College LaSalle: B2B Sales Strategy Report for AM Fashion

This report details a business-to-business (B2B) sales strategy for AM Fashion, a fictitious company. It outlines a 3-hour meeting agenda with potential buyers Burberry and Tommy Hilfiger, discussing their new ethnic and organic clothing line. The report analyzes valuable lessons from past negotiations, emphasizing patience, preparation, and aggressive yet diplomatic negotiation tactics. It also covers essential elements of after-sales service, including FAQ systems, impeccable customer service, and online services. Furthermore, the report explores sales team training, focusing on relatability, active learning, and effective communication. It concludes by identifying strengths and areas for improvement in sales strategies, along with supplier and buyer details and sales techniques. The report is designed to enhance the sales representative's practical knowledge of sales management.

Running head: BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS SALES
BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS SALES
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS SALES
NAME:
FOUR ELEMENTS OF 3 HOUR PRESENTATION SCHEDULE
1. Meeting agenda: The agenda of the meeting is to present before the clients a
product line, which has been recently created by the company, AM Fashion, and
convince them to purchase the product. The product to be discussed in this meeting
is the new range of ethnic and organic clothing that the company has procured.
2. Meeting minutes: The meeting between the buyers and the company is supposed
to be conducted within a span of 90 minutes. In the first hour there will be
introductions among the three companies, followed by the declaration of the
meeting agenda and the initiation of the discussion on the product line. The second
hour shall consist of the detailed description of the product line and the varied
proposals for the buyers from the AM Fashion Company and the varied
negotiations leading to the agreement of all the companies. The final hour shall
consist of the signing of the legal documents and discussions about the future
proposals that AM Fashion can present to its buyers.
3. Participants: The participants of the meeting include the buyers, the product
managers from Burberry and Tommy Hilfiger, along with the sales representative,
product manager and the head of the ethnic clothing section of the AM Fashion.
4. Conclusion: The conclusion of the meeting shall consist of the confirmation of the
negotiations that has been discussed and subsequent legal contracts and documents
shall be signed.

2BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS SALES
FIVE VALUABLE LESSONS FROM PAST NEGOTIATIONS
1. Patience: The dealings with the business to business clients required a lot of
patience to understand the requirements of the clients and implementing the same to
attain the best outcomes to meet the requirements of the client (Young and Hawes
2013).
2. Preparation: After understanding the client’s needs, the process by which the
demands can be met is crucial and requires a lot of insight and scrutiny of the
methods to reach the desired results. Hence the preparation for this process
determines the level of satisfaction of the client.
3. Aggressive negotiation: It is necessary to follow aggressive methods of
negotiations in certain cases to secure the right profit margin for the company the
sales representative is working for. However, the aggressiveness should also be
diplomatic in nature so that the client does not feel too over stressed or suppressed
as that might drive the client away or leave a poor impression, which might harm
the future sales prospects (Geiger 2017). Hence, capitalizing on aggression is one of
the key lessons for better sales outcomes.
4. Aspirations: By adapting to a high aspiration base, the sales representatives can
hope to outperform and attain ambitious levels of successes. It is necessary to deal
with the negotiations in a manner that might produce more results than the desired
outcomes keeping in mind that the clients must be satisfied and referrals are
continued.
5. Alternatives: A sales process comprises of several hurdles, it is necessary for the
sales representative to know all the available alternatives when put in a confusing
situation (Toman, Adamson and Gomez 2017). These alternatives help in acquiring
the best outcomes that are beneficial to both the client and the company. This might
prove to be healthy for the growth of the sales representative.

3BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS SALES
FIVE ELEMENTS OF AFTER SALES SERVICE TO CLIENTS
1. The information about the clients’ needs to be known by the sales representative in
order to cater to their needs even after the completion of the transaction, so as to
retain the clients for long term future prospects.
2. FAQ systems can be implemented in order to deal with the varied range of clients
in a business to business sales. These frequently asked questions can be modelled
based on the individual client specifications and concerns in relation to their line of
business.
3. The customer service for the b2b clients has to be impeccable, since the range of
clients are less than the b2c and thus, word of mouth can have a huge influence on
the revenue of the company, as presented in results that 30-40% of the business to
business clients present referrals if the customer service experience is pleasant (Ho,
Sharma and Hosie 2015).
4. The company also needs to provide online services, since in this global age
everything is relies on the online avenues. Some services that can be provided to
the business to business sales are e-commerce, digital sales, digital marketing,
mobile enablement, customer self-service and so on (Agnihotri et al. 2016).
5. There must be a correct mix of personal touch and creativity in the sales and after
sales processes in the business to business sales, since there are often complaints
regarding the sales representatives in this b2b sales becoming staid.

4BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS SALES
SALES TEAM TRAINING SUBJECT
THREE MAIN TENETS OF TRAINING
1. Relatability: It is not only necessary for the sales representatives to understand the
salient features of the information provided by the clients to meet the desired effect,
but the sales representative also needs to relate to the needs and demands of the
clients and thereby, be a part of the process of the transaction between the client
and the company.
2. Active Learning: Since sales is almost a completely practical task, the training
requires to be based more on the practical experience of the representatives than the
theoretical knowledge. It should be taught to the representative how they should
deal with the clients in real life situations by applying the knowledge they had
acquired from the theories learned in classrooms. Hence, practical lessons are more
pivotal for the development and growth of the sales representatives.
3. Appropriate technology and communication: The sales representatives must be
introduced to the importance of communication skills. For the sales jobs,
communication imbibed with high levels of diplomacy and negotiation skills are
the key facets that needs to be inculcated in the future sales representatives to make
them proficient in the line of business (Goldsmith and Kraiger 2014). The
appropriate technology used in various business dealings must also be incorporated
within the lesson plans and training of the sales representatives. As different clients
prefer different manners of communication, such as online communication,
powerpoint presentations and such others, all of these types must be included in the
curriculum of the training process.

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FOUR THINGS DONE WELL IN THIS
SALE
FOUR THINGS THAT NEEDS TO BE
IMPROVED FOR FUTURE SALES
1. The procurement of the buyers in this
particular business to business sales was
challenging since the buyers chosen were
not easy to convince. However, the
attainment of the goals chosen previously
has enriched my experience and confidence
in the career as a sales representative. The
buyers are now satisfied with the products
received which has proved the efficacy of
the sales management.
1. The inbound sales strategies must be
incorporated with the inbound sales
marketing in order to attain better outcomes.
This can be done by making the sales and
the marketing teams collaborate better under
proper guidance of the respective heads of
both the teams.
2. The suppliers from whom the company
shall buy the raw materials required for
production have also taught me valuable
negotiation skills needed to gain an edge
over the propositions decided among the
companies. Since, negotiation skills are one
of the keys successful sales management,
the dealings with the suppliers have made
me more aware and knowledgeable about
the market.
2. The involvement of the company with the
varied tradeshows, networking events,
industry events, and such other outbound
initiatives can prove to be enhanced
promotional strategies for the products of
the company. The leads gained from such
events can also help to widen the business to
business sales scopes.
3. The ideas for marketing the products
through online avenues and social media
platforms are one of the best ways and the
necessary means to retain a wide customer
base in this global age where almost all the
major companies of the world are involved
in the promotion of the organization and
their products through online avenues.
3. The sales cycle needs to be more precise
and in accordance with the planning
provided by the marketing and the sales
departments. Since the sales cycle of the
business to business are generally longer
than the business to customer sales cycles,
the strategies must be prepared in
accordance with the requirements.
4. The successful negotiations with the
suppliers and the dealings with the clients,
has made my communication skills
enhanced and has also proved my efficacy
in performing in this business to business
sales. My entrepreneurial attitude has also
been improved due to the meetings with
varied range of buyers and suppliers.
Therefore, the overall experience in this
particular business to business sales has
enriched my practical knowledge of sales
management.
4. More importance and significance must
be provided to cold calling and imperfect
leads, as they might prove to be beneficial
for developing future prospects of the
company.

6BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS SALES
Bibliography
Agnihotri, R., Dingus, R., Hu, M.Y. and Krush, M.T., 2016. Social media: Influencing
customer satisfaction in B2B sales. Industrial Marketing Management, 53, pp.172-180.
Geiger, I., 2017. A model of negotiation issue–based tactics in business-to-business sales
negotiations. Industrial Marketing Management, 64, pp.91-106.
Goldsmith, T. and Kraiger, K., 2014. Structural knowledge assessment and training
evaluation. In Improving training effectiveness in work organizations (pp. 85-108).
Psychology Press.
Ho, A., Sharma, P. and Hosie, P., 2015. Exploring customers’ zone of tolerance for B2B
professional service quality. Journal of Services Marketing, 29(5), pp.380-392.
https://uk.burberry.com/
https://www.euphoriccolors.com/
https://www.pvh.com/brands/tommy-hilfiger
https://www.royalapparel.com/
Toman, N., Adamson, B. and Gomez, C., 2017. The new sales imperative. Harvard Business
Review, 95(2), pp.118-125.
Young, J.A. and Hawes, J.M., 2013. Using sales management students to manage
professional selling students in an innovative active learning project. Marketing Education
Review, 23(1), pp.37-42.