Sales Planning Report: British Gas Sales and Marketing Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of sales planning strategies for British Gas. It begins with an introduction to sales planning and its importance in business, particularly for increasing sales turnover and customer base. The report examines how personal selling supports the promotional mix, buyer behavior in different situations, and the importance of recruitment and selection procedures. It delves into developing sales strategies aligned with corporate objectives, evaluating the roles of motivation, remuneration, and training in sales management. Furthermore, it explains how sales management organizes sales activities, controls sales output, and utilizes databases for effective sales management. The report also covers developing a sales plan for a specific product or service and investigates opportunities for international sales expansion, specifically in the Indian market, considering factors such as market competition, target customers, and sales channels.

Sales Planning

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
2

ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Illustration 1: Recruitment and selection.........................................................................................6
3

INTRODUCTION
Sales planning are the imperative aspect of business in which the corporation delivers its
products and services to end users so as to increase sales turnover. It supports business activities
by increasing profitability and customer base for the company. Present report is based on British
Gas which is a part of Centrica group. This operates in many countries by serving gas supply and
electricity to consumers and organizations in the UK and Europe. Further, report covers how
personal selling support promotional mix used by the corporation. In addition to this, buyer
behaviour has been identified in different situations. Apart from this, importance of recruitment
and selection procedure has been explained.
b) Developing sales strategies in line with corporate objectives
Corporate objectives serves as the most significant aspect of company and accordingly
overall strategies are formulated. According to the given case scenario, it is very important for
the heating sales advisor of British Gas to keep corporate objectives in mind while creating
offers for product and service. According to the given case scenario, Mr John is a customer who
wants to purchase central heating. At this juncture, heating sales advisor at first provide detail
information related to main product and then other details of corporation. Similarly, special
offers such as sales promotion will also be presented in front of Mr John. It aids to clarify the
image of corporation in front of him (Jayawardena and et.al., 2013).
Here, heating sales advisor can recommend customer to take immediate purchase
decision by giving explanation regarding quality and price of the product. It reflects that advisor
covers corporate objectives such as; retention of buyers, increased rate of return and high sales
turnover. It is the reason sales advisor focuses on retaining buyers. In case of failure of first
meeting, other methods like internet, social media and others will be used for retention purpose
(Jobber and Lancaster, 2011). Hence, it becomes secondary objective where sales manager lays
emphasis on selling central heating. At this time, he/she will offer certain discount on the product
in order to promote sales of British Gas and retain buyers for longer time span. Not only this, but
free services will also be offered for particular time span. In this way, effective strategies can be
formulated for sales promotion and profitability of British Gas (Noonan, 2010).
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Therefore, current selling strategies are in line with corporate objectives of British Gas. It
is because; management focuses on effective mode of communication in order to provide detail
information related to product and services. Furthermore, customers are provided discount which
serve as the motivating factor thereby influence their decision to a great extent.
c) Explaining importance of recruitment and selection procedure
Recruitment and selection are the two imperative aspects behind growth and success of
corporations like British Gas. It can be understood as follows-
(Source: Our recruitment process, 2016)
For selecting right candidates, British Gas uses number of sources like recruitment. For
this purpose, the most common sources are; recruitment agencies, social networking sites and
internal sources of company. After using these sources, company invites application of
candidates which are screened in accordance with the organizational purpose. After completion
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Illustration 1: Recruitment and selection

of screening, assessment is done in light of telephonic interview, structured interview and
physical tests. If company finds candidates appropriate till the process of assessment then, that
particular person is required to proceed for background checking. Under this, medical check up
and verification process is completed so-as-to ensure hiring of right kind of personnel at
workplace (Meyr, Wagner and Rohde, 2015).
