Global Sales Management

This report discusses the importance of modern selling procedures and how global organizations like Woolworths leverage commercial success. It also explores the primary selling platforms used by Wesfarmers and Coles.

Running head: GLOBAL SALES MANAGEMENT
Global sales management
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Part A
Introduction
The report is prepared to discuss about the global organisations such as Woolworths,
which has leveraged commercial success with the use of modern selling platforms and
enabled attraction of more clients and higher revenue generation too. The topic also
highlights the importance of the modern selling procedures that are managed by the business
organisation to sustain in the competitive business environment with ease and effectiveness
(Töytäri and Rajala 2015).
Analysis
Woolworths Group Limited is a major retail supermarket chain in Australia that has
delivered products all over Australia and New Zealand. This has enabled the company to
manage its local as well as global business operations with convenience, furthermore achieve
the desired level of profit and attain competitive advantage in business. The annual revenue is
over $59 billion and here are more than 200,000 employees working for the organisation at
present. With the changing consumers’ demand and expectations along with changes in
global supply chains and online buying behaviours, the sales have become a complex
process, which needs to be dealt with properly (Woolworths.com.au 2019). The company has
followed various marketing functions that are integral to the success of commercialisation
and at the same time, facilitate the sales functions, furthermore generate good amounts of
revenue in business as well. The sales professionals have used the networks to leverage the
modern selling techniques and to generate more clients, furthermore enhance the level of
profit and competitive advantage in business as well (Bell and Ternus 2017).
Modern selling best practices
The modern selling practices that can be adopted by the business organisation
Woolworths is to develop the network, which can be possible by social selling. According to
Brotherson et al. (2015), it is also important to create good connections by making referrals,
furthermore ensure influencing the clients to make purchases from the organisation. With the
use of modern selling characteristics, the company would be able to manage collaborative
selling such as by using the online technologies (Brotherson et al. 2015). It would help in
controlling the sales process, furthermore assist in understanding at first that all the prospects
would not become purchasers. It would help in understanding about their needs and

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preferences, furthermore determine what could be done for them and this should be possible
with the help of active listening (Kerzner 2018). Woolworths should need to constantly
interact with the clients through social media platforms and by sending emails to gain insight
about their demands and expectations, furthermore allow them to provide their views,
opinions and feedbacks for the products and services. Lee, McNulty and Shaffer (2015), on
the other hand, stated that the collaborative selling technique is based on the idea of value
creation, which can also make Woolworths Group Limited to keep good relations with the
clients and meet the business goals and objectives (Lee, McNulty and Shaffer 2015).
The thought leadership has also been a great contributor to achievement of
commercial success through utilisation of modern selling characteristics. The thought
leadership could be integrated with the formats of stores for the future, present and even for
the later strategic implementation, which should improve the store design and at the same
time, facilitate the refurbishment plans to enhance the brand image and identity (Vogl, Weiss
and Helu 2016). The restructuring program should be enabled to manage the lean operations,
furthermore ensure deliver better customers’ services to enhance the level of engagement of
clients and aim to achieve higher sales and profit in the future too. Thus, the utilisation of
modern selling features could be a turnaround strategy for the business to sustain in the
competitive business environment with much ease and efficiency.
It was also found that Woolworths had been losing a large number of customers with
the presence of competitors in business, which could also affect the sales generation and
profit level. Slama et al. (2015) argued that the modern selling technique related to the
rewards strategy could be beneficial for the company to establish a sense of trust and loyalty
among the customers. On the other hand, the online strategy involving the use of various
social media platforms would tend to be successful considering the fact that online purchase
of products and services would be much easier for the customers to gain access to those,
furthermore they could search from a wide range of products available and made visible on
the website (Slama et al. 2015). This could not only make Woolworths provide a great
facility for the customers to choose from a wide range of products and services, but would
even facilitate the social media marketing to target the right market segments (Robertson
2016).
The commercial success can be achieved when the strategic issue are overcome,
which can be done by Woolworths by managing a new platform from where the customers

