Unit 20 Sales Planning and Operations Assignment Waitrose

Introduction

Sales planning and operations refer to plan the strategies to increase the sales and manage the operations in order to increase the efficiency of the employees. Waitrose is the retail organization which provides food products to his customers. The organization has supermarket chain in the various cities of the UK. The current studyof Unit 20 sales planning and operations assignment waitrose depicts the personal selling supports the promotion mix and compare the buyer behaviour and  decision making  process in different situations. The report explains the role of the sales team in order to design the market strategy and power point presentation explains the services provided by the Waitrose. The study explains the sales strategies developed to achieve the corporate objectives and importance of recruitment and selection process in Waitrose. The study carried out the role of motivation, remuneration and training in sales management and sales management organize the sales activity and control the sales output. The report explains the use of the database in effective sales management and develops the sales plan for the product service. The study investigates the opportunities for selling the product internationally with the help of exhibitions and trade fairs.

                                                  Figure 1: Company Logo

Task 1

1.1 Personal selling supports the promotion mix

Personal selling is the best way to describe the quality of the product and convince the customer to purchase products and services of the organization. Through personal selling, management can motivate the customer and gain the trust of the customer in the context of brand and effectiveness of services. Personal selling assists the employee to clear the doubts of the customer in the more effective way and identify the problems of the customer.

Following points depicts the role of personal selling to support the promotion mix:

• Customer trust: Personal selling facilitates management to gain the trust of the customer and promote the new product in front of the customers (Shimp and Andrews, 2012). Personal selling is the best way to promote the new products in front of old customers. It is the best way to increase the sale of the products by targeting the customers and convince them to buy our product.
• Demonstration: Through personal selling, the employee can easily explain the qualities of the product and identify the issues faced by the customers while using the product. Personal selling assists the management to demonstrate the qualities of the product in the well defined manner to raise the profits of the organization (Kotler.et.al.2015). Many times customers will not buy the products online but with the help of personal selling, they will be able to know the advantage and disadvantage of the product and purchase the product.

1.2 Buyer behaviour and decision making process in different situations

Behaviour of the buyer is affected by various factors like cultural factors, social factors, friends etc. Buyer takes the decision considering this all factors and purchases the product according to the need. The customer can be in the form of Business to business and business to customer. The sales team needs to identify the demand of the customer and try to provide the product according to the demand. The sales representative needs to identify the mindset of the customers in order to serve better services to the client (Solomon.et.al.2013).

Following points depicts the decision-making process of the customer:

• Cultural factors: The decision of the buyer is influenced by the friends, family members etc. Sometimes customer decision is affected by the experience of the family friends etc. For instance, individual purchase the food items from the Waitrose and gets the good services from the representatives then communicate the positive words for the organizations in front of the friends and family members.
• Current trends: Current market trends also affects the decision process of the buyer like a discount on food items, one on one free, free delivery, occasional discounts etc. This kind of trends attracts the customers to buy the product of Waitrose (Ramsay.et.al.2013).

1.3 Role of sales team within marketing strategy

Sales team plays a vital role in the increment of sales and attracts the customers to buy the products of Waitrose. Sales team conducts the research to identify the current market position of the business and evaluate the performance of the product in the market. The sales department continuously increases the sales and creates the demand for the product by generating the leads. The main aim of the sales team is to generate the database through campaigns, meeting the clients, through e-mails etc. They have to maintain the sales report to present in front of sales manager. The sales team has the liability to promote the product in front of the customers and convince them to purchase the product (Arnett and Wittmann, 2014). Sales representative identify the demand of the customer and aware the customer about the benefits of the product. The sales team generates the lead and communicates the customer through email or personal interaction.

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Task 3

3.1 Sales strategies are developed in line with corporate objectives

Waitrose develops the strategy increase the sales and looking for the business expansion in the different parts of the world. In order to business, expansion management has increased the number of sales representatives. Waitrose is recruiting the candidates which have experience and knowledge about the sales.

