Sales Planning and Operations Report - Avon Cosmetics Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Avon's sales planning and operations. It begins by exploring how personal selling supports the promotion mix, examining buyer behavior and decision-making processes in various scenarios, and outlining the role of the sales team within a marketing strategy. The report then delves into the development of sales strategies aligned with corporate objectives, emphasizing the significance of recruitment and selection procedures, as well as the impact of motivation, remuneration, and training on sales management. It also investigates how sales management organizes sales activities and outputs, and the effective use of databases in sales management. Furthermore, the report includes a detailed sales plan for Avon Color makeup, examines opportunities for international sales, and explores the use of exhibitions and trade fairs. The report concludes with a sales plan, PESTLE analysis and recommendations, offering valuable insights into Avon's sales performance and market standing.

Sales Planning and Operations

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
LO 1.1 How personal selling supports promotion mix................................................................1
LO 1.2 Buyer behavior and decision making process in different situations..............................3
LO 1.3 Role of sales team in marketing strategy.........................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
LO 3.1 How sales strategies are developed in line with corporate objectives............................5
LO 3.2 Importance of recruitment and selection procedures......................................................7
LO 3.3 Role of motivation, remuneration and training in sales management.............................8
LO 3.4 How sales management organizes sales activity and sales output..................................9
LO 3.5 Use of database in effective sales management............................................................10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
LO 4.1 Sales plan for Makeup – Avon Color............................................................................11
LO 4.2 Investigating opportunities to sell internationally.........................................................13
LO 4.3 Investigating opportunities for using exhibitions or trade fairs....................................15
COCNLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17

TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Components of Promotion Mix........................................................................................2
Figure 2: BCG Matrix- Avon..........................................................................................................6
LIST OF TABES
Table 1: Sales Plan.........................................................................................................................12
Table 2: PESTLE Analysis............................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Selling is an integral part of working of a business organization. For an enterprise to be
successful, a lot of attention has to be paid towards selling aspect. It is important also from view
point that it is one of the areas where firm gets an opportunity to interact with customers and
build relations with them (Calvin, 2004). Today a lot of changes and developments have
happened in sales scenarios, mainly due to rise of internet based platforms like e-commerce. This
has forced companies to develop new ways to sell their products and/or services.
The present report consists of a sales plan that Avon, a leading cosmetics company.
Through discussions have been made in the report explaining concept of personal selling, how it
fits within company’s overall marketing strategy. Different selling stages also have been
explained in the report. A sales presentation for Avon has been made in the essay that essentially
aims at enabling company’s management to improve its sales performance and thus improve its
standing in the market. Additionally an analysis has been made in the report that explains ways
to develop sales strategies in accordance with the corporate objectives of Avon.
TASK 1
LO 1.1 How personal selling supports promotion mix
Promotion can be defined as a process of interacting and communicating with target
customers. Firms can reach out to the customers and inform them about products and/or services
offered. There are five main components of promotion: advertising, personal selling, direct
marketing, sales promotion, and public relations (Jobber and Lancaster, 2003). Personal selling
is a tool of promotion mix. For any company to use elements of promotion effectively in its
marketing strategy, then it has to pay a lot of attention to personal selling. It is a tool where a
company representative or sales person reaches out to and interact with the customers and
provides them information about products and/or services of the firm. Companies use it as a
method to build and maintain relations with customers as well as to understand their opinions.
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Figure 1: Components of Promotion Mix
There are various types of personal selling techniques. It includes likes of personal and
impersonal communication, push-pull strategies, etc. The main objective of using personal
selling is two-fold. One of them is to build relations with target customers; while the other one is
to increase sales and improve efficiency of marketing strategy used by the firm (Schwartz, 2006).
Various studies and practical examples have proved that personal selling has a major role in
successful use of promotion mix and marketing tactics of an organization. Promotion mix works
at a larger level, while personal selling develops one-on-one relations with customers. This
means personal selling is a bridge between company and customers. Therefore impact that it has
on promotional mix is significant (Oliva and Watson, 2011).
