Code, Semester, Class for Products and/or Services

¶ … Code, Semester, Class

For products and/or services to reach to potential or targeted customers, companies and businesses need to market them once they have been manufactured. The term 'Sales' is defined in a number of ways but it mainly refers to a social process through which people and groups obtain what they need and desire through creation and exchange of products and values with others (Gummeson, 2002). In other words, it is everything a company or business does to place their products and/or services in the hands of potential customers. For companies to effectively market their products or services they need to establish a successful mix of the right product which is sold at the right price in the right place using the most suitable promotion (Brassington & Pettit). 'Sales' is important in determining the appearance of a product or service as per the requirements of the market and the function of the product or service where they must address the needs of customers as identified through market research (Kotler, et al., 2000).

'Sales' mix is perhaps the most widely used term in as far as 'Sales' of products and services is concerned. For a company to establish the right 'Sales' mix they need to meet a couple of conditions for instance the fact that their goods must be in the right place at the right time and that the target group is aware of the existence and availability of the product through promotion and advertisements since successful promotion helps a company to spread costs over a larger output (Johnson & Scholes, 2002).

'Sales' mix refers to different tools used by a business or company to effectively promote its business in the marketplace (Doyle, 1994). It is responsible for the manner in which a business uses product, distribution, promotion and price to market and sell its product or service. 'Sales' mix is often referred to as the Four P's due to the four main elements that it is concerned with, namely Product, Promotion, Place and Price (Palmer, 2001). The product is that which the customer obtains and the place is the manner in which the product is distributed to the potential customer or target group (Hoyle, 2002). On the other hand, while promotion deals with the manner in which the customer is found and convinced to buy the product or service, the price is how much the customer pays for the product or service. The reason why it is referred to as a mix is due to the fact that each ingredient or element influences each other (Kotler, et al., 2000).

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

The main objective or purpose of 'Sales' mix is to satisfy the needs and desire of the customers in the most effective and economical way. Shower Cream is a product produced by 'MTA'. 'MTA' London-based Company desiring to advertise or rather promote their Shower Cream (Hoyle, 2002). This particular company has incorporated 'Sales' Mix in trying to get their service to potential clients. Everyone, young and old, is currently aware of the most popular social network, Facebook. It is a social site where the younger generation spends most of their free time and Shower Cream is aware of this fact and has therefore taken full advantage (Johnson & Scholes, 2002). One of the elements of 'Sales' mix is product or service that a company has to offer to its potential clients, These products or services need to meet customer requirements whatever they may be and are expected to do what they say they can do and what they are expected to do (Brassington & Pettit, 2003).

As aforementioned, majority of potential customers for Shower Cream are the younger generation and a few older people who may be interested in Beauty. . Price and Product/Service are perhaps one of the most crucial elements of 'Sales' Mix that a company needs to consider and pay close attention to unlike the other two, Promotion and Place.

Under the Place element, 'MTA' has not taken into consideration the fact that there may be those who would be willing to buy their product but are too far away, such as in other countries and have no means of getting it (Kotler, et al., 2000). It has been observed that one-fifth of the cost of product is spent getting it to customers. Even though the product has reached its target group through the sales strategies, they will not get as many sales of the product as would have been the outcome if facilities such as distribution to those in other nations would be considered (Johnson & Scholes, 2002). Promotion is the process of communicating with customers and involves packaging that is presenting the product in a desirable and most appropriate manner, advertising which is to inform and convince the public, sponsorship and public relation activities (Gummeson, 2002). 'MTA' has not quite promoted its products and services in the most desirable and appropriate manner despite using one of the popular sales strategy of modern day.

There are a number of ways in which 'MTA' can track effectiveness of the sales strategies that they have chosen to incorporate into their customer service efforts and this includes the size of following as well as frequency of interaction. Facebook and Twitter have what is known as walls where people can interact with the band members or company management and find out more information about events advertised on the company's home page (Johnson & Scholes, 2002). The role and effectiveness of such sales strategies can be measured by tracking the number of fans as well as followers and the manner in which they interact with the management and with each other. One of the key advantages of these sales strategies is its ability to allow customers to collaborate and influence each other with unprecedented ease (Kotler, et al., 2000). It is easier to note particular loyal customers on the home page who tend to answer common questions, provide recommendations to their network and others defend brands when needed and share tips on how to make the best of a company's product or service (Hoyle, 2002). Loyal customers who are especially enthusiastic about the brand or service and in this particular case the Shower Cream product is much more credible in the public eye as compared to the brand itself (Johnson & Scholes, 2002).

The key to establishing a successful 'Sales' mix is not to concentrate or depend on just one mix but rather to explore other avenues. Combining and coordinating the 'Sales' mix element will ensure effectiveness and future success. Businesses and companies need to realize that the 'Sales' mix changes over time due to factors such as evolving trends, changing attitudes, advancements in technology and appearance of different distribution channels.

Case 2:

Assess the organizational strategies for employee selection in the Hiring process and subsequent retention efforts.

Organization uses two categories of flaws in its employee's selection during the hiring process. The passage of time leads to delay in the sorting via applicants in the efficient way and also the other proven strategies which typically sort through the candidates. With the first type of drawback, it is difficult to improve any other process flaw experienced with various positions to fill and usually heavy infusion of resumes, applications and one to one inquiries. Donald, (2003)

Said with small help from assessment or technology, the hiring manager or busy recruiter should manually sort through the unsystematic and widely changing stack of resumes. This is usually difficult and the least liked aspects of the manager's job. It is also clear to get managers to assist in their needs urgently and systematically sort via the first pool of applicants.

