Sales and Operations Planning Strategies

The assignment delves into the critical area of sales and operations planning (S&OP), examining different integration levels and their influence on organizational performance. It analyzes research papers focusing on S&OP simulation, frameworks, customer orientation, salesperson motivation, and low-budget marketing strategies. The aim is to understand how effective S&OP implementation can lead to improved business outcomes.

Sales Planning and Operation

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................1
3.1 Developing the sale strategies in line with corporate objectives......................................1
3.2 The importance of recruitment and selection (R&S) procedures for British Gas............2
3.3 The role of motivation, remuneration and training in sales promotion of British Gas....3
3.4 The role of sales management in organising sales activity and controlling sales output. 4
3.5 The use of databases in effective sales management........................................................4
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................5
4.1 Developing a sales plan for a product or service..............................................................5
4.2 Analysing the opportunities of British Gas for selling internationally.............................7
4.3 Investigating the opportunities for British Gas for using exhibitions or trade fairs in
Poland.....................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In the present era of globalisation and hyper competition, sales planning operation has
gained a significant importance in the overall business market. It plays a vital role in providing a
strategic direction to the business in order to maintain a balance between its overall supply and
demand. Along with it, such operations help the organisation to lay their major concern on
achieving the company's goal in an effective manner. The present repost highlights the concept
of developing sales strategies in order to meet the corporate objectives of British Gas. The
company is one of the leading home service and energy provider in UK (Katz and Green, 2007).
It serves approximately 12 million homes in the country and is the largest energy supplier in UK.
The company significantly dominates the entire gas and electricity market in the said country.
The report, therefore, helps to gain an insight understanding about the major roles and objectives
of sales management in the concerned company. Moreover, it also focuses on planning
appropriate sales activity for a particular service of the British Gas.
TASK 2
3.1 Developing the sale strategies in line with corporate objectives
Direct selling the products or services to the clients without proper planning a sale
strategy is likely to yield poorer results for the company. Managing and planning an appropriate
sales strategy will help the business to convince its bank managers and prospective investors to
invest in a particular product or service. It is very important that the sales managers lays a
significant concern over developing a proper sales strategy by considering all the major factors
which helps the company to attain its corporate objectives. Sales strategy lays a significant
concern over market segmentation, targeting and positioning in order to achieve the heights of
corporate growth (Cooper, 2010).
With regard to the present case scenario, the report emphasizes on implementing
appropriate sales strategies for 'British Gas' to achieve its overall corporate objectives. The
company is advised to implement such strategy through which it captures the eyes of its audience
and increase its sales that results in generating more revenue. It should start by setting primary
objective for each of its services and products. To do so, the company should lay its attention
over the following key aspects-
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 What does it want to sell? (Major services include- Energy, central heating and home
services)
 Who is its target market? (UK homes)
 Its prior attention over specific services and products? (energy and thermal services.)
After analysing its core objectives of sales strategy, British Gas undertakes the following
sales strategies to attain its corporate objective- Territorial sales strategy- With the help of such strategy, the company is able to sell its
product line to its various customers situated in different locations (Grimson and Pyke,
2007). Here the sale managers focuses on selling the entire product line involving
different products to its customers in that particular location. Product focused sales strategy- Using such a strategy helps the said company to focus on
its major product or service in order to gain customer satisfaction. This strategy is usually
used when the company possess a wide range of complex products.
 Customer focused sales strategy- This strategy focuses on providing specific products
and services to its target and core customers. With the use of such strategy, British Gas is
able to gain huge customer loyalty and trust which helps the company to build strong
brand image in the corporate business world and achieve its organisational goal (Miao,
Evans and Shaoming, 2007).
By analysing the above sales strategies, it can be seen that the concerned company lays
its prior concern over implementing such strategy which helps it to attain the overall corporate
growth. Moreover, the company comes to know about its successful implementation of strategies
by gaining worldwide market share and increasing customer thereby generating higher revenue
for the firm.
3.2 The importance of recruitment and selection (R&S) procedures for British Gas
Recruitment reflects the criteria of employing the right candidate for the right job. Once
the recruitment applications are received, the said company moves on to the selection process,
where it conducts important tests based on their skills and knowledge and monitors their overall
performance. The procedure of recruiting and selecting the candidate is effective as it helps the
company to reduce its employee turnover and retain the best staff within the workplace. It helps
the stated company to gain a dominant power in the field of energy and electricity by generating
the best outcome through an effective selection of right candidate (Salkin, 2009). With an
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impressive and flawless recruiting criteria, the concerned company will be able to achieve higher
productivity by implementing and using the right skills and knowledge of its selected candidates.
This will serve the company to attain the heights of success and enhance the economies of scale
through sustainable and efficient use of resources. Apart from this, British Gas will enhance its
overall business operations by hiring appropriate workers which will help it to achieve a global
exposure in the hyper competitive environment. Moreover, with the help of an effective R&S
process, the said organisation will be able to generate efficient and profitable results on a long
term perspective (Matsuo, 2006). The concerned process not only reflects the selection of right
candidate for the company but it also represents to hire and recruit such applicant who endorses
and shares the core value of British Gas in an effective manner.
3.3 The role of motivation, remuneration and training in sales promotion of British Gas
Motivation, remuneration and training plays a significant role in implementing
appropriate strategies thereby leading the organisation towards the direction of achieving
corporate growth in the global market. It acts as an immune system in accomplishing the
organisational goal. In context with the present case scenario, British Gas lays its prime concern
over providing its staff with appropriate training and motivation programmes. Doing this helps
the company to gain a strong sense of commitment and loyalty from its employees towards
achieving the goal of the organisation with a positive attitude. Proper training sessions can
motivate the salespeople of the mention company to attain the expectations and satisfaction level
of its core customers in an impressive way (Irwin, Sutton and McCarthy, 2008). British Gas view
sales training as an important measure to promote its services in an effective way in the entire
market segment and expand its business operations by attracting new and potential customers
towards its exotic services. Apart from this, the company emphasizes on providing fascinating
remuneration to its employees which helps the said organisation to improve and enhance its
overall level of productivity. It helps to boost the morale of employees and also fills them with a
strong sense of commitment and confidence in order to bring the best outcome for the concerned
company. Furthermore, it acts as a basic source of employee motivation and provides a strong
base to the employees of the British Gas to perform their job in an efficient and effective manner.
The cited organisation provides its staff with the following motivational techniques to achieve
success-
 Proving remuneration, both praise and recognition
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 Providing challenging opportunities
 Offering the sales people with total job security, and
 Satisfying the employers and managers expectations (Cheung and Prendergast, 2006).
3.4 The role of sales management in organising sales activity and controlling sales output
Sales management plays a crucial role in planning, organising and controlling the sales
output in an effective way. It starts its activity by preparing a proper and appropriate plan which
matches the objective of the company, then implement it in the workplace and finally monitors
its execution in the organisation. The key role of sale management in organising and controlling
the sales activity is discussed below- Defining goals and objectives- The sales management is responsible for defining the
overall goals of the organisation in an appropriate way which helps the managers and the
employees to work accordingly to meet the set targets effectively (Stasch, 2002). Deciding the operations and techniques- After explaining the goals of the company,
sales management then decides the type of operations and techniques which needs to be
implemented and adopted in order to closely accomplish the objectives. Allocate and divide the work among its employees- The sales management thereafter
segment the work load and allocate it to the employees which matches their skills and
knowledge. This helps the company to gain work specification along with work
specialisation (Feng, D’Amours and Beauregard, 2010). Implements effective communication- After allocating the work to it staff, the sales
management motivate and instructs its employees to perform their duties in an impressive
way. They possess a strong communication channel with their workers in order to get the
work done in a flawless manner.
 Establishes standards- Finally, the concerned management group focuses on establishing
the standards which helps them to analyse and access the performance of their employees
in order to control and organise sales activity (Layton, 2011).