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can gain access to the products and services. For example, the organisation used to face
strategic issues while operating within the competitive retail industry and thus a new online
shopping website was introduced, which can be considered as a modern selling technique.
Tamburro and Wood (2013) stated that the management department analysed the current
trends within the marketplace and made sure to deliver products and services online and hold
a desirable market share. There were always threats of new entrants, substitute products and
services along with the threats of competitors, which were dealt with by coming up with the
new and innovative strategies, furthermore ensure prevention of strategic issues and
possibilities of reoccurrence along with retaining the positive brand image and reputation
(Tamburro and Wood 2013). In terms of healthy food options available all over Australia,
Woolworths has maintained a good position by implementing a growth strategy that can
allow the company to leverage the commercial success and even create extended reach to the
different market segments in Australia and New Zealand. The order getters with the
involvement of front line sales people would help in identifying new business scopes and
opportunities, furthermore maage negotiations and develop a profitable business.
Another modern selling aspect could be the social media marketing strategy, which
should make the organisation use different social media platforms, because most of the
people, nowadays, are tech savvy and are habituated with the use of social networking
websites. Thus, the company could make tweets and create posts on the social media
platforms related to the products and services made available for the clients by the
organisation, which could be a massive approach to benchmarking and aiming to achieve the
goals and objectives with ease and effectiveness too (Young 2013). Not only does the social
media networks assist the company in making a wider reach and enable clients to remain
informed about the new products’ features, but it can also help in responding to the clients’
queries much more easily, which further facilitates the customers services’ delivery
effectiveness. By posting comments regarding the products and services by the clients, the
company should be in constant touch with them by responding to their queries and even
checking for the feedbacks, based on which, they could be provided with the items that
should cater to their needs and preferences (Bourne 2015). This is an essential selling method
that can influence the consumer buying behaviours, furthermore help in increasing the sales
generation and profitability achieved by Woolworths, Australia.

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Recommendations
It is recommended to implement the social media platforms and engage more clients
by delivering better customers’ services and retain the existing customers too. It is
recommended to pay more attention to the operational behaviours and maintain stable
relationships with the suppliers to focus on cost reduction and comply with the laws, rules
and regulations. The differentiation of products and services is recommended for Woolworths
to ensure delivering products and services that can be distinguished by the customers from
the other company products and services. The supply chain should be optimised every time
for ensuring that the threats are overcome and the logistics operations are carried out nicely
as well
Conclusion
The first part of the Global sales management report focused how a global
organisation like Woolworths would be able to leverage commercial success with the use of
various modern selling methods. The collaborative selling and thought leadership were few
of the modern selling characteristics of the procedures used to manage the lean operations
and create a turnaround strategy for sustaining in the competitive business environment. One
of the most effective procedure of modern selling could also be the online strategy
implementation and involving the social networks to form god relationships with the clients,
furthermore keep hem encouraged and influenced to trust the company and make purchases
of products consistently. This would also make the company attain new heights of success
and attain competitive advantage as well.
Part B
Introduction
In this section of the report, the two global organisations selected are the Wesfarmers
and Coles, which have used different primary selling platforms to attain commercial success
along with better reach to the market and enhancing sales revenue. The primary selling
platforms are critical to the success of creating a wider each to the different market segments,
furthermore ensure facilitate the businesses’ ability to sustain in the competitive marketplace
as well as create positive mind sets among the clients.

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Brief history of organisations
The story of Wesfarmers began at the year of 1914 with the emergence of demands
and expectations by the rural workers’ Union demanding lesser working hours and higher
wages. To support the rural community, the Westralian Farmers Limited started its
operations, which also allowed the farmers to grow, produce as well as market the produced
goods to the clients, which slowly came to be known as Wesfarmers. During the year 1949,
Wesfarmers acquired Ashburton Transport Company and even Gascoyne Trading Company
to supply produces in the Western Australia and slowly in the year 1984, the company
restructured from a co-operative to a public business, which facilitated business management
and supported the rural communities. Soon, the company gained pace and till now it has been
one of the major drivers of economy and growth within the conglomerate industry (Leenders
et al. 2015). Wesfarmers Limited is located in Perth, Australia and manages retail chain
trough selling of chemicals, fertilisers, safety products, industrial and coal mining products,
etc. The company has over 220,000 employees and a revenue of more than A$68.44 billion.
Wesfarmers even purchased Coles Group retail business, which has been still one of the most
successful and larges take over in the corporate history of Australia.
Considering the history and background of the organisation, Commonwealth Bank
was introduced according to the Commonwealth Bank Act 1911, which focused on the bank
nationalisation during the year 1911. It was the first bank in Australia, which gained the
federal Government guarantee and was opened in 1912 in Melbourne. By the end of 1913, it
has already opened multiple branches in the various states of Australia and soon moved its
head office to Sydney. In the year 1920, the bank acquired central bank powers and took over
the responsibility of managing the issues over bank notes from the Treasury department,
furthermore also acquired Queensland Government Savings Bank (Van Alstyne, Parker and
Choudary 2016). The bank roles started expanding, which allowed for introducing new
branches all over while the diversification was managed as well with the introduction of
credit cards and operating as a joint venture with National Bank of Solomon Islands. At
present, the bank has started its operations al over the world in India, UK and in other nations
as well for ensuring good financial operations along with management of a positive brand
image, name and reputation to sustain in the competitive business environment.

