentially immediate response in the form of a purchase. Telemarketers tend to offer a more specialized type of product they hope to serve customers. The offers are more targeted, that is, they are personalized based on information that the marketer has collected or that the customer has provided. 2. Recruiting new salespeople is a constant challenge for retail firms, especially in periods of low inflation when the need to supplement the household income is less pressing. Turnover rates among salespeople are much higher than in other selling jobs.. One problem in calculating turnover rates is in determining when a salesperson has actually quit. Effective recruitment and selection techniques are important because they help a retail firm to choose among a great number of applicants and select the best person for the job6. In most retail firms there is no formal quitting procedure by the salesperson or official notice of termination by the company. Further, a few months of inactivity does not always indicate quitting because many salespeople cycle periodically from low to high activity levels. Differences in motivation can produce quite different results7. While management encourages its salespeople to set high goals for sales volume an recruiting, such goals are not set by many and do not boost the sales and earnings of most of those who do set them. Salespeople with the first three types of motivation might all make an active effort to recruit additional salespeople for their down lines, but their reasons for doing so and the types of recruits they seek could be totally dissimilar. The money-oriented salesperson might seek someone who is aggressive, persuasive, and had many prospect contacts8. The salesperson seeking intrinsic rewards might recruit just the opposite type with the hope of making her (or him) into someone more "successful." The third or sociable type might look for someone like herself or himself, perhaps a friend or neighbor with whom the job could become a regular topic of conversation, a source of anecdotes and amusement. None of these types is inherently undesirable, since all can add to the companys success as well as make the salespersons own life better through this job9. For retail companies, it is crucial to hire a right person because this decision will influence sales volumes and customers loyalty. Usually, a wring person is low motivated and unable to contribute to the growth and development. He/she establishes poor relations with customers and is not interested in job. Growing mobility rates call for more efforts on how to facilitate the continued patronage of these movers and acquaint them with a new salesperson at their destination10. These various motivations are not unknown to many company executives, but a clearer recognition of them and tailoring job opportunities and conditions to nurture them might become more important in the future as labor market challenges increase. The demographic projections suggest that recruiting efforts must be directed to obtain a sales force that mirrors the evolving age and ethnic makeup of the population. 3. Customers’ complaints are a typical situation for every retail company. The first should be identification of the problem. The employer should ask the customer why the behavior and communication between salesperson and him has changed. The next step is to ask a salesperson about his relations with this customer and possible problems occurred recent time. In many cases, a simple word or lack of time can cause a problem like this one. Many salespersons cannot spend hours on “chattering” with customers. It is important to ask a manager his opinion about this customer and nature of recent relations11. Although communicating persistently about strategy, these top managers were not creating a context that gave their people an understanding of how to do something about strategy. Therefore, strategy remained disconnected from day-to-day implementation issues faced by middle managers. Employer accommodation is the flipside of worker adaptation. When workers adapt, they make concessions and experience the stresses and strains of squeezing themselves into the organizational mold. When employers make reasonable accommodations, they reciprocate the concessions made by employees and, in so doing, acknowledge that the employer-employee relationship is a two-way street and one that matters to them. Willingness to accommodate is a concrete demonstration that the employer values workers in their diversity as well as their individuality12. In theory, people develop a sense of self, who they are and what they want as they grow. Some have a stronger, clearer sense of self than others, but to one degree or another, this sense of self is the basis for workers decision making during the course of their work history. This sense of self is what influences them to pursue one line of work rather than another, to take a job because of need, to change jobs because of dissatisfaction with where they are, and to undertake further skill training in order to obtain a better job. Drawing on this experience, salesperson can contribute to the state of the art in a particular area of work when there is a positive channel of communication between them and a customer13. The best decision will be to redirect this customer to another salesperson in order to keep this customer. Also, it will be important to monitor work of this salesperson and ask about other complaints from customers. In many cases, poor communication is caused by new technologies and new circumstances affected the work environment. The more workers are aware of the similarities and differences among job tasks, the more flexible they can be in adapting to changing technology and working conditions. Although sometimes in conflict, as is perhaps inevitable in any bringing together of separate subsystems, the three components have much to gain from sharing information and concerns14. The most important for the manager is to avoid a conflict and support trustworthy relations with the customer and salesperson. 4. Retail environment and sales are unique place of work for many employees. The main problems experienced by many sales persons are communication problems with the customer and unrealistic demands, delivery delays (outside their control) and dissatisfaction with the product (customers’ complaints). These results represent various buying segments for sellers, but probably do not reflect the popularity of these four modes among buyers as much as the degree to which companies emphasize these approaches in the marketplace15. Recent years, cultural differences and communication between different ethical groups becomes the main problem for sales managers. Given a choice, many consumers express a preference for the party approach over a one-on-one encounter at their doorstep, although whether they would all put forth the effort to attend such parties is open to question. Party methods are especially favored by consumers in larger families whereas the one-on-one mode is seen as slightly more favorable to people who are younger, nonCaucasian, and possess less formal education16. Although a firms product line should evolve to match the needs and interests of its target markets, there is a scarcity of information on markets and market segments. In another sense, even merchandise retailing is itself a service industry as distinguished from processing and extractive domains. Of course, customer service is also an important component of merchandise retailing17. Recognition of all of these relationships is important, but there are also strong advantages to consistency in the use of terms. Since the most commonly used macro statistics published by the U.S. government distinguish between tangible retail trades and intangible service businesses, we will do the same. By "mass market" we simply envisage retailers who appeal to large sectors, the bulk of the American public. The toy market provides a good example. By definition, those customers who impose atypical requirements on either the ambiance or the assortment of the outlets they patronize, who desire unusual levels of intellectual stimulation, aesthetic development, environmental friendliness, lavish opulence and obsequious service, prestigeladen gift labels, avoidance of role stereotyping, or absence of militarism have excluded themselves from the mass market18. But those who want to select from a fairly standard collection of dolls, traditional board games, military vehicles, model kits, and the like and who are willing to trade some of the (supposed) advantages of personal attention for the lower prices and greater flexibility of self-service constitute the main market. There are mass-market specialists and mass-market generalists19. The distinction is based on differences in the merchandise assortments width (variety of categories carried). Product line changes have taken place in many firms, however, but not necessarily in direct response to changing consumer needs. Some firms have recognized the need for a more systematic product management approach. This can occur, for example, when a firm is acquired by a non- parent company with experience in the consumer package goods field. so, the core of problems is caused by inadequate communication skills of sales personal and unrealistic customers demands and expectations. Bibliography 1. Bearden, W. O., Ingram, Th. N., LaForge, L.W. 2004, Marketing, Prentice Hall. 2. Kotler, Ph., Armstrong, G. 2005, Principles of Marketing. Prentice Hall; 11th edition. 3. Kotler, Ph, Keller, K. 2005, Marketing Management. Prentice Hall. 4. Perreault, W.D., Cannon, J.P., McCarthy, E.J. 2003, Marketing: Principles and Perspectives. McGraw-Hill/Irwin; 4 edition. 5. Vega, G. 1998, Ethical Telemarketing: Oxymoron Contested. Review of Business, 20 (1), 17. Read More