International Selling and Negotiation: A Case Study of Dove Shampoo by Unilever

This report discusses the sales cycle of Dove shampoo by Unilever and how international selling and negotiation works. It covers the stages of the sales cycle, including prospecting, initial contact, determining needs, presenting an offer, managing objections, closing the sale, and getting referrals. The case study includes both B2B and B2C sales.

International selling and
negotiation

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY .................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The product chosen is Dove shampoo made by firm Unilever, a multinational consumer
goods which is founded in 1929 and deals in variety of products. Dove is a personal care brand
owned by Unilever. Its products are manufactured in several nations around the world. This
product is chosen for this report as it has high demand in UK and has enormous sales prospect.
Sale cycle is essentially termed as process which a firm utilises to acquire new customers. It
comprises of all activities related to end sale.
MAIN BODY
Monitoring of sales cycle facilitates businesses to improve their efficiencies of sales
operations. Shorter sales cycle allows companies to have great opportunities for to maximise
their sales (Boyer and Jap, 2022). For Dove shampoo, sales cycle can be of two types which is
business to business and business to customers both of which contains the following stages:
Prospecting and lead generation- The most significant step in every sales cycle is
organisation's ability to create advanced quality leads and potential. By utilising advance
technologies, it gets easy for firm to form an automated lead generation series. It also simplifies
the task of prospecting, as large number of potential buyers interact with companies online
through their websites or social media platform (Brown, 2018). This allows organisations to
explore questions like what are issues that their proposed product is aiming to solve or how is
their product different from same products available in market. For Dove shampoo, the sales
team have to come up with ideal customer profile who might need shampoo, it may be end
customers or retail business looking for diversifying their portfolio for shampoo. Sales team
should assess their location and problems which can be solved after purchasing of product. This
can also be done on basis of demographics or geographic of customers and by evaluating their
key motivators to buy their shampoo.
Initial contact- After prospecting, it is important for brands to build relationship with
their customers by through first contact. It allows firms with information of prospect's history,
business type, their major customers, top competitors, industry vision etc. Organisation provides
several platforms and ways to their customers to interact with brand which results in generating
more opportunities of increasing engagement (Cuevas, 2018). It allows firm to make a loyal and
authentic relationship with audience to understand their needs better. The time taken by this
1

stage depends on dynamics of industry. The contact with clients can be make through email, call
or direct meeting. This point of contact creates value in prospects mind. For Dove shampoo,
sales team need to evaluate company's background and other information if they are directly
selling to a business. In case of customers, sales team should research about their demographics,
preferences and concerns. After that, they can initiate contact through emails, cold calls or social
media. This allows sales person to maximise prospects interest in Dove shampoo.
Determining needs- Third step is to identify potential buyers needs and starts to
qualifying their prospects. Here, companies determine preferences and desires of their customers
from their brand as well as schedule a strategy session according to that (Dobrijević, 2021). This
step is important as it provides necessary information to firm on what customers needs from their
brand and what changes they can make to make a loyal customer base. Here, companies provide
an overview of their product and identify whether the prospect will move forward in the sales
cycle. Companies can use BANT framework in order to qualify prospects. BANT comprises of: Budget- Does the required budget for the product can be given by prospect. Authority- Contact person is signing off on purchase or impacting decision maker. Need- Prospect need the product or not.
 Time- A practical time frame of when can prospect make the purchase.
A prospect is qualified for sales if they meet all of BANT criteria. Here, Dove shampoo
sales team uses introductory pitch to form affirmative impression and confidence of prospect.
They qualify potential leads before going further in sales cycle. This step provides Unilever the
opportunity to see if list of leads formed before is aligned with their research. Using BANT
criteria helps sales team to narrow down their pool of prospects and selects a highest purchasing
prospect.
Presenting an offer- After qualifying prospects, companies strives to provide solution to
the difference created. Presenting product is most imperative stage in sales cycle. In this step, the
a real product is presented before potential buyers (Fatehi and Choi, 2019). Organisations can
also offer more than one product in this stage of sales cycle. Sales team of Dove shampoo,
showcase their variety of shampoos which deals with different problems of personal care. Sales
reps presents facets of products and more things like:
 Feature mapping- After determining prospects needs it is essential for organisation to
explain those features of products which are relevant to prospects preferences. The pitch
2

should address immediate needs of prospect. Sales team of Dove shampoo can describe
the issues which their product is capable of solving.
 Unique selling point- Organisation should describe what is unique in their product from
other similar products available in market. This will make sales team of Dove shampoo to
allow customers or business to see the benefits their shampoo provide which other
substitute products failed to do thus it will make their shampoo stand out in prospects
mind.
 Outcome specification- This allows organisations to define the expected business output
by using their product. It involves making prospects understand why they need to use the
product and what outcomes are expected (Helmold, 2020). Dove shampoo sales team
will tell about its shampoo benefits on prospects hair and allows them understand the
need of product.
 ROI discussion- Firms must quantify the return on investment in monetary terms.
Prospects should be able to see what value is being added by purchasing of product
which can result in quick decision making. Consumers should be provided with proper
information about what Dove shampoo does and less about what qualities it has. And
business prospects should be provided with number of users of Dove shampoo to
showcase them the demand of product because of its unique selling point.
Managing objections- In this step of sales cycle, potential buyer shows if they have any
objections. Its is associated with concerns prospects has about the pitched project. These
objections can arise at any step of sales cycle and can create potential hindrance in end sales
(Kongo, 2021). But it it also considered as positive indicator as it represents that prospects
believes in product but have some issues which can be solved out by organisation. Sales team of
Dove shampoo can evaluate if customers or businesses have some issues with their proposed
shampoo. They should strive to resolve these objections in order to close call of sales. Only by
overcoming differences, a prospect will turn into customer of Dove shampoo. This can be done
in following ways:
Listening- Dove shampoo sales team can actively listen to prospects. They should ensure
to not interrupt them while they talk about their issues with Dove shampoo. It has been evaluated
that sales person often interrupts prospects by assuming their issue and provides them with ready
3

