SALES FORCE MANAGEMENT

Prof. Vijay Kapoor FMS, DU

Prepared and Submitted by:Siddhartha Sankar Majumdar (S-93)

______________________________________________________________________ Siddhartha Sankar Majumder, Vth Semester, 3rd Year, MBA (PT)- 2010-13 Batch, FMS South Campus, New Delhi

SALES FORCE MANAGEMENT CHAPTER 4

Case 4 -1: Tricon Industries 1. Should Tricon consolidate its sales forces?

As per Laura Thompsons arguments, that for the most part, each division continues to operate fairly independently; as a result Tricon is not taking advantage of the potential synergies which between the companies. As per my opinion, it will be much better if Tricon Industries consolidated its sales forces, which will offer it the greatest opportunity for achieving some of the synergies.

Also it will eliminate some of the negative aspects of the current structure, such as the duplication efforts that are very expensive and may hindering their customers relationships. 2. If Tricon were to reorganize its sales force, what are the options and which structure would you recommend?

If Tricon recognize its sales force, then I will recommend the following sales force specialization

Geographic Specialization Most widely used system Sales organized by geographic territories Divide the responsibility and the authority over small operations.

Benefits: Better market coverage Better control over sales force

______________________________________________________________________ Siddhartha Sankar Majumder, Vth Semester, 3rd Year, MBA (PT)- 2010-13 Batch, FMS South Campus, New Delhi

React quicker to changing environment and better able to adapt to local competition React quickly to customer issues, better customer service

Drawbacks: Very little to no specialization of marketing activities (advertising, sales promotion, marketing research)

Product Specialization Product Operating Specialization Used for highly complex, technical products; large product line; and for unrelated products

Benefits: Customers receive more specialized attention from sales and sales executives.

Drawbacks: Often times more than one sales person calls on same customer (expensive and annoying to customer) Very little to no specialization of marketing activities (advertising, sales promotion, marketing research)

Product Staff Specialization Used for organizations that want specialization by product at the Planning level not at the Selling level

Benefits: Eliminates drawbacks of Product Operating Specialization

______________________________________________________________________ Siddhartha Sankar Majumder, Vth Semester, 3rd Year, MBA (PT)- 2010-13 Batch, FMS South Campus, New Delhi

Drawbacks: Sales people are not specialized in selling one type of product; they sell all products

Market Specialization Sales organized by industry or type of customer. Consistent with organizations ability to be create long term relationships with customers.

Benefits: Sales become industry experts.

Drawbacks: Causes overlap in territories (increases costs)

Combination of Territory, Product and Market Specialization Many companies use a combination of 2 or more types of sales organization to better meet customers needs.

Case 4-2 : Microplastics Inc.

1.

What Changes should be recommended by the new sales Manager?

The Company had been organized in 1998 to manufacture to specification small plastic parts that were sold directly to other manufacturers particularly high-technology oriented industries. Microplastics sales structures consisted of 28 people who directly reported to one sales manager A line organization.

In the early days Company growth was great. They had little direct competition & they were making plenty of money, sold everything they could make. Then gradually ______________________________________________________________________ Siddhartha Sankar Majumder, Vth Semester, 3rd Year, MBA (PT)- 2010-13 Batch, FMS South Campus, New Delhi

competition came in to the market and Company also hit a recession. Sales dropped 40% and profit turned to losses.

Soon after Company had started hiring-firing by recruited no. of new sales manager and promoting existing sales representative to regain the sales growth. By that time Company had cam out with number of new proposal from their newly appointed sales manager but unfortunately were logical to implement.

Recommendation As the organizations growth increase, sales force also has to grow and the job of the executive managing the sales force becomes more difficult. The number & complexity of a Companys products and/or market may also call for some organizational division if sales effort is to be effective. The most common way to divide the sales responsibilities is to split the sales force on some basis of sales specialization such as Geographic specialization, Product specialization, Market specialization and Combination of organizational bases.

Since, Microplastics Inc. is manufacturing small plastic parts to specification especially for manufacturer of high-technology oriented industry, they should go for market specialization sales force. As per market specialization, they should divide the line authority in their sales departments on the basis of type of customer, classified by the industry or by channel distribution. Further, sales people should be trained properly about high-technology products where their small plastic parts could be useful. They should be well known about their small plastic parts to explain the customer that how their small plastic parts will be beneficial in the clients high-technology based products.

Finally, the use of Market specialization in sales organizations have increased in recent years & the trend is expected to continue. Certainly market specialization is consistent that underlines the market concept. ______________________________________________________________________ Siddhartha Sankar Majumder, Vth Semester, 3rd Year, MBA (PT)- 2010-13 Batch, FMS South Campus, New Delhi

______________________________________________________________________ Siddhartha Sankar Majumder, Vth Semester, 3rd Year, MBA (PT)- 2010-13 Batch, FMS South Campus, New Delhi