Furthermore, different other tests can also be conducted by corporation for assessing
overall skills and abilities of personnel. However, it is necessary for Energy Company to assess
physical fitness of all the employees so-as-to ensure secure future condition. This process can be
done for selection of employees for department of production or finance. In this way,
organization build team of competent and expert personnel who render good quality of services
to large number of buyers by taking into account the corporate objectives (Oliva and Watson,
2011). Apart from this, having effective recruitment and selection procedure means reduction in
additional expenses. It is because; expert workforce makes it possible to increase sales turnover
and meet expectation of employees. Also, this aspect is linked with attrition rate. Therefore,
recruitment and selection must be done according to specified format so-as-to determine long
term growth of British Gas (Our recruitment process, 2016).
d) Evaluating role of motivation, remuneration and training in sales management
Motivation, remuneration and training are significant factors in long run growth and
success of corporation. Motivation is the process of fulfilling needs of employees in order to
influence them to work or perform in better way for organizational growth and success. Here,
Maslow's need hierarchy theory proves to be effective in understanding the need and expectation
of employees. It is started with basic need recognition that covers physiological and safety
measures. Here, an individual desires for monetary benefits in order to ensure satisfaction of
basic needs such as shelter, food etc. Furthermore, safety needs depicts that employees must be
provided benefits in term of job security, insurance, etc (Thomé and et.al., 2012). After that, need
of belongings arises where employees want good work, positive culture and relationship with
colleagues. At last, two needs named; esteem needs for knowing employee’s desire to create
strong position in the marketplace and self actualization needs for determining their own
personal desire are taken into consideration. All these needs can be satisfied through monetary
and non-monetary rewards.
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On the other hand, remuneration is a set of experience, skills, qualification and
performance of employees at workplace. This is the basic way to motivate employees to perform
better or to bring improvement in their current performance. Moreover, remuneration can be in
term of incentives. It is considered when workforce devotes more and dedicated time to
accomplish objectives of business. In the same way, training is another effective way to motivate
employees (Tavares, Martins and Tsuzuki, 2011). Under this, management provides learning for
development of workforce which in turn brings improvement in their lacking areas. At this
juncture, employees are asked for their preferences which serve as the motivation for them at
workplace. Likewise, personnel of British Gas get on-the-job and off-the-job training kinds so-
as-to trained for improving their performance through all ways. It enables them to meet their
target on right time.
e) Explaining how sales management organize sales activity and control sales output
Sales management is the most important aspect for any organization as plays role in
supporting companies to organize all activities and control sales output as per the specified
strategies. Sales management prepare team of personnel and then allocate tasks among them in
order to carry out all sales activities in an effectual manner. Sales territories are decided by
supervisors and accordingly sales management defines roles and responsibilities of each
personnel. Furthermore, teams are allocated task as-well-as resources (Fleischmann, Meyr and
Wagner, 2015). They are also communicated regarding potential outcome of their performance.
This leads to motivate sales personnel and enable them to perform better. Similarly, they are
provided targets in daily meeting. Over there, all personnel are motivated to achieve their targets
on right time and attract more and more customers (British Gas, 2016).
Here, British Gas sets target for engineers to build good relationship with customers and
retain them for longer time span. It is because; long term contact with customers will provide
development opportunities to British Gas as it provides services at home also. Similarly, training
is provided for sales team and they are motivated through monetary and non-monetary reward. It
serves as the effective alternative for growing their zeal and enthusiasm. However, controlling is
done with proper segregation of work among members in accordance with their potential
(Kjellsdotter, Ivert and Jonsson, 2010). Apart from this, sales budget are set for controlling
activities wherein management continuously monitor their daily progress. Furthermore, variation
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in budget serves as the effective method to reduce the gap between actual and expected results.
Thus, sales team has potential to manage all sales activities and meet expectation of buyers in the
most effective manner (Leon, 2014).
f) Using database in effective sales management
Database management is the basic need of effective sales management. Under this, sales
management make use of highly upgraded technologies like internet and database management
system. Here, internet proves to be effective tool to conduct survey for assessing needs and
expectation of buyers. On the other hand, database management system of British Gas keeps
record related to information about consumers. Company uses the same information to contact
buyers and retain them for longer time span. Furthermore, it helps to get feedback from
customers and accordingly bring improvement in their current service quality (Mula and et.al.,
2010). Incremental business is generated through the use of recorded information. For example,
newsletter is used to contact large number of buyers by offering special discount for particular
time.
