Unit 20 Sales Planning and Operations Pearson BTEC Level 5 HND in Business

Task 1

1.1

Personal selling is a promotional method where a salesperson sells a product face-to-face or door-to-door to a customer. It is a kind of direct marketing. The personal selling process through some steps that is prospecting, approach, assessments, presentations, and follow-up. This method mainly depends on effective interaction between the salesperson and buyers. In prospecting a prospect is a buyer who benefits from the product, approaching is the next and main step of selling where the salesperson makes face-to-face contact with the prospect to buy the product through effective communication, it is important to a salesperson that he/ she should have a great research and knowledge of the company and the product. Presentation is the centre point of the process which creates the interest of prospects for the product through description and demonstration. Sometimes the description is not enough for marketing, the demonstration should be effective and the follow-up or closing step is a result of this process where the prospect is turned into a customer.

The promotional mix is a task of marketing, it is one of the 4 Ps, which is focused on the target market, and personal selling is a part of the promotional mix (Léger, 2006). It includes public relations, advertising, sales promotion and personal selling. Characteristics of a promotional mix include broadcast advertising or printing, direct marketing, personal selling, public relations, sales promotions etc. If we take the example of L'Oreal, which is an international leading company of personal care products and cosmetics. L'Oreal has four segments in the market for different types of people and different types of needs. That is as follows-

Consumer products a personal care products which are familiar to Indian consumers(Maybelline, Garnier, Magic and Colorama)

Actives cosmetics (brands include Vichy, Sonaflore)

Professional products(Matrix, Kerastase)

Luxury products brand (Diesel, YSL, Ralph Lauren )

When we talk about the place factor of L'Oreal in the promotional mix, it has development and research centres in six places worldwide and in this era internet is one of the most important platforms for buying and selling and L'Oreal provides every product in any segment on online shopping which provides a positive approach on costumers (Jacobs, 2007).

In India Price is a matter of concern for L'Oreal, because it is mainly related to consumer division. The L'Oreal products belong to the high qualitative group, So they decided to minimise the price and increase the sales units. The company has offered discounts and promotional schemes on introductory products, free products as samples with other products etc.

When we take the promotion segment L'Oreal has an advertising slogan “Because we are worth it” and this one line says it all and really attractive and effective for the customer. It is an international brand and the advertising of the products at a high level through well-known models. Sometimes company has adopted the viral marketing strategy which is “products are marketed through the marketing messages ”.

1.2

Marketing orientation is a business which makes products comfortable and accessible. The management is used in order to make sure that the organisation is well organised in production and distribution. It believes in customers who are interested in the product itself and they will buy on product quality. Selling orientation which focuses on the requirements of customer needs (Tuomikangas and Kaipia, 2014). Society orientation is the way in which an organisation operates in benefit of the society as an entire. Marketing orientation is a business reproduction that targets on delivering the goods to customer needs, and requirements. L’Oréal develops its products on the basis of product or market orientation. Market orientation is the best method to develop the business as it focus on the benefits, needs and satisfaction of customers. L’Oréal generates buyer value customer loyalty and frequent purchasing. L’Oréal develops products and services which play as competition. L’Oréal shows the market recognition which involves the customer needs in the core of the organisation's activities.

1.3

Sale is an exchange of goods in terms of money or in any kind of form like through cheques. A team is a group of persons who distribute their work according to their capacity to complete the task on time. It is a group of salespersons who allocate their work regarding the sale of a particular product or either an entire range of products in the market (Chen-Ritzo and et.al., 2010). A list of Sales team responsibilities which been played by L'Oreal company in the context to marketing and sale of its products are:-

1. Market Strategy- The people of sale team first know about their market strategy and how the products are sold in the market. The need for that product in the market should be analysed so that the product can be sold easily.

2. Price should be reasonable- the price of the product should be reasonable so that customers can afford to buy it and the design of the product should be attractive for selling the product in the market.

3. Areas restricted- The person should sell their product in the particular area in which he/she is allocated.

4. Good communication skills- The salesperson who sells the product should have good communication skills so that the buyer can easily purchase the product without any problems with the product.