3.5 The use of databases in effective sales management
In the 21st century of globalisation and strong competition, many companies are heavily
investing in database marketing to gain a global exposure in the corporate world. In order to
achieve an effective customer relationship, every organisation tries to maintain an impressive
database management system or CRM (Customer relationship management) system. This system
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helps the company to manage its sales systematically and effectively. It serves as a significant
tool for the sales force to handle and manage their accounts. Moreover, it gives a brief
understanding about various kinds of opportunities available in the sales outlet at a particular
point of time (Yannopoulos, 2011). An effective database caters significantly in achieving
organisation's success. The use of database in effective sales management is listed below- Improved marketing and sales information- CRM software or sales database provides
the company to enhance their marketing and sales strategy by closely analysing the major
needs and demands of its target customers and then taking measures to fulfil such
requirements. In this way the company is able to improve its overall sales information
and gain worldwide vulnerability in the global market. Improved productivity- When the sales force of the organisation is efficient enough to
put calls using a centralized and effective database instantaneously, it results in
enhancing the overall efficiency and productivity of the sales department. Sales
management database or a CRM software assists the sales team to lay their major concern
over special verticals like restaurants or real estate firms in order to make the marketing
and sales campaigns more effective (Kitchen, 2013). Sending relevant information using
emails, writing quotes and other necessary and important administrative activities can be
achieved with much more comfort and ease using such a database system.
 Build strong relationships- The CRM database considerably focuses on building strong
and positive customer relationships. Some CRM software provides the exotic facility of
allowing its agents to draw and send anniversary and birthday cards on specific dates in
order to create a positive feeling in the minds of its target customers that the company
thinks of them in a crucial way (Benson and Barclay, 2002).
TASK 4
4.1 Developing a sales plan for a product or service
British Gas focuses on developing a strategic sales plan for its products and services. In
order to achieve efficient vulnerability in the global market, the company has decided to perform
its business operations in Poland. The said organisation here forms a strategic alliance with
IKEA to render quality services and gain a huge market share. IKEA is the leading multinational
furniture retail companies in Sweden which is famous for its fascinating and exotic architectural
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designs for different kinds of furniture and appliances. Moreover, the company possess classic
interior design work which attracts huge crowd of audience towards it. With regard to such a big
success of company in Sweden, British Gas builds a strong strategic alliance with Ikea to
construct a brand image in the country and gain wide range of market. British Gas, thus, decided
to deliver customized kitchen appliances to its customers in prime association with IKEA
(Waarden, Benavent and Castéran, 2013). It therefore prepares the sales plan in the following
manner- Sales objective- The said company lays its significant concern over rendering high
quality and customised kitchen appliances to its customers. Sales channels- British Gas undertakes distributive sales channels to attract customers
from different location and territories. Moreover, it also adopts the use of telemarketing
sales channel to reach to wide range of customers. The said company also focuses on
providing online sales to its audience. Target customers- The organisation classifies its target customers on two major segments
which broadly includes premium class customers and the middle class customers. It
provides customised and high standard kitchen appliances to the selected group of
customers in order to maintain its brand image. The company does not seek to render its
services to all of its customers (Thomé and et.al., 2012). It provides and delivers the
quality product to the target customers to create and maintain the brand image in the
country.
 Sales forecast- British Gas is estimating to increase its sales by 30% at the end of 2016. It
is implementing measures to double its profit margin which will result in generating more
revenue for the company.
By analysing the above sales plan, it can be seen that British Gas is on the way to create a
strong brand image in Poland. The strategic alliance with IKEA has tremendously helped the
company to attain exposure and gain huge market share with customised products in the said
country.
4.2 Analysing the opportunities of British Gas for selling internationally
British Gas gains a widespread vulnerability in terms of selling high quality customised
products in Poland. In order to investigate and analyse the opportunities of selling its products in
a new international market, the concerned company focuses on the following points-
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 Uses local sales personnel- The company makes a significant use of local salespeople to
deliver quality products in an effective and efficient way. It focuses on providing
personal selling to its premium customers in a much impressive way (Stasch, 2002). This
helps the stated organisation to maintain a strong brand image in the eyes of its audience. Undertakes the use of sales distributors- The mention organisation lays its prior concern
over using different sales distributors in order to generate efficient sales and increase the
revenue.
 Evaluating the local demand- British Gas critically examines and evaluates the core
demand and needs of its customers in the said country. This assists the company to
generate such products which helps it to attain the highest level of customer satisfaction
(Dobkin, 2007).
4.3 Investigating the opportunities for British Gas for using exhibitions or trade fairs in Poland
Participating in the trade fairs held in Poland, helps the company in a great deal to attract
a diversified basket of audience towards its high quality products. It helps the company to closely
analyse the demands of its customers and implement measures to meet them. Apart from this, it
gives the company a strong and fascinating platform to meet its core customers and reach out to
its existing clients. Furthermore, using exhibitions or trade fairs, aids the company in establishing
a reliable and powerful brand image in the said country (Katz and Green, 2007). As a result, such
trade shows brings profitable results for the concerned company thereby increasing its overall
sales.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that British Gas undertakes appropriate sales
strategies to achieve its corporate objectives. Also, the report lays its prime concern over
establishing an exotic strategic alliance with IKEA in order to attain the company's exposure in
Poland. It gives an in-depth knowledge of various opportunities which British Gas experiences in
selling its brand in a new international market.
RECOMMENDATIONS
With respect to the present case scenario, British Gas is advised to make strategic alliance
with IKEA in order to gain global exposure in the new international economy. Doing this would
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help the company to maintain competitive edge in the tough trading business environment.
Further, the said company is highly recommended in developing exotic sales strategies by
analysing the core objectives of the company in the light of achieving organisations' success
effectively. Also, the company is advised to have clear understanding about the economy and
norms of Poland in which it is trying to expand its business operations. British Gas should lay its
considerable concern over the legal and regulatory framework of Poland and thus try to get in
compliance with such laws to avoid government intervention. This would effectively help the
company to gain customer loyalty and trust which in turn will allow the company to maintain
fascinating brand image in the eyes of its core audience. Moreover, the company should also
make use of database for implementing effective sales management and generating higher
revenues in order to beat its line of competitors. It is also advised that British Gas should grab
the opportunities of increasing its overall sales turnover by making impressive use of exhibitions
and trade fairs.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Benson, M. and Barclay, I., 2002. New Product Development: Theory into Practice. Leadership
& Organization Development Journal. 11(6). pp.24 – 30.
Cheung, W. L. and Prendergast, G., 2006. Buyers' perceptions of pirated products in India.
Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 24 (5).
Cooper, G. L., 2000. Strategic Marketing Planning for Radically New Products. Journal of
Marketing, 64(1), pp.1-16.
Dobkin, J., 2007. Direct Marketing Strategies. Danielle Adams Publishing.
Feng, Y., D’Amours, S. and Beauregard, R. 2010. Simulation and performance evaluation of
partially and fully integrated sales and operations planning. International Journal of
Production Research. 48(19). pp.5859-5883.
Grimson, J. A. and Pyke, D. F. 2007. Sales and operations planning: an exploratory study and
framework. The International Journal of Logistics Management. 18(3). pp. 322-346.
Irwin, R. L., Sutton, W. A. and McCarthy, L. M., 2008. Sport promotion and sales management.
Human Kinetics.
Katz, J. A. and Green, R. P., 2007. Entrepreneurial small business (Vol. 200).
McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Kitchen, P. J., 2013. Marketing Communications. Qualitative Market Research: An International
Journal. 5(2).
Layton, A. R., 2011. Marketing: is management all that there is?. Journal of Historical Research
in Marketing. 3(2). pp.194–213.
Matsuo, M., 2006. Customer orientation, conflict, and innovativeness in Japanese sales
departments. Journal of Business Research. 59(2). pp.242-250.
Miao, C. F., Evans, K. R. and Shaoming, Z., 2007. The role of salesperson motivation in sales
control systems—Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation revisited. Journal of Business
Research. 60(5). pp. 417-425.
Stasch, F. S., 2002. Screening For Successful Low-Budget Marketing Strategies For New
Ventures. Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. 4(3). pp.229–267
Thomé, A. et.al., 2012. Sales and operations planning and the firm performance. International
Journal of Productivity and Performance Management. 61(4). pp.359-381.
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Waarden, M. L., Benavent, C. and Castéran, H., 2013. The effects of purchase orientations on
perceived loyalty programmes' benefits and loyalty. International Journal of Retail &
Distribution Management. 41(3). pp.201–225.
Yannopoulos, P. D., 2011. Impact of marketing strategy formulation. International Journal of
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Online
Salkin, S., 2009. Marketing Tools for Marketing Planning & Management. [Online]. Available
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