• Organization has planned to recruit the new candidates for the sales and allocate the area in which they have to sale the product (Purce, 2014).
• As organization sale the consumer durable goods so management has designed the strategy to sale the goods as soon as possible.
• Management set the benchmark for the sales employee that have to achieve that target at the end of the month.
• Organization deals with the customers in the supermarkets and provides the weekly discounts to increase the sales.
• Organization provides the best after sales to the organization to the by which customers feel special and retains with Waitrose for a longer time.
• The management identifies the potential customers by which they can easily segment the customers and provide them additional discounts to retain them with the organization.
• Management has planned to increase the business so it is necessary to allocate the suppliers for the continuing the sales (Townley, 2014).
• The management has planned the marketing of perishable goods and collects the feedback of the customers after the sale of the goods.

3.2 Importance of recruitment and selection procedure

Recruitment and selection process the vital role in the expansion of the business.  Human resource  is the important part of the organization and plays the crucial role in retail organizations. Through recruitment, management hires the experienced candidate for marketing of Waitrose. Experienced sale candidates are the more suitable rather than then the fresher because they need less training and easily convince the customer to purchase the product. Selection assists the manager to identify the skills and qualification of the candidate and then hire the candidate for the suitable job. HR department plan to recruit the best and suitable candidate for the vacant job, take the interview of the candidates in order to fill the vacant seats with the suitable candidate. The candidate has to clear the written test and interview to prove the skills of the candidate (Cook, 2016).

The first step of the recruitment process is to identify the vacancy available in the organization. In next step, assess the job and employee specification and match the skills of the candidate. Then advertise the vacancy and receive the application from the candidates to choose the right candidate for the job (Johnston and Marshall, 2016). The final part of the process is to select the suitable candidate for the job out of the rest.

3.3 Role of motivation, remuneration and training in sales management

Motivation, remuneration and training are the important part in the growth of Waitrose. These are the three pillars on which all the operations of the organization depend.

• Motivation: Motivation is the best part of the organization to boost the morale of the employees in order to increase the sales. Through motivation, a manager can increase the efficiency of the employees and motivate them to increase the customer base by communicating a large number of customers (Wotruba, and Simpson, 2015). The motivation assists the organization to build the positive morale of the employees towards the organization.
• Remuneration: It the method by which manager motivates the employees in order to keep them motivated. This is the best way to keep the employees motivated by providing monetary and non-monetary benefits. Monetary benefits include the incentive, bonus, salary increment etc. Non-monetary benefits include performance appraisal, promotion, convenience allowance etc. Remuneration best method to keep the employees motivated and it also helps the management to identify the personal needs of the staff members.
• Training: HR department hires the candidates for the organization and sometimes the candidates are less experienced in order to keep them productive management provide the training. Training is the best way to keep the employee motivated and productive and it will increase the efficiency of the employee (Kjellsdotter and Jonsson, 2014). If management hires the sales employee then provide sales training to him or hire the candidate in the financial department then provide the financial training to him.

3.4 Sales management organizes the sales activity and control the sales output

Waitrose recruit the experienced employees for their sales development of the products. Management sales target is predicted by the sales budget which is valuable instrument and depicts that in which direction organization is moving. Waitrose for its sales budget plan will reach the following:

                                           Figure 2: Sales activities

• Sales meeting: Sales manager conducts the meeting to identify the sales of the current yearand previous. The manager takes the meeting of all the sales representatives and asks the reason for the shortage in sales (Coronel and Morris, 2016). The main agenda of the meeting is to increase the sales by putting the efforts.
• Allocation of workload: The high authority divides the workload among the group in order to achieve the task on time. Management allocates the task to the deserving candidate in order to achieve the quality work. The main aim of the manager is to distribute the work among the employees to get the work done.
• Team building: The top management decides to build the team by which organizational goals can be easily achieved. By creating the team employees will be able to work effectively and help each other while anyone facing the problem (Becerra and Sabherwal, 2014). The deadlines can be meeting easily and it will increase the morale of the employees.

3.5 Use of database in effective sales management

For effective sales management Waitrose needs to keep the sales report of the each transaction and evaluate the variation among the previous and present transaction. Databases assist the management in raising the attendance of the employees by keeping the record of the employees. 

Following points depicts the importance of Database in the organization:

• Sources of information: Database assists the management to identify the sources of information and collect the important information from the sources. It acts as a tool to maintain the relation with the sources to collect the information and manage them according to the need of management. For instance, Sales team record the data of sales, purchase team records the data of total purchases and other than that operation department maintain the record of employee performance (Stark, 2015). All information is recorded in the database to maintain the clear record.
• Security of data: Database is software which keeps the record of the data generated from the various sources. It safeguards the data from misuse or operated by the unknown person. The software keeps the data under password by which it can be operated by any other person. Management uploads the data on various online drives by which it cannot be copied or misused.
• Sales and marketing information: The data provides the information related to the sales and  marketing planning  by which management can easily identify the previous sales record and marketing tools to do the effective marketing of the product (Kulkarni.et.al.2012). Sales and marketing data provides the comparison among the previous and current year data.

Task 4

4.1 Development of sales plan for the products

Waitrose has selected to sell the food items to the people of UK. The main reason forchoosing the food products that every individual needs to eat the food products for the survival. The main aim of the organization is to develop the business by providing quality products according to the need of customers. The vision of the organization to build the brand image of the business by delivering quality services to the clients and retailers. Organization is searching the opportunities for the business development (Varley, 2014). The sales plan for the food products of Waitrose:

Sales objective: Increase the production and sales of food products by 7% to 12% by the end of year 2016.

Mission: Create the brand image of the product by providing quality product to the valuable customers.The management ensures to provide the available products on time to the customers. The quality should be maintained with the reasonable prices and delivery on time.

Target market:

• Main customers are retailers and local customers.
• Hotels also use the food items in their restaurants.

Objective

• Increase the revenue by 10%
• Increase the sales by 12%
• Quality should be provided to the clients

Strategy:

Marketing: To meet the sales target on time by setting the effective sales strategy like credit sales, offers, cash bonus etc.

Pricing: Economic pricing strategy will be adopted to compete with the customers and sale the products according the market situations.

Promotion: Waitrose will use the different modes of advertisement to promote the product. Organization uses online platforms for the promotion like designing creative website, mobile application to order the product etc (Czinkota, and Ronkainen, 2013).

Sales: Organization designs the sales strategy by selling the product online to the customers and provides them benefits to sell the product.

Actions:

• Sales meeting will be conducted to analyze the actual sales.
• Manager should assure that customer service is not slacking to reach the highest sales, weekly meeting will take place.

KPI:

• Monitor the sales turnover to make sure that employee are performing well to reach the set targets.
• Avoid the little loss and try to achieve the organizational goals and raise the profits by increasing the sales.

4.2 Investigate the opportunities to sell the product internationally

Selling of products internationally is the best opportunity for the business expansion. Management uses the various online platforms to sell the products globally. Waitrose provides the training employees that how to deal in the international markets. Organization wants to expand the business globally by opening the business outlets outside the countries and operating the business.

Following points investigate the opportunities to sell the product internationally:

• Demand: Waitrose identifies the demand for the product in the different countries and selects the best country where the organization can earn more revenue with suitable raw material availability. Management develops the business in that locality where human capital need and the customer can be easily identified (Rydell, 2013). Organization opens the outlet in that place where customers can approach the store.
• Raw material: Raw material is the foremost need of the organization. Before opening the food outlet management will think to open the outlet in that place where raw material easily available.

4.3 Investigation of opportunities through exhibitions or trade fairs

There is a lot of opportunities available in the trade fairs and exhibitions because it provides a platform to the business to promote the product in a large number of customers. In trade fairs, business from different countries participates and promotes the product and services of their business. Trade fairs are the best way to advertise the product and allow the data to compare the services from other business. Through exhibitions, management can get the profile of the customers by which business can get in touch with the customers and aware him about the services of the organization. Through trade fairs, the organization gets in touch with a large number of customers and collects the feedback of the product for the improvement (Cook, 2016). Through exhibitions, the organization can promote the product and identify the policies of the competitors. It will create the chance to develop the relation with the other business and create a customer back up by engaging them in the display of the products. Trade fairs assist the management to develop the database of the customers and identify the opportunities for the mergers and acquisitions.

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Conclusion

The study implicates the role of the sales team in promotion of product and importance of personal selling in the promotion mix. Trough personal selling an employee can easily convince the customer and increase the trust of the customer on the organization. The report describes the role of the data base in collecting the information about the customer, sales, operation etc and the role of remuneration, training and motivation to increase the sales in Waitrose. In further it can be identified that importance of recruitment and selection process in Waitrose. The report explains the opportunities to sell the product internationally or through exhibitions or trade fairs and develop the sales plan for the Waitrose.