Task 2

2.1&2.2

New cosmetic products range of L'Oreal

L'Oreal is a leading brand company and it has mainly four segments in the cosmetics market for different kinds of people with different choices (Márcio Tavares Thomé and et.al., 2012). That is consumer products, active cosmetics, professional products range, and luxury products range. Now L'Oreal comes with a new range of products 'Elvive' fibro-logy Air with the effective slogan '#RISEUP' , this is a hair care range. Elvive provides all the solutions related to hair care like shampoo, dry shampoo, conditioners and serums. The other ranges for different segments are Re-Create, Nutrifier, Infinium, sculpt, C.C cream. When we talk about the skincare range L'Oreal is here with a great solution for rejuvenation that is Revitalift 'filler renew' and Extraordinary facial oil essential. Facial oil is a new product range inspired by old traditions.

Task 3

3.1

Sale strategies-Sale strategy are those strategies that how the company will sell their products according to there plans in the market which automatically increases their sales in the future by which certain objectives can be achieved by Lo'real. Some of the types of sales strategies are as follows:

1. identify the targets- the company first have to find out the targets regarding their sales how much sales to be done in a day, week etc.. so it is easier for the company to sell their products.
2. Understand your buyers- the company should sell only those products which are in high demand and can satisfy the customer needs (Sheldon, 2006).

Corporative objectives impact on sales strategies is that it impact the targets of the L'oreal company because the company have to set their goals according to the organisation's capacity. But on the other side, it is helpful for the companies to make a sales strategy to complete the task in time.

3.2

Selection and Recruitment- the selection is that process in a number of applications are received from the applicants and from that some of the applications are selected on the basis of job profile. On the other hand, recruitment is the process of identifying employees on the basis of selected applications whose posts have arrived for the organisation.

The significance of applying recruitment and selection in hiring a new member to join the sales team of L'orel company is that the selection of members is done according to the need of the company profile job. The company will not select those member who are not doing their work timely which are allocated to them. When the organisation select the right person for the job, then train them well and treat them appropriately because these people are not only for to give good results but also for a longer stay in the organisation to achieve the organisational goal on time (Gupta and Kohli, 2006). On the other hand recruitment process is necessary to recruit those members properly for which they are selected which will benefit to the company for a longer time period. In a sales team, it is necessary to select those people who are willing to work and train them properly to sell the products in the market with strong power communication skills.

3.3

Role of effective motivation, remuneration and training in sales management

Motivation plays an important role in an organisation and for sales management motivation works as a booster to the employees because it impacts both mentally and physically. An employee who is highly motivated and has a willingness to achieve the goals could increase productivity and revenue. Whether remuneration is to motivate the employees through rewards and compensation for the work. There are two types of remuneration price rate or time rate. And training it is essential for the sales and marketing segment. To provide upgrade information to their salespersons, training them according to the market trends is important.

Like any other organisation, L'Oreal depends upon these functions as it is a leading company of beauty essentials so the marketing and sales department should be effective and highly upgraded with the sales and marketing techniques (Feng, D’Amours and Beauregard, 2008), they must have a knowledge of new sales techniques if any and for this motivation and remuneration provide a boost up to them.

3.4

L'oreal company will plan the following activities to organise the sales activities and measures to control sales output:

1. Planning and Organising the work within a time period- The company will first make the plans and organise them within a time period. The plans regarding how to sell the product in the market, what strategies should be followed, whether this product will satisfy the customer needs or not etc.. now organise these plans in the different departments clearly. So the employees do their there work at a particular point in time.
2. To divide the work- the work should be divided on time to the employee according to their capacity.
3. It does not consume time, not very expensive- while organising the sales activities it is not time-consuming and expensive (Grimson and Pyke, 2007).
4. Sale activities should be done in an allocation of budgeted resources.

To control the measures of sales output can be done through the comparison between last year's sales and the current year's sales output. If in the last year, there were very expensive costs while measuring the sales output then it should be controlled and within the limits of the funds. The work which is divided among their employees should not face any kind of difficulties.