However, Data Protection Act 1998 is taken into account while using the information of
buyers. Here management ensures that none of the information related to buyers will be misused
and will be stored with confidentiality. It depicts that British Gas ensures ethical aspects in
completing all its business activities. Similarly, Information Communication Technology (ICT)
increases scope of company to stay in touch with consumers (Hahn and Kuhn, 2011). Similarly,
by using stored information, organization connects itself with large number of buyers on social
portal. E-mail as the alternative way of attracting buyers assists management to build good
relationship with the number of parties like suppliers, customers and creditors. However, this
concept can be applicable in case of business to business transactions. For example, British Gas
makes list of all its associated parties (businesses who purchase in bulk) and ensures direct
communication with them on regular basis. This helps to generate positive attitude among
prospects and repeat purchase take place in organization.
g) Developing sales plan for product and service
British Gas has decided to operate itself in India because of high population. However,
this country consists of majority of youth people who generate demand of electric items in their
households to a great extent. Also, India is considered as one of the emerging markets. Thus,
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British Gas has planned to operate in India for providing home electrics services. Here, top
management of company will be provided with following information. Furthermore, it is
effective for company to set relatively low prices because of background of majority of
population and number of competitors in the country (Silva and et.al., 2012).
The sales plan has been made for service of “home electrics”. This service does not
consists of any exit fees and also provide all updates through electronic mode. In addition to this,
special offers provided by company are lucrative that tends to persuade buyers towards services
offerings of British Gas. Sales objectives of current service are to increase number of buyers by
providing good quality to them. Furthermore, corporation also seeks for high customer base and
increased rate of return. Here, management will use sales channels like internet and newspaper.
The internet consists of newsletter, social media etc. It proves to be effective in attracting
customers (Márcio Tavares, Thomé and et.al., 2012). Furthermore, target customer for services
of home electrics are households and businesses. However, it will cover all income groups such
as low, middle and upper so-as-to increase customer base. In addition to this, competition is
already high in country thus; sales may slow down at in initial level of their process. However,
unique and innovative offering make it possible to increase sales turnover with respect to time
factor.
h) Investigating opportunities for selling internationally
The British Gas can expand itself in Indian market as emerging business unit. This aspect
assists organization to take advantage of cheap labour and use resources provided in country to a
great extent. India is very rich in term of labour or human resources that proves to be effective
for British Gas. Here, organization can expand itself with unique presence and by dealing in
specific segment like electrics or gas appliances. The corporation also has scope in retail segment
and this is the reason that it can operate itself at international level. Currently, organization
largely depends on wholesale market that depicts that it can explore market in retail sector
(Chen-Ritzo and et.al., 2010). It facilitates to increase overall rate of return and number of
customer for organization. On the other hand, technological innovation, sports marketing and
other large number of services enable company to expand in new market. British Gas will have
high demand in the marketplace through which it can deliver good quality of services to attract
large number of buyers. Apart from this, distribution channels of country are also effective that
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increases scope of high customer base. Similarly, by using its strength, British Gas creates its
strong position in the marketplace with increased rate of return (Ni and Fan, 2011). Apart from
this, high demand of products and services is the crucial factors that depict that company can
easily enter into new market. However, it can also provide online services in new market in order
to save its operational cost. Thus, new international market will be developed in India so that
organization access good amount of resources in order to ensure its smooth flow of production.
I) investigating opportunities for using exhibitions or trade fairs
There are different trade fairs take place in India such as Surat International Textile Expo,
The international Commercial Vehicle Fair, Smart Cities India 2016 Expo, etc (Fairs by Third
Parties at Pragati Maidan During 2016-2017, 2016). Owing to this, British Gas can participate
in such kind of fairs in order to meet its organizational objectives. It enables management to stay
in touch with number of other business partners who can provide support for company to
establish successful manner. At this juncture, company needs to set budget of approximate 1-2
lac. This helps in managing business activities effectively. However, this amount of money is
necessary to meet all expenses. Here, corporation will give special training to its personnel to
present favourable image of organization in the marketplace. Similarly, organization can take
initiatives in other activities of trade fair in order to create its global image at international level
(Kaplan and Atkinson, 2015). It tends to increase sales turnover of company by increasing the
number of customers. However, organization can get big contract from other retail sectors or
whole sellers. This aspect proves to be effective in creating positive impression in front of media.