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Analysis of sales platforms
The primary selling platforms are those platforms through which the companies can
make products and services available for the clients and at the same time, facilitate
information and knowledge distribution about those products and services to the clients. This
would make them influenced to purchase the products and services, furthermore gain positive
mind sets and a sense of trust and loyalty about the brand should be formed too (Cordón-
García et al. 2013).
The primary selling platform for Wesfarmers has been managed by extending the
loyalty program to the largest online marketplace named Ebay. Ebay has brought the Flybuys
to create a platform according to the Wesfarmers’ deal to facilitate selling of food items and
influencing the buying behaviours of consumers too. The shoppers of Ebay can use the
Flybuys points with Wesfarmers within the marketplace and at the same time, facilitate the
achievement of mission to ensure transformation and innovation with the leveraging of data
as well as digital capabilities and skills. With this partnership, there will be management of
loyalty programs, which can also assist the company to stay ahead of the competitors in
business. The acqusitions of Coles has further helped in expanding the wide range of
products and services, which is critical to the success of business with the help of acquiring
customers online and creating convenience for them to make purchases by using the website
effectively (Tuten and Solomon 2017). With the involvement of social media platforms,
positive reviews and feedbacks have been obtained, which has also helped in forming stable
relationships with the clients, furthermore responded to their queries (Wesfarmers.com.au
2019).
At present, Commonwealth Bank has managed wealth and mortgage broking to sell
general insurance business and at the same time, focused on the major banking operations all
over Australia and New Zealand. One of the most effective selling platforms could be the
online trading platform, which should allow for selling the loans to facilitate the domestic
banking system and at the same time, inform the stakeholders to engage altogether. The
online trading system should enable syndication of loans and disclose the credit events,
furthermore manage the loans’ digitisation and keeping legal documents safe and secure
along with the management of bidding platform to sell the assets. With the banking
operations managed at over 1000 branches, the social networks are used to facilitate internal
collaboration as well as manage good connections with the customers (Ashley and Tuten

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2015). It is useful for enhancing the effectiveness of communication process while the social
networks acted as great components for the brand’s marketing strategy. The use of social
networks such as Facebook and Twitter has helped in the utilisation of Salesforce platform
and manage conversations to create new opportunities of growth and development in business
within quick time (Commbank.com.au 2019).
Financial performance
The financial performance of Commonwealth is quite good considering its delivery of
strong and positive business outcomes within a challenging period. The company has
achieved a cash net profit after tax based on the continuous operations and business processes
that account for over $4,676 million, which is around 1.7 per cent. The transformation gas
been simple though the interim dividend is $2.00 per share (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014).
Commonwealth Bank in Australia has disclosed a statement regarding the yearly cash
net profit of $9.233 billion at the end of the year 2018. On the other hand, Wesfarmers also
boosts of a good financial status with the acquisition of Coles and this has helped in
enhancing the sales revenue and profit level too. The company’s total assets value over
A$40.12 billion, due to which, the net income is A$2.87 billion and the revenue generated is

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over A$68.44 billion. The company generated good amounts of revenue, which denotes the
good financial performance of the organisation.
Recommendations
For Wesfarmers, it is recommended for the management to return capital to the
investors or shareholders rather than buying the businesses. To enhance the digital platform,
it is recommended to expand its range of products, furthermore ensure taking share from the
commercial wholesalers and gain good market growth too. Another recommendation for
Wesfarmers is to restructure Blackwoods distribution for gaining better financial results
In case of Commonwealth bank, it is recommended to engage the Government,
regulatory bodies and industry bodies to ensure undertaking actions that can enable changes
and allow the company to take immediate actions. The management of training and
developmental sessions to the employees is recommended as well for improving their skills,

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knowledge and expertise. It is also recommended to strengthen the corporate governance,
further prioritise on the customers at first and focus on the achievement of sustainability
within the competitive business environment.

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