McDonald's Operational Sales Plan

This report presents a comprehensive operational sales plan for McDonald's in Bahrain. It begins by analyzing McDonald's existing business and marketing strategies and their influence on sales planning. Historical sales data is used to forecast future sales, incorporating various forecasting techniques like surveys and expert opinions. The report then outlines specific, measurable, attainable, reliable, and time-bound (SMART) objectives to increase sales and customer numbers. A detailed operational plan is developed, including strategies, tactics, actions, and controls. Sales territory allocation and a business case for resource acquisition are also addressed. The communication and monitoring of the plan are discussed, along with potential variances and contingency plans to mitigate risks. The report concludes by outlining procedures to handle unforeseen variances, ensuring the plan's robustness and adaptability.

Running head: OPERATIONAL PLAN
Operational Plan
Name of the organization
Name of the Student
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Organization’s business and marketing strategies inform operational sales planning..............1
2.1 sales forecasts by historical sales data.......................................................................................1
2.2 Sales forecasting techniques......................................................................................................3
2.3 Use of sales forecasts in setting sales objectives and targets.....................................................3
3.1 Time plan for establishment of objectives and targets for sales................................................4
3.2 use of sales forecasts to set objectives and targets of sales.......................................................5
4.1 operational sales plan.................................................................................................................7
4.2 Allocation of sales territory.......................................................................................................8
4.3 Business case to obtain the resources........................................................................................8
5.1 Communication of the operational plan....................................................................................8
5.2 Monitoring and control of operational sales plan......................................................................9
6.1 Variance that may occur in implementation of operational plan...............................................9
6.2 Identify contingency plans.......................................................................................................10
6.3 Procedures to deal with unforeseen Variances........................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
McDonald is one of the largest global food service retailer with over 36,000 locations in
more than 100 countries. McDonalds has been able to become one of the largest fast food retailer
in Bahrain also. One of the most special reason behind the achievement of McDonalds is that
almost all of the eateries are owned and run by independent local specialists. The organization
also manages a huge number of franchisees. Further, the company follows a strong promotional
and marketing strategies for determining sales and revenue of the brand over the years
(Mcdonalds, 2018). The paper discusses the role of marketing strategies in operational sales of
the brand. Further, a new operational plan is made according to the sales forecast of the brand.
1.1 Organization’s business and marketing strategies inform operational sales planning
Operational sale planning and also sales forecasts has to be aligned with the marketing
strategy of the organization. This is because the revenue that is generated in the firm is the
function of profitability targets and this makes it important for aligning corporate strategy with
operational sales (Janssens et al., 2015). McDonalds has been involved in strong marketing
strategies since the day it has been in business. The marketing strategy of the firm has been
always focused on operational sales (Mcdonalds, 2018). This is because the advertising
objectives of the company was to make the consumers aware of their items. This has made them
capture most of the markets with wide range of products. This also included sales promotional
strategy such as contests, programs, functions and also distribution and others. All this has been
targeted towards operational sales.

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2.1 sales forecasts by historical sales data
According to the report by Marketscreener (2018) it is seen that the sale of McDonalds
has been hampered by various issues such as in store cultures and others that reduced their sales
target. It is evident that the sales of the brand reduced from 27441 million USD in 2014 to 22820
million USD in 2017. This shows a huge reduction in the sales. The brand is coming up with new
marketing and operational strategies that can help them increase their sales in future and prevent
the sales rate to fall further. However, continuous negative incidents impacting the brand and
shutting down of stores has estimated the sales rate to fall further to 21156 million USD by 2020.
However, the operating profit is estimated to increase to 9854 million USD in 2020 from 8856
million USD in 2017 (Marketscreener, 2018). However, in order to increase sales in the future
and increasing operating profit it is necessary that the organization plans out an operational plan
and make their business profitable. Even though the sales forecast is seen to reduce in future, the
brand aims to keep itself profitable my managing increased operating profit and increased sales
rate.

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Figure- Sales forecast
Source- Marketscreener. (2018)
2.2 Sales forecasting techniques
There are various sales forecast techniques that are used by the organization to forecast sales in
future. Some of these techniques are survey of buyer’s intentions, expert opinion, market test
method, projection of past sales and others. The survey of buyer’s intentions helps in collecting
information from the buyers and their intentions towards the products of the company. further,
expert opinion are taken from market experts that are studying the market trends every day and
are able to forecast the impact of this trend don sales (Trapero, Kourentzes & Fildes, 2015).
Third is the use of past sales projections that can be kept to analyze the past sales trend of the
company and the reason behind such trends. Those reasons can then be used to forecast future
sales. These are the methods that are used to forecast future sales of the organization based on

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certain criteria and behavior of the customers (Thomassey, 2014). Along with this there are
quantitative techniques such as time series analysis, weighted moving averages, exponential
smoothing and others.
2.3 Use of sales forecasts in setting sales objectives and targets
Sales forecasts techniques are effectively used to target sales and set up new sales objectives.
This is because these techniques help in understanding the market scenario from various
perspective and that is used to set up new sales. Further, sales forecast is the most useful way to
understand the cash flow coming into the business (Raza & Khosravi, 2015). Similar in the case
of McDonalds it is seen that there are various methods such as public relations which helped
them to create a close relation with the customers. Further, sales forecast helps in forming the
sales planning. This is because depending on the sales forecasts the organization decides the
areas to be developed and improved so that the sales target is achieved.
3.1 Time plan for establishment of objectives and targets for sales
Activities Mont
h 1
Mont
h 2
Mont
h 3
Mont
h 4
Mont
h 5
Mont
h 6
Mont
h 7
Mont
h 8
Mont
h 9
Mont
h 10
Studying Past
data
Conducting
customer
survey