A good promotion mix includes different elements of personal selling. For instance,
Avon, promotion mix uses both push and pull strategies to sell its cosmetic products to
customers. To ‘push’ the product, company provided incentives and bonuses to its existing sales
agents to hire more people and train them to sell the products. Similarly to attract the customers,
technique of door-to-door selling was used, where they had to visit the client and give a
demonstration of product(s) to them. This developed a positive image of company in the market
that eventually enabled it to build a large customer base and become one of the leading firms in
cosmetics industry (Grimson and Pyke, 2007).
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Advertising Personal
Selling
Direct
Marketing
Sales
Promotion
Public
Relations

LO 1.2 Buyer behavior and decision making process in different situations
Understanding buyer behavior and decision making process of a customer is an integral
part of personal selling. A sales person must understand how people make decisions and the
various factors that affect their behavior while buying goods from them (Feng, D’Amours and
Beauregard, 2008). Essentially there are two different situations in which buyer behavior and
decision making process of the customers differ – repeat buy and new buy. People or the
customers would behave differently in different situations. Thus for sales people and marketing
manager at Avon it is important that they understand these circumstances as well as behavior and
decision making process used by the customers. Various factors influence buyer behavior. They
can be categorized as personal, social, psychological, cultural, environmental, etc. (Thomé and
et. al, 2012). For management at Avon it is important that they evaluate all these factors to
understand the way customers behave while making a purchase decision.
Cultural factors includes elements such as perception, learned values, needs and desires,
etc. They are related to surrounding environment of the customers such as their family, friends.
On other hand, personal factors are directly associated with the concerned individual. Personality
factors like traits, educational qualifications, character, age, gender, etc. affect the way people
behave while buying Avon’s products (Affonso, Marcotte and Grabot, 2008). For instance, since
it is a cosmetics company, men would never make a purchase decision, simply because they have
no knowledge about such products; but women will decide by thoroughly searching for desired
product.
Similarly, numerous factors influence customer’s decision making process. Here aspects
such as motivation, perception, knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes are critical. If an individual is
motivated, i.e. either there is an urgent requirement of a particular product or if she likes a good,
then their purchase decision would be skewed, as they will want to purchase the product(s)
anyhow (Katz and Green, 2009). Therefore it can be said that motivation levels have a
substantial impact on decision making process of the customers. The following points explains
the two situations and factors affecting buyer behavior and decision making process.
 New Buy: Here a customer buys product(s) from company for the first time. In this
situation their behavior can be classified as very curious in nature. This means they
would ask a lot of questions and will have numerous doubts (Thomé and et. al, 2012).
Further they will also not be very clear about which product of Avon can satisfy their
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need/demand. Thus they will heavily depend on the sales person for proper advice.
Similarly, they will also try to prolong their decision, so that they can collect substantial
information on the product. This means they might not take a decision right away.
 Repeat Buy: It is a situation where the customer has previous experience with the
company, meaning that they have purchased good(s) from the company previously. Here
the customers are confident as they have complete knowledge and information about their
needs and different products that can fulfill these demands (Milliken, 2008). Decision
making process would be short, as the customers have belief on company that it would
provide quality products.
LO 1.3 Role of sales team in marketing strategy
Marketing strategy is a crucial part of working of any business organization. It needs to
be managed and used in an efficient and effective manner, so that company can obtain the
maximum benefits from it and thus sustain for longer in the market. A marketing strategy can be
successful only when the sales team performs well (Cecere, 2015). Therefore it can be said that
the role of sales team in a marketing strategy is critical. This is mainly because of reason that
people from this group are the ones who contact and develop relations with customers. In many
cases they are the first individuals whom customers contact for any query or complaint.
Therefore management at Avon needs to manage its sales team as efficiently as possible to make
the marketing strategy successful.
