Sales Planning and Operations Report: Marketing and Sales Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of sales planning and operations, focusing on the application of marketing strategies for a hypothetical business, Michel's Manicure & Pedicure Salon. It explores the effectiveness of social media marketing, highlighting its benefits and limitations, and contrasts it with the role of personal selling. The report delves into qualitative and quantitative sales management techniques, examining skills required for sales personnel. Furthermore, it analyzes the recruitment process of Virgin Atlantic as a case study, focusing on employee retention strategies. The report concludes by identifying relevant trade exhibitions in Europe that can be utilized for marketing and promoting the salon's services. The content covers various aspects of sales management, providing a well-rounded view of strategies and techniques to enhance sales performance and achieve business objectives.

SALES PLANNING AND OPERATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Merit One.........................................................................................................................................1
Distinction One................................................................................................................................2
Merit Two........................................................................................................................................2
Merit Three......................................................................................................................................3
Distinction Two...............................................................................................................................4
Distinction Three.............................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

MERIT ONE
Looking the present era, internet and online media is one of the most effective sales
management function. Especially social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram etc. are used effectively to promote the products and services of the firm (Blythe.
2009). Herein, Michel’s Manicure & Pedicure Salon can use these social media tools to promote
its offering. There are large number of people that are associated with these networking sites
which will help cited firm to target large number of audience within incurring higher cost of
marketing.
In this, owners of the Michel’s Manicure & Pedicure Salon has to make sure that they use
relevant hashtags on different networking sites so as to make services visible to the audience.
Further, management can also develops brand by constantly using hashtags to promote different
contests, new products etc. However, with site like Facebook, saloon can take advantage of
targeting options. Along with this, highlight with the help of posting real products and users
review that available products can solve various problems related to hair and other services
(Roesler, 2013). There are customers that consider price as the major concern show them with
the help of social media that Michel’s Manicure & Pedicure Salon is offering different services
at affordable prices.
Benefits of social media:
 It helps in increasing the brand awareness of the Michel’s Manicure & Pedicure Salon
quickly as compared to face to face selling.
 Social media provide platform to sell smartly rather than selling harder.
 It provide another benefit of easily handling the customer’s feedback. With the help of
email and telephone number shared on the social media customer are free to share their
views and complaints which indeed assist company in improving their performance
(Hendricks, 2013).
Limitations of social media:
 Michel’s Manicure & Pedicure Salon has to indulge cost of resource in managing its
social media presence, responding to the feedbacks and posting new and creative
contents.
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 It possess the risk of unwanted and inappropriate behaviour on the official site of
Michel’s Manicure & Pedicure Salon which consist of bullying and harassment (Smith,
2014).
DISTINCTION ONE
Currently the percentage of people using online sources to buy the products and services
are increasing constantly. In this regard, personal selling has been affected the most. Personal
selling can be defined as the process which businesses use human resource to sell the products
and services to customers by meeting them face to face. The main purpose of personal selling is
that it encourages or influence customer to buy products by sharing its information (Brassington
and Pettitt, 2003). However, in marketing strategy of the Michel’s Manicure & Pedicure Salon
personal selling will play significant role because sales persons are the one who are in market
always therefore they understand the needs and wants of market effectively which indeed helps
company to offer products and services as per the needs. While in terms of pricing, sales
representatives can help in determining the price of the product in numerous way such as on the
basis of market dynamics they can provide fruitful information to the management of Michel’s
Manicure & Pedicure Salon on the basis of which they can set the price of varied services in
salon. Further, personal selling ensure that product is available for the customers in the market
and lastly, sales persons understand the way in which customer requires the information
therefore helps cited firm to develop appropriate marketing strategy (Pedler, Burgoyne and
Boydell, 2006). There are several businesses that will be affected adversely if personal selling is
taken out form the equation of marketing such as: Banking and financial institutions, hospitality
firms and automobile companies. Therefore, these are some of the companies and sectors that
will be affected mostly if they stop interacting with customer directly.
MERIT TWO
Qualitative and quantitative are the two most significant technique of sales management
which are used by several companies to gather data regarding the target market so that
accordingly different sales strategies can be framed. Herein, senior authority of Michel’s
Manicure & Pedicure Salon can make use of both the approaches as they both provide great deal