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Analysing the
issues related
to product
quality
Summarizing
the information
received
Hiring market
expert
Analysis of
collected data
by market
expert
Forecasting
future sales
potentials
Forming of
target and
objectives for
future sales
Scheduling
marketing plan
by marketing

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experts
Focusing on
future sales
targets and
commencemen
t of action
Table 1: Time Plan for objectives and targets of sales
(Source: Created by Author)
3.2 use of sales forecasts to set objectives and targets of sales
Objective 1:
Specific-The sales targets and objectives of McDonalds is set to increase the sales to 28000
million USD by 2020 compared to 2017 sales achieved.
Measurable- the objective can be measured easily according to the sale amount achieved by the
end of 2020
Attainable- it is attainable by increasing the sale number of products and customer numbers
Reliable- McDonald is a brand and has the ability to attract customers
Timeline- within the next 2 years
Objective 2-

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Specific- The objective of the brand to increase the number of customers towards all the stores in
Bahrain region by 20 percent in 2020.
Measurable- measured by comparing past customer rate to present customer rate in stores present
in Bahrain
Attainable- by increasing number of customers in each stores
Reliable- McDonald being a brand name can attract customers
Timeline- in next 2 years
Further, for the successful of these objectives there are some performance target such as:
 50 new customers in the store per week after the commencement of the plan
 5 public events in every six months to grab customer attention
 10 positive customer feedback both in the stores and online website per day
 Introduction of 2 new meal items per months according to market survey
 70perecnt interaction rate in the store converting walk-ins into customers
4.1 operational sales plan
Objectives
 Increase sale to 2800 million USD by 2020
 Increase customer rate in stores of Bahrain by 20 percent in 2020
Strategies
 To offer customers with unique food items than the competitors
 Study the competitors and the new actions they are taking

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 Interact with in-store customers as much as possible
 Evaluate sales team performance and offer timely training
 Conduct social media marketing for targeting young and potential target customers
 Offer timely discounts at stores
 Increase sales person by 2 in each stores
Tactics
 New snacks will be introduce to attract young customers
 Lively setup of the store to make it attractive and energetic
 Sales will be done by young enthusiast that has friendly nature
 Online marketing support will be carried out
Actions
 Snacks will be introduced during festivals and special occasions
 New chefs will be hired with new and recent ideas on fast food items
 Website designers will be hired to design the website with new items and looks
Controls
 The actual implementation will be monitored with the help of customer feedback and
complaints received.
4.2 Allocation of sales territory
The sales territory will include all stores operating in Bahrain, especially near schools, colleges
and official areas. The customer group will be young customer, especially residing in and near
college areas, offices for easy targeting.

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4.3 Business case to obtain the resources
The resource requirement for the objectives and sales target set will be increased number of sales
staffs, marketing team, IT support and also store designing team. All these resources will help in
achieving the strategies set by the organization to achieve its objectives.
5.1 Communication of the operational plan
The operational plan should be communicated to number of stakeholders that are related
to the plan or will help in the success of the plan. The key stakeholders to whom the plan will be
disseminated are the sales management team, sales staffs, human resource management, product
management, marketing management, directors and the financial management. They all have
some or the other part in the success of the plan (Steitz et al., 2016). However, it is important to
take approval from the CEO of the company. The plan will be communicated to the stakeholders
to different mediums. The director will be communicated with the plan in the board meeting
along with other top managers of various departments. While the other sales staffs and
employees will be communicated through operational plan report that will be mailed to them.
The sales team will be aware of the plan by the change in their sales target and the behavioral
training given to them.
5.2 Monitoring and control of operational sales plan
The monitoring of operational plan for reviewing its success will be done through the key
performance indicators. This shows the critical success factors of the organization that helps in
adding to the success of the plan (Ahmed et al., 2017). The key performance indicators for the
sales plan set for McDonalds include:
 Monthly sales growth by 10%

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 Average increase in profit margin by 25%
 Achievements in sales targets of 28000 million USD by 2020
 Positive feedback received on each products
 New customers gained over the two years by 50%
The data on these performance indicators will be gathered and saved in cloud computing
software so that it can be easily send to the top management for review on the success of the
plan.
6.1 Variance that may occur in implementation of operational plan
There can be variance in the key performance indicators that are set out in the above
section and this may impact the success of the plan negatively (Al Shobaki, Amuna & Naser,
2017). The sales target is also for the operational plan and the variance from that target shows the
achievement to the target. The tolerance level of the target set will be +/- 5% as anything above
that will add to the profit of the organization. However, anything below the tolerance level will
lead to increased risk of financial loss.
6.2 Identify contingency plans
The contingency plan is the alternative plan that can be used in case the initial plan fails
to meet its target and creates financial loss. This requires to identify the associated risk to the
plan. There will be risk related to the inadequate customers walking in to the store in a day. In
such cases the sales team will fail to meet their targets and even lead to failure of the plan. In
such cases there will a contingency plan that will be applied to the business which will help in
increasing the targeted sale of McDonalds by 2020. The contingency plan will include increasing
sale through online sources. This will be an effective plan due to the wide presence of