In this regard, understanding personal selling is very important (Chen-Ritzo, 2010). It is a
process where in an individual working in sales team of the company contacts and meets with
potential customers, interacts with them and develops a relationship with them that eventually is
for benefit of the organization itself. There are various kinds of personal selling techniques like,
personal and impersonal communication, push-pull strategies, etc. Role of sales team in
marketing strategy can be explained through fact that they are the ones who develop and
maintain relationships with customers (Lapide, 2007). They act as a bridge between customers
and the company. Furthermore, since such groups have direct contact with the clients they can
easily identify demands and complaints of the customers. They can provide vital information and
details to the marketing team and help them develop effective strategies that can be useful in
attracting customers. Cosmetics industry is a constantly evolving one and to sustain in market it
is important that companies also develop their product lines and operations. In such situations the
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sales team can also act as a change agent who would make the customers understand and like
new product(s) of Avon and develop as well as maintain a reputable image of company in the
market (Russell and Taylor, 2008).
TASK 2
Covered in PPT
TASK 3
LO 3.1 How sales strategies are developed in line with corporate objectives
Corporate objectives can be defined as a set of targets that demonstrate intent of the
company as well as provides information about future activities. On the other hand sales strategy
is a part of the overall marketing strategy and is associated with selling of products and/or
services offered by the organization (Miller, 2012). It is an important tactic especially from view
point that it helps company in obtaining edge over the competition, if it is planned and carried
out properly. For management at Avon it is important to ensure that the sales strategy is in line
with the corporate objectives. In order to do so, management of the company need to understand
objective(s) of the firm and then communicate the same to marketing and sales team. To achieve
its corporate growth strategy, the corporate works in several various products and the market
areas. Sales strategy is emphasized at corporate level where emphasizes is laid on market
segmentation, targeting and positioning (Jacobs and Chase, 2008).
There are various ways that can be used to develop sales strategies can be developed
according to corporate objectives. One of them is the BCG Matrix. It is a tool that classifies
organization’s portfolio or the products into four different categories – stars, cash cows, question
marks and dogs. Stars have the highest share of market and high growth rate (Mula and et. al,
2010). On the other hand, cash cows, as the name describes generate a lot of cash for the
company, meaning that their market share is high, but growth rate is low. Question mark
products are the ones which have the potential to become either cash cow or star, because their
growth rate is high but they do not have a big market share.
BCG Matrix of Avon is presented as below.
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G
r
o
w
t
h
R
a
t
e
Market Share
Star: Skincare
Cash Cow: Hair
Care
Question Mark:
Makeup –
Avon Colour
Dog: Makeup –
Simply Pretty
Figure 2: BCG Matrix- Avon
On basis of the above analysis it can be said that Skincare products are at focus of
business strategies at Avon, while the company earns money through its hair care products.
Makeup – Avon Color have a great future ahead, as these products have a significant growth
rate, but company now needs to focus more on marketing and selling the product so that its
market share can be increased (Perreau, 2015). This way it can be turned into a cash cow and
then star for Avon Inc. But it’s Simply Pretty Makeup products have lost the market share as
well as growth rate. Since mission of the company is to be the global leader in cosmetics
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industry, it needs to develop a strategy that helps in increasing sales of Avon Color while
maintaining performance shown by both skin care and hair care products.
LO 3.2 Importance of recruitment and selection procedures
Selection and recruitment are another very important part of working of business
organizations. They need to be used and managed in such a manner that helps firm to develop a
large pool of talent and enhance overall productivity of the company itself (Nahmias and Cheng,
2009). They are a way to hire new people at workplace. Following is a sample job description
position of sales executive at Avon Inc.
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JOB DESCRIPTION
Job Title: Sales Executive
Department: Retail Sales
Reporting to: Sales Manager
Job Purpose: To undertake sales and customer service duties required to operate Avon Inc.
stores, and be responsible for shelf filling and the overall presentation of the
store.
MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Operating the cash till efficiently, ensuring that all money received are correctly
registered.
2. To serve customers courteously and efficiently ensuring that highest standards of customer
service are met at all times.
3. Monitoring stock on shelves, filling to the required standards and assisting with stock
counts.
4. Ensuring that all products and displays are maintained to the highest standards of customer
satisfaction and legal requirements.
HOURS OF WORK
A minimum of two shifts per week, days will vary and will include evenings and weekends.
DURATION OF CONTRACT

Similarly below is person specification for the job of sales executive as mentioned above.
There are various sources to conduct recruitment and selection. But essentially they can
be divided into two categories: internal and external. Internal sources includes the likes of
transfers, promotions, present employees, etc. while people are recruited through external
sources like job advertisements, employment exchanges, schools, colleges, recommendations of
existing employees (Wang, 2010). On basis of the above discussion it can be concluded that
recruitment and selection is an important process for Avon Inc. mainly because it gives company
the ability to expand its human resource base that eventually will help it to sustain for longer in
the market, along with increasing productivity, efficiency and overall effectiveness. Finding the
right person for a job is critical as it helps in laying down foundation of success for the company.
Thus recruitment and selection is very important for Avon Inc. (Tang and Perevalov, 2008).
LO 3.3 Role of motivation, remuneration and training in sales management
Motivation, remuneration, training and development are critical for the said cosmetics
company, largely because they all focus on improving employee performance and making them
more productivity so that their contribution to organizational goals can be increased (Wang, Li
and O’brien, 2009). Motivation is a process where morale level of employees is increased by
encouraging them by way of giving them some or the other kinds of benefits, either monetary or
non-monetary. There are numerous theories and tools of motivation. Some of them are listed as
below:
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PERSON SPECIFICATION
Skills and Specifications
 Ability to speak, write and read English language.
 Able to work alone, without supervision.
 Solid problem solving skills.
 Time Management
 Initiator.
Educational Qualifications
 Bachelor’s degree, preferably in marketing. Other fields can also apply.

 Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory
 Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory
 Hawthrone Effect
 Expectancy Theory
 Theory X and Theory Y
Over the years there have been numerous studies and investigations on the subject matter
that have explained that motivation theories are critical for any business organization, regardless
of the industry it may be a part of (Thomé, 2014). By motivating the employees, management at
Avon Inc. essentially would encourage them either financially or non-financially to work better
and focus on improving their performance. This in turn would enable the firm to function
effectively and accomplish its goals and objectives. There are a large number of ways in which
employees can be motivated. Techniques such as financial incentives, promotions, bonuses,
training and development, commission based remuneration, etc. can be used by the cosmetics
firm (Donmez, 2011). If employees are motivated, then they would perform to the best of their
abilities and they will be loyal to the company. It can be extremely beneficial for the firm, as it
would reap positive results in the long run. Similarly remuneration and training and development
are also some very important aspects in sales management. Remuneration can be defined as
monetary benefits that employee get because of performing as per organizational guidelines and
standards. Training and development is related to imparting knowledge to sales employees to
perform better (D'Amours, Rönnqvist and Weintraub, 2008).
The company can manage its sales team in an effective manner by paying attention to
these three aspects. They are critical in managing sales effectively. If these are managed
properly, then appropriate and adequate training can be given to the sales team, along with
giving them bonuses and incentives on basis of their performance that ultimately would motivate
them to perform even better. This way reputable image of company can be developed in the
market, along with making it sustainable (Mentzer, Stank and Esper, 2008).
LO 3.4 How sales management organizes sales activity and sales output
It is very important that sales activities and outputs are closely monitored and managed
by the company to obtain best possible result(s). There are many ways to manage these aspects.
Sales budgets, performance standards, measuring performance against set standards, appraisals,
self-development plans, etc. can be used by management at Avon Inc.
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