(DOC) Sales Planning and Operations - Assignment

Sales Planning and
Operations

Table of Contents
INRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................3
1.1 Importance of personal selling in supporting the promotional mix for John Lewis.............3
1.2 Buyer behaviour and the decision making process in different situations............................4
1.3 The role of sales teams within marketing strategy................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Covered in PPT...........................................................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
3.1 Development of sales strategies in line with corporate objectives.......................................5
3.2 Importance of recruitment and selection procedures............................................................6
3.3 Role of motivation, remuneration and training in sales management...................................6
3.4 Organizing sales activity and sales output control in sales management..............................7
3.5 Use of databases in effective sales management...................................................................7
TASK 5............................................................................................................................................8
4.1 A sales plan for a product or a service .................................................................................8
4.2 Opportunities for selling internationally ..............................................................................9
4.3 Opportunities for using exhibitions or trade fairs.................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INRODUCTION
John Lewis has been one of the major chain of upmarket departmental stores being in
operation throughout the United Kingdom. The owner of the chain is the John Lewis Partnership
who created their first store in the mid eighteenth century (Burrows III, 2012). They have the
chain of their 46 stores all connecting around the countries of Scotland , Wales and England
inclusive of twelve 'at home' stores and all other “flexible format” stores in the areas of York and
Exeter. Sales and operations are considered to be the major part of the organizational duties. The
revenue earning part of the business of John Lewis comes under the planning of their sales as
their prospects of selling techniques and their way of performing operational duties. The
techniques they use in the stores as strategy for better sales of products and other facilities like
home delivery and online shopping. The more facilities are provided to the customers will be
followed by more sales. The London headquartered company has employed 38,100 people
worldwide and has been earning more than £ 4 billion annually as per the reports in 2013. This
project will deal with the sales planning and operations, and their strategies of John Lewis.
TASK 1
1.1 Importance of personal selling in supporting the promotional mix for John Lewis
Personal selling is an important marketing tool for businesses, mostly for those firms that sell
products and services of complex and high value to other organizations and consumers.
Companies usually undertake personal selling hires sales representatives who visits customers or
contacts them via telephone. The factors that make personal selling a major part of John Lewis’
marketing mix are:
1. Persuading the customers: The sales representatives’ aim is to understand the needs of
the customer and suggest them a solution that would satisfy the needs of the customers
providing them strong benefits and gives them a value for the money they spent (Estampe
and et. al., 2013). If the customers object to purchase the products, the sales
representatives are supposed to convince the customer using his/her abilities of
persuasion and the objections must be overcome.

2. Sales of Complex Products: If John Lewis deals with the sales of complex products, the
sales representatives must be trained to explain the products to the customers and answer
their queries and clear their confusions. The products must be presented in such logical
ways that the different level decision makers must understand about the relevant facts
(Hillier, 2012).
3. Developing Customer Relationships: The sales representatives are expected to develop
strong relationships with the customers in order to build long term revenue for the future.
They also try to maintain the contact between the customers so that to ensure the sale has
satisfied them and to consider John Lewis in case if they are planning their next purchase.
1.2 Buyer behaviour and the decision making process in different situations
Consumers or customers are that people are the final users of the the products or services
produced by any company. They are considered to be the support system of business. Customers
are the only ones due to which the businesses in an economy sustain. If there are no customers, a
business organization would never survive. It is not only a fact that the companies are dependent
on the customers for their revenue, but the company is always ready to fulfil the needs of the
customers in exchange of money. There are a vastly distributed range of products and a lot of
variety in the services available in the market for the customers to satisfy their primary needs.
For the same reason, the customers have been developing a free minded decision making process
and the priorities of the customers are growing as the days pass by (Hübner, Kuhn and
Sternbeck, 2013).
Nowadays, the decision making process of a customer' decision making process is not
just dependent on their emotional and psychological needs. They have to satisfy different needs
according to their situations and the economical impacts in the market. The way to make better
sales is to be fair with the prices and quality of the products and the services that the company is
providing to the customers (Jacobs and Chase, 2013). Consumers in some particular markets are
seem to have logical arguments to bargain the price for the reason of the variable quality
according to the high costs they have given to the products.