3.5

Sales planning and management is managed and maintained by making effective use of database of the company in order to attain effective results for the organization. The database helps in analysing and estimating the demand in an appropriate manner (Ross, 2015). L'Oreal group has a wide range of consumers within the market. To manage and maintain the sales operations, the sales manager focuses on effectively recording the demand estimation and generating effective results accordingly. A database is a vast collection of important information related to consumers, sales and demand analysis. It will help the business in creating an effective and well-developed impact on sales planning and analysis (Oliva and Watson, 2011). Database will help the company in attaining effective past data of the organization. The company may use the same for adopting trend analysis strategy for the business and develop high growth measures within the market. In addition, the strategy of ECRM may be used by the company for promoting and developing a foundation sales base for the business. In addition to this well well-developed software such as electronic consumer relationship management etc. helped in managing the valuable information and developing effective marketing measures as well. Furthermore, the database helped the company in analysing the target consumers for the business and targeting the same for enhancing market sales and developing brand image as well.

Task 4

4.1

Mission:

To enhance the market share of the company by delivering high-quality products and services to its buyers and fulfilling all expectations of its stakeholders (Kaplan and Norton, 2008).

Objectives 2017:

1. Establishment of 30 new franchise outlets in India.
2. Increase overall sales of the company by 15%.
3. Increase demand and brand awareness of the company in the Indian subcontinent.

Strategies:

• Developing international sales and marketing team.
• Extensive market and competitive analysis.
• Develop a full range of products and services to meet new market requirements.
• Develop aggressive promotion and sales strategy for enhancing brand awareness in new markets.
• Establish a consumer relationship base for the Indian market and other neighbouring countries.
• Adopt an undifferentiated marketing strategy.
• Target young and middle-aged people.

Key determinants of performance:

• Analysing area-wise sales on a monthly basis.
• Analyse the number of stores established.

Evaluate customer demand on a quarterly basis.

4.2

Following are the different opportunities available to L'Oreal group to sell the products and services in the international market:-

Emerging market- It can be assessed that in the current era of globalization, people are constantly focusing on improving their standard of living. Hence, it is essential for firms to focus on entering the Indian market and thus government has provided an opportunity to carry out free trade.

Free trade- However, there are various developing countries which are offering free trade at the international level and thus it helps in improving the economy of the country. Hence, it is an opportunity for L'Oreal Group to expand and grow its business so that high profits can be attained.

International marketing- The main focus of international marketing is that it helps in making strategic decisions so that a firm can easily enter into a foreign market and thus enhance its market share (Fleischmann, Meyr and Wagner, 2015). Therefore, expanding the L'Oreal group business in the Indian market helps them to identify potential customers and thus provide them with quality goods in order to enhance sales and profitability.

Market entry: This is a challenging issue for the business unit as it helps in analysing well-developed means of establishing business in new markets. Measures such as direct exporting, franchising, strategic alliance, joint venture, partnership, etc. are common measures. L'Oreals group will adopt licensing or the same as it will be cost-effective and will help the business in attaining business objectives.

Branding: Standardization and adaption are the two common means of branding which companies can use to enhance their product sales. The potential of the Indian market is high and the opportunities for business growth are wide. Thus, Curry’s will use a mixed approach for product branding. The marketing mix of the business will reflect the product as standardised while place, price and promotion will be adopted according to the Indian market (Slack, Chambers and Johnston, 2010).

Distribution: Different distribution strategies will be adopted and developed. To attain raw materials and logistics, business will develop effective logistics and will open business outlets in populated and growing cities of the country. The domestic supply chain will be developed on a traditional basis to attain high business objectives.

4.3

Following are the different trade shows organized regarding home appliances and electronics segment to products the product globally-

• Exhibition- Such type of strategy helps L'Oreals group to promote their brand during the exhibition and thus attract potential customers in order to enhance their market share. It provides an effective platform for the firm to introduce their innovative products to visitors within the exhibition i.e. both consumers as well as suppliers and thus develop relationships with them in order to achieve desired outcomes (Jacobs, Chase and Chase,2010).

Exhibitions and trade fairs are effective measures to target potential buyers and expand business opportunities in the market. L'Oreal group specialises in cosmetics segments. Exhibitions and trade fairs will provide the company with an effective and high opportunity for the growth and development of the business. It will help L'Oreals group in attracting wide consumers in India.

The sales plan for L'Oreal group exhibition and trade fair will be

Conclusion

From the above carried-out analysis, effective marketing and sales planning drive high growth prospects for L'Oreals. Unique business strategies are designed by L'Oreals in order to attract maximum buyers for the products and services offered. Further, the significance of recruitment and selection procedures for the organization is evaluated and also the motivational theories used by the management and role remuneration are explained.

References

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