made answers. Sales team should should listen to understand other party's concerns with product
rather than to just response.
Acknowledging- Sales team of Dove shampoo should acknowledge the objections shown
by customers or businesses in sales pitch. Taking into consideration the objections allows sales
team to come up with necessary solutions.
Exploring- It is important for sales team of Dove shampoo to explore suitable responses
for objections (Pal, 2019). But before that, they must evaluate the reasons behind those as
sometime prospects raise questions as they do not see any value added in offered shampoo. Thus,
sales team needs to explore further to comprehend real issue and provide them with suitable
solutions.
Responding- After critical evaluation of prospects objection, it is the responsibility of
sales team of Dove shampoo to give a suitable resolution. It is important to address every
concern of customers or businesses as unaddressed issue can hinder end sales.
Closing sale- After evaluating all objections made by prospects, it is the responsibility of
firms to make necessary changes to overcome those and presents a new offer in terms with
prospects needs (Townley, 2021). At this step, companies close sales deal with qualified
prospects and they became paying customers. For sales team of Dove shampoo, they close deal
with customers who showed peculiar interest in shampoo and understands its hair benefits.
Businesses that assess the demand level of Dove shampoo and profit margin they can get from it,
ends up closing deal of sale. It is imperative for firm to close their sales cycle with right
techniques some of which are explained below: Puppy dog close- It allows organisation to sign up prospects for free trial so they can
experience initial value of products. Sales team of Dove shampoo can provide free
sample of shampoo to customers to allow them to use it and figure out its benefits for
them. Assumptive close- It is related with sending prospects with all the billing information for
purchase. Sales team of Dove shampoo can schedule appointment with prospect and send
them proper billing receipts.
 Take away close- If prospects shows any signs of adamant about heavy pricing of
products, firms can sign them for limited use of product features. Through this, they can
understand what they can achieve by using the product. This close deal works only if
4

product is customisable. Sales team of Dove shampoo can form small sachets or bottles
of shampoos to facilitate customers or businesses to understand its benefits.
Getting referrals- Once a deal is close and companies have successful in acquiring
customer, it is important for them to ask for referrals for future sales prospects (Verhagen and
Weltevreden, 2020). Referrals have been proved successful for companies to make early
potential prospects into end customer. Sales team performs a significant role in this as they were
first point of contact so they maintain good relationship with customers. Sales team of Dove
shampoo can take feedback from businesses and customers and also keep them updates about
upcoming new variations in shampoo.
CONCLUSION
From the information presented above, it has been concluded that understanding sales
cycle of product allows manufacturers to properly evaluate and determine their potential
customers. Benefits of this exercise is to understand how international selling and negotiation
works. It is a never ending loop of interaction through which firms can identify potential
customers and foster them by sales process. Effectively guided prospects and maximised
customers in each sale can be achieved through strong marketing efforts. A well structured sales
cycle provides firms insights into the efficiency in operations of sales. It facilitates sales team to
identify areas of improvement at any step of sales cycle so they can optimise those accordingly.
Sales cycle assists in predicting sales in future and facilitates organisation to understand if a
prospect will convert in end customer or not. Further work to be prepared is to get complete
knowledge of what can be the limitations of unstructured sales cycle or when its been carried out
without full information of prospects. It involves more insights into what kind of objectives can
be raise by prospects and how sales team can effectively overcome them.
5

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Boyer, S. L. and Jap, S. D., 2022. The big spaces in sales negotiation research. Journal of
Personal Selling & Sales Management, pp.1-12.
Brown, J. M., 2018. Efficient, adaptable simulations: A case study of a climate negotiation
game. Journal of Political Science Education. 14(4). pp.511-522.
Cuevas, J. M., 2018. The transformation of professional selling: Implications for leading the
modern sales organization. Industrial Marketing Management, 69, pp.198-208.
Dobrijević, G., 2021. Bargaining Chip: Artificial Intelligence in Negotiation. In Handbook of
Research on Applied AI for International Business and Marketing Applications (pp.
256-277). IGI Global.
Fatehi, K. and Choi, J., 2019. International communication and negotiation. In International
Business Management (pp. 109-143). Springer, Cham.
Helmold, M., 2020. Negotiation Execution—Value Add and the ZomA. In Successful
International Negotiations (pp. 59-64). Springer, Cham.
Kongo, D. M., 2021. The Impact Of Digitalization On The Efficiency Of The Sales
Cycle. Business Strategies.
Pal, S., 2019. Understanding the impact of marketing transformation on sales and marketing
alignment. Journal of Brand Strategy. 8(1). pp.48-57.
Townley, A., 2021. The intertextual nature of embedded email communication for contract
negotiation activities. Text & Talk. 41(4). pp.539-560.
Verhagen, T. and Weltevreden, J., 2020. How Innovative Technology Serves the Retailer: A
Store Sales Cycle Model. In Retail Futures. Emerald Publishing Limited.
6