Thus, media can uncover presence of company in country so-as-to increase number of related
parties like suppliers. This can also help in attracting employees who are expert in the field of
sports or technological innovation. Apart from this, exhibition is also other effective way to
promote products and services of company. It serves as the alternative method to communicate
among end users related to range of products and services provided by British Gas (Estampe and
et.al., 2013).
CONCLUSION
The aforementioned report concludes that sales management support organization growth
to a great extent. Companies create their position in the marketplace through placement of right
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kind of advertisement. It reflects that promotion mix is directly connected with sales
management activities of business so customer base can be enhanced. It can also be said that
sales strategies are lined up with corporate objectives which leads to give upward direction to
business activities. In addition to this, database management also support sales management to a
great extent through which direct contract can be established with buyers.
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REFERENCES
Journals and books
Chen-Ritzo, C. H. and et.al., 2010. Sales and operations planning in systems with order
configuration uncertainty. European journal of operational research. 205(3). pp.604-614.
Estampe, D. and et.al., 2013. A framework for analysing supply chain performance evaluation
models. International Journal of Production Economics. 142(2). pp.247-258.
Fleischmann, B., Meyr, H. and Wagner, M., 2015. Advanced planning. In Supply chain
management and advanced planning. Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Hahn, G. J. and Kuhn, H., 2011. Optimising a value-based performance indicator in mid-term
sales and operations planning. Journal of the Operational Research Society. 62(3). pp.515-
525.
Jayawardena, C. and et.al., 2013. Trends in the international hotel industry. Worldwide
Hospitality and Tourism Themes. 5(2). pp.151-163.
Jobber, D. and Lancaster, G., 2011. Selling and Sales Management. Prentice Hall.
Kaplan, R. S. and Atkinson, A. A., 2015. Advanced management accounting. PHI Learning.
Kjellsdotter Ivert, L. and Jonsson, P., 2010. The potential benefits of advanced planning and
scheduling systems in sales and operations planning. Industrial Management & Data
Systems. 110(5). pp.659-681.
Leon, A., 2014. Enterprise resource planning. McGraw-Hill Education.
Márcio Tavares Thomé, A. and et.al., 2012. Sales and operations planning and the firm
performance. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management. 61(4).
pp.359-381.
Meyr, H., Wagner, M. and Rohde, J., 2015. Structure of advanced planning systems. In Supply
chain management and advanced planning. Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Mula, J. and et.al.,2010. Mathematical programming models for supply chain production and
transport planning. European Journal of Operational Research. 204(3). pp.377-390.
Ni, Y. and Fan, F., 2011. A two-stage dynamic sales forecasting model for the fashion
retail.Expert Systems with Applications. 38(3). pp.1529-1536.
Noonan, C., 2010. Sales Management. Taylor & Francis.
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Oliva, R. and Watson, N., 2011. Cross-functional alignment in supply chain planning: A case
study of sales and operations planning. Journal of Operations Management. 29(5). pp.434-
448.
Silva, A. M. and et.al., 2012. Chronological power flow for planning transmission systems
considering intermittent sources. Power Systems, IEEE Transactions on. 27(4). pp.2314-
2322.
Tavares, R. S., Martins, T. C. and Tsuzuki, M. D. S. G., 2011. Simulated annealing with
adaptive neighborhood: A case study in off-line robot path planning. Expert Systems with
Applications. 38(4). pp.2951-2965.
Thomé, A.M.T. and et.al., 2012. Sales and operations planning: A research synthesis.
International Journal of Production Economics. 138(1). pp.1-13.
Online
British Gas. 2016. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-
services/gas-and-electricity/>. [Accessed on 7th March, 2016].
Fairs by Third Parties at Pragati Maidan During 2016-2017. 2016. [Online]. Available
through: <http://www.indiatradefair.com/3rd-party-event-16-17.php>. [Accessed on 7th
March, 2016].
Our recruitment process. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://staffaus.com.au/index.php/about-staff/our-recruitment-process/>. [Accessed on 7th
March, 2016].
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