The systems and tools utilized in sorting the candidates show the category of activity in need of enhancement. Obviously the job interview is the highest area of concern.

Three elements of the professional studies criteria

Many of studies reviewed the information gathering in the typical interview is generally fraught with error. These include:

The tendency of interviewers making snap judgments early during interactions with the candidates

Difficult in suppressing personal stereotypes and biases if interviewing

Considering of negative information more strongly than positive aspects to candidates

And inability of the typical interviewers making accurate evaluations to many job specific skills, rather than relying on world impression of the candidate.

Case 4:

Why a sales budget

A budget can make or break a grant proposal (Donald, 2003). They say that to avoid disqualification the budget should include only the items that are stated in the requirements. Important to remember is to include a budget justification. The justification which is in form of a narrative explains the various expenses in details. In our case the grant agency required we explain how the sales strategy will sustain itself after the funding. We can come up with a supplement revenue budget to show how we are going to generate revenue when the sale of the product is finished (Robin 2001)

Importance of electronic database to generate business and stimulate repeat purchase

An electronic database

Majority of individuals can attest to the fact that technology is not what it used to be. A lot has transpired and technology has advanced at a rather rapid rate where businesses and the world as a whole are trying to keep up. Modern day technology is more focused on trying to find improved ways of transferring information and developing new materials by studying the manner in which atoms move together (Bell, Adam & Lowe 1996). Technology can also be used to mean developed application for the industrial arts and industry where applied science is used for the development of technical applications for instance desktop computers are a representation of advanced electronic technology (Orlikowski 1992).

Technology had an impact on the human race as soon as people discovered how to use tools. It also led to the rapid development of the Industrial Revolution where human labor was substituted with machines. In this day and age where businesses are expanding both locally and national level, collaboration between workers from such disseminate groups can prove to be a challenge but for them to be competitive, such diversity is a necessity in the big organizations (Bell, et al. 1996). It is therefore important to have a proper collaboration among the employees, the organization and customers and this is where electronic database becomes a prerequisite (Smith 2000).

An electronic database, it is a specifically designed with cooperative requirements in mind and meant to support group working and not just as tools for communication. Services provided by these programs include e-mail handling, electronic meetings with each individual able to see and display information to others, shared database access and collective writing (Orlikowski 1992). An electronic database, is usually classified according to the function it performs for cooperative work and when and where the participants are working (Smith 2000). These programs offer a centralized location for storage of data as well as synchronization of the information while providing a means by which groups can come together and work efficiently regarding the data.

How it generates business and stimulates repeat purchase

Deployment of An electronic database is often carried out by personnel in the Information Technology department under the authority of senior management of companies. There are a number of benefits associated with such deployment and these include efficiency in solving problems, closer dialogue between different functions and experts in regards to innovative products and services, improved customer service since people are able to gain access to information about common and unusual problems and brings together teams from different organizations and locations closer for innovative research, it also ease communication between the customer and the company, the company communicates directly to its customers since it has their contacts stored with the electronic database (Orlikowski 1992). Organizations and users are the recipients of such benefits in as far as an electronic database are concerned. Despite their numerous benefits Groupware implementation has been rather slow to take-off.

The electronic database idea was originally introduced by Lotus Development Corporation 8 years ago together with Notes. In the past the internet was not considered essential for majority of businesses. An organization could comfortably set up an internal network, buy a server, computers as well as client software and everyone would be happy. There was no considerable pressure present to make internal networks available to outsiders (Robin 2001). However, the onset of internets and intranets brought about ideas of how they could be used to minimize groupware expenses. The current trend is that everyone now wants to be on the Internet in addition to factors such as the growing mobility of workers, globalization of trade and increased popularity of telecommuting (Doyle, 1994). Developers of electronic database hope to take advantage of this new and trendy market by moving their software from proprietary protocols to internet standards. In this way and possessing considerable experience in regards to designing user-friendly software they are bound to succeed.

Case 5:

The MultiC Company being an international company with various outlines in Europe dealing in different products, it has structured its selling function basically into two; sales management and job rotation

Sales management also called conditioning is the training in several ways to enhance the overall performance. Sales management enables the workforce to give extra effort as they get the required skills in their career (Brassington & Pettit). Through Sales management, MultiC Company has been able to ensure effective training technique has been achieved; the nature of the organization has made it implement the technique upward, downward and horizontally. The department heads, employees and assistants may cross-train in several departments or in the department itself. With the background support, employees may have single day training in the role of the department head.

Sales management ought to be carefully presented and planned as the learning opportunity. It should be involved in to cater for all positions and departments. It ought to begin with supervisory level and filter down towards the entry level positions (Donald, 2003). Through sales management the company has be able to achieve the following objectives: offer professional and learning development opportunity, prevent stagnation, rejuvenate all departments, ensured better teamwork and coordination, improved understanding of various departments as a whole, ensured sharing of organization objectives and goals, improved overall motivation, added knowledge, skills, developed know-how and work performance and erased differences among workers, done away with unhealthy competition and enmity among workers

The company also practices job rotation which is utilized to shake-up employees and supervisors who lapsed into poor performance. A more sophisticated form of sales management is job rotation which includes extended periods (Robin 2001). With the job rotation, employee's role is of unique nature. Employees are not taken as trainee but are responsible for various job functions for which they prove themselves. Both sales management and job rotation forms the team of workers who are more knowledgeable and easily replace each other if needed and gain novel confidence to realize their professional expertise. The technique leads into huge motivation in the company.

CASE 6: