Sales Planning Strategies: Bentley Automobiles and Thomas Cook Tourism

This report delves into sales planning strategies, utilizing case studies of Bentley Automobiles and Thomas Cook's Romania tour packages. It examines the role of personal selling, the influence of buyer behavior in different situations, and the importance of effective sales teams within the broader marketing context. The report further explores sales strategies, recruitment and selection procedures, motivation, remuneration, and training in sales management. It also covers organizing sales activities, controlling sales output, and leveraging databases for sales management. The report includes a sales plan for the Romania Holiday tour, identifies opportunities for international sales of the tour package, and explores the potential use of exhibitions or trade fairs.

Sales Planning
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................4
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................4
AC 1.1 Support of personal selling to the promotion mix...............................................................4
AC 1.2 Comparison between buyer behaviour and the decision making process in different
situations..........................................................................................................................................5
AC 1.3 Role of sales teams within marketing.................................................................................5
TASK 2.................................................................................................................................................6
TASK 3.................................................................................................................................................6
AC 3.1 Sales strategies in Thomas Cook’s Romania holiday packages tourism agency.................6
AC 3.2 Importance of recruitment and selection procedures for Thomas Cook’s tourism agency
to launch its Romania tour package.................................................................................................7
AC 3.3 Role of motivation, remuneration and training in sales management for Thomas.............7
Cook’stourism agency......................................................................................................................7
AC 3.4 Organising sales activity with controlling sales output by Thomas Cook’s tourism
agency..............................................................................................................................................8
AC 3.5 Use of database in effective sales management to track and sustain sales of Romania......8
holiday tour operations...................................................................................................................8
TASK 4.................................................................................................................................................9
AC 4.1 Sales plan for Romania Holiday tour..................................................................................9
AC 4.2 Opportunities for selling Romania tour package internationally........................................9
AC 4.3 Opportunities for using exhibitions or trade fairs for Apple Watches...............................10
Conclusion..........................................................................................................................................10
References...........................................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Sales planning refers to the formation of appropriate sales plan as per the sales targets and
objectives. Sales plan helps organisations in defining their set of sales targets and in choosing
proper strategies for achieving them. It includes production plan, new product development plan,
inventory plan, strategic plan, financial plan and many more. The focus of whole planning is to
fulfil the expectations, demands, needs and desires of the customers by providing them effective,
innovative, user friendly and easily accessible product (Cao and Thomas, 2005).
For the present study Bentley auto-mobiles is taken into the consideration. As per the given
case study, Bentley cars are taken for explaining the various processes, strategies, etc for the sales
planning. The file consists of role of personal selling in overall marketing strategy, principles of
selling process to a product or service, role and objectives of sales management, sales plan for
product or service. In the end, conclusion is explained with the key findings.
TASK 1
AC 1.1 Support of personal selling to the promotion mix
Promotion mix consists of proper coordination of the marketing activities such as
advertisement, direct marketing, publicity and many more. These activities are taken into
consideration for interacting with the customers and influencing them for the product or services.
Bentley auto-mobiles also uses promotional mix for promoting its services and cars among the
customers and to influence them for purchasing them (McClaren, 2013.).
Personal selling is a part of promotional mix, uses by the Bentley auto-mobiles, for the
marketing of its services and products such as different models of cars, automotive tyres, and other
auto-mobile gadgets. Personal selling, in the field of promotional mix, provides firm with an
opportunity to solve the queries of the clients individually. Through this, sales person can provide
proper and important information related to the products and services to the customers which later
make them to purchase those products and services. The main benefit of this promotional method is
proper conveying of message to the client with the help of attractive personality and polite language
(Solomon, Cornell and Nizan, 2016).
Bentley auto-mobiles can also do personal selling with the help of external network of sales
person. It can also use team sales approach for promoting their auto-mobiles services with the
means of personal selling. This Bentley team tries to identify the expectations of the customers and
produce various types of products for their satisfaction. This team promotes their services
effectively and in appropriate manner by explaining the benefits of the cars and services in their life
which in result makes customers to purchase them (Personal Selling, 2016).
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AC 1.2 Comparison between buyer behaviour and the decision making process in different
situations
There are five stages in decision making process through which consumer passes at the time
of decision making and these stages are explained below with the different situations: Problem Recognition: Buyers takes decision regarding the purchase of any product in the
situation of any problem or need. According to the Bentley auto-mobiles, client faces
problems in their products such as in old cars , tyres, clutches, brakes and other accessories
and then he takes decision to buy new car. Bentley auto-mobiles uses promotional strategies
such as personal selling, advertising, etc. to influence customer's to buy their products at the
time of need. Information search: In this stage, client uses his memory or external sources for getting
relevant information related to the product. In this situation, he collects the information from
his friends, families, sales persons, mass media, product usages, etc. Some of the customers
buys brand products due to their trust on brands and their reputation (Bian and Moutinho,
2011). Evaluation of alternatives: In this, buyer evaluates the alternative products which include
product buying motives such as repairs, its uses, etc. and emotional motives such as
pleasure, prestige, etc. Buyer evaluates the products on the basis of their performance, price,
brand, etc. Purchase decision: User takes decision related to the purchasing of a product and in such
situation; variety of factors affects its decision such as personal influences, attitude of
others, etc. (Solomon, Russell-Bennett and Previte, 2012).
 Post Purchase behaviour: After the purchasing of product, the pleasure or displeasure
related to that product influences the succeeding behaviour of the buyer.. The ideal and
actual situations are different from each other and if consumer does not get what it wants in
actual situation, then he feel dissatisfied.
AC 1.3 Role of sales teams within marketing
By creating sales team, Bentley auto-mobiles can promote its services and products in more
effective and efficient manner. The sales team should have sales person, technical specialist,
customer service, field engineer, supply chain specialist, etc for marketing and advertising of
various new cars. This team conducts proper research related to their products and services in the
market for knowing the expectations of customers. After this, the responsibility of team is to design
such strategies which address the needs of their segments. For promotion of the products, team
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needs to target the specific and important features of the product and its services (Markgraf, 2016).
After development of appropriate strategies, next responsibility of sales team is to develop
marketing plan. This plan consists of the price of the product, methods of promotion, areas of
marketing, type of people to be targeted and many more. The whole team needs to work with proper
co-operation and coordination for getting success in the marketing of their products and services.
Through this, the team will able to balance the various conflicting demands of its sales and
marketing environment. The main role of sales team is to develop such strategies which can
influence and attract the customers to buy their products and services. There objective are to
increase sales and number of customers of Bentley auto-mobiles. With proper team and time
management, sales team can achieve their targets effectively (Haas, Snehota and Corsaro, 2012).
TASK 2
The below given link contains presentation completed in Prezi Program:
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TASK 3
AC 3.1 Sales strategies in Thomas Cook’s Romania holiday packages tourism agency.
As per the given case study, the main corporate objectives of Thomas Cook’s tourism
agency. is to enhance its business by introducing innovative ad creative tourist packages for the
travellers worldwide. Sales strategies plays important role in achieving the objectives and targets of
the firm. It can increase the tourism sales by using effective strategy for both national and
international level. This will help firm in promoting its services at global level and influencing
people of various fields (Dent, 2011). By using effective marketing methods during the formation
of sales strategy Thomas Cook’s tourism agency can attract and influence people to buy the tour
packages to Romania and to take advantages of its services. The target audience of the firm is all
kind of people i.e. Younger, middle and old. The tourism agency needs to use effective sale
strategies for influencing all the audience and travellers worldwide (Brooks and Simkin, 2012).
For achieving the objectives, Thomas Cook’s tourism agency. needs to focus on pre and post
sales at global level and according to that it should form the sales strategies for improving the
loopholes and increasing the sales. In addition to this, organisation should also keep an eye on its
market position and growth while defining the sales strategies for different tourism plans for
customers (Aaker, 2011).
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AC 3.2 Importance of recruitment and selection procedures for Thomas Cook’s tourism agency to
launch its Romania tour package.
Recruitment and selection is one of the essential process of any organisation which helps the
firm in achieving its objectives. The current objective of Thomas Cook’s tourism agency. is to
launch and sell its holiday tours in effective manner among the people and for this, it needs to hire
skilled and talented candidates. Through the recruitment and selection process, company can hire
candidates at the various branches of company in various nations (Melnyk, Cooper and Hartley,
2011). It needs to hire such people who helps travel agency in achieving its sales holiday target. The
candidates should have effective communication skills, presentation skills, interpersonal skills, etc.
for maintaining good relationships with the service users. A proper and well planned recruitment
and selection process helps the agency in proper utilization of its resources in the decided time
period and estimated cost. Effective recruitment and selection process of the tours and travel agency
will lead to create a skilled team of sales members who will give their best to accomplish the sales
of Romania holiday tour target which will increase the travel agency's market position and brand
image (Ebert, 2014) .
AC 3.3 Role of motivation, remuneration and training in sales management for Thomas
Cook’stourism agency.
Motivation, remuneration and training plays important role in managing the sales of the
Apple and in achieving its targets.
Role of Motivation in sales management:
 Motivation helps in developing good relationships with the customers (Managing
Salespeople, 2016).
 It makes agencies to achieve their targets individually with appropriate means. Various motivational theories can help Thomas Cook’s tourism agency team to improve
their performance and increase tourist to purchase there tour packages (Thomé and et.al.,,
2012).
Role of Remuneration in sales management
 Use of team earnings by the sales managers helps in increasing the new customers,
generating new orders for Romania holiday tour etc.
 It results to enhance the morale of the team members and makes them to become more
productive (Urano and Taguchi, 2011). Proper formation of remuneration policies results to manage different tour operations across
the world.
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Role of training in sales management
 Training enhance the skills, abilities and knowledge of the employees
 It helps employees in dealing appropriately with the customers by resolving their queries.
 It improves the sales performance of the team members which results to achievement of
sales target of the firm in appropriate manner (Westwood, 2013).
AC 3.4 Organising sales activity with controlling sales output by Thomas Cook’s tourism agency
Different activity will be organise by the sales manager of the Thomas Cook’s tourism
agency for the different members of the team for achieving the sales target. The major focus of the
sales activity will be the Romania tour packages and its services along with the expectations and
needs of the customers at international level. There are various types of marketing which will help
the firm in proper promotion of their holiday tour. Travel agency manager can select social media
marketing for the Romania holiday tour as it is one of the most popular marketing technique which
results to influence people in most effective manner. While deciding the sales activity, sales
manager should give emphasis to the skills, knowledge, experience and talent of the sales person
(Schuldt and Bathelt, 2011).
Sales manager of Thomas Cook’s tourism agency can control the sales output by managing
the budget appropriately along with achieving sales target. It will need proper monitoring of the
activities and performance of the sales persons which will help in improving the sales outcome of
the firm. Manager can also develop a new action plan for monitoring and controlling the overall
tour and travels operation (Rittichainuwat and Mair, 2012).
AC 3.5 Use of database in effective sales management to track and sustain sales of Romania
holiday tour operations
Use of database results in effective sales management of the Thomas Cook’s tourism agency
Through database, they can track and sustain the tourist from undertaking Romania holiday
packages in following manner.
Travel agency can store its files related to the customers who inquired about different holiday
destination plans which will help in improving the sales strategies for the Thomas Cook’s tourism
agency (Haas, Snehota and Corsaro, 2012).
 Database will help the organisation in targeting the decided customers by contacting them
with the help of stored information.
 Company needs to hire new candidates for operating the database related to the sales
management.
 Travel and tourism firm manager can store the details related to different type of tourist who
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wish to visit Romania. This information will result in tracking the sales of tourism company.
 With the help of database, the agency can forecast the future demand of travellers in an
effective way (Johnston and Marshall, 2013).
TASK 4
AC 4.1 Sales plan for Romania Holiday tour
Thomas Cook’s tourism agency needs to create effective sales plan for introducing the
different tour operations and it is described below. Collection of data: In this stage Thomas Cook’s tourism agency need to collect information
about the interest of different types of tourist and their demand for visiting Romania.
Planning a holiday tour according to choice of tourist will help in increasing customer
satisfaction (Ingram and et.al., 2012). Forecasting of demand: Next step of firm is to forecast the demand of the different tours
organized by Thomas Cook’s tourism agency in the market. It will estimate the demand as
per the product requirement, customer expectations and market trends. Planning of supply: Supply planning is conducted by the sales manager of Thomas Cook’s
tourism agency to identify the demand of tourist all over the world. He will develop plans so
that more and more people gets attracted for choosing Romania holiday tour package
 Completion of tour plan: In the final stage, tour plan will be implemented and executed by
the company (Gabrielsson and Gabrielsson, 2011).
AC 4.2 Opportunities for selling Romania tour package internationally
There are various opportunities for selling the Apple watches internationally which are
explained below.
 It results to create relationship with the customers of various countries.
 This makes company to grow and get success at international level.
 Thomas Cook’s tourism agency will get recognition and popularity at international level
which increases its market value and position (Dent, 2011).
 This will enhance the business in different regions of different countries.
 It will provide opportunity to increase different tours, number of customers, and loyalty at
global level (Apple watch advantages that make apple watch a must buy, 2015).
AC 4.3 Opportunities for using exhibitions or trade fairs for Apple Watches
UK government organises various exhibitions and trade fairs at various locations for
influencing people about the new travel and tour plannings and services. Thomas Cook’s tourism
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agency can use these exhibitions and trade fairs for marketing and promoting its different tour
operations. It will create awareness among people about the new destinations and the features of
Romania which will attract them to visit Romania. This will results to increase the sales and
strengthen the bond with customers. Exhibitions and trade fair will provide company an opportunity
to gain brand awareness and attention of the people towards travel agencies. (Cao and Thomas,
2005).
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above study that, sales planning plays crucial role for the promotion
and marketing of different tour operations Proper skills and management results in achieving the
sales target in effective and appropriate manner. Motivation, remuneration, training, database
technology, recruitment and selection, etc plays important role in gathering more and more tourist to
visit Romania which will enhance the name of travel agency of UK. Marketing at global level by
using various exhibitions and trade fairs, company can get a strong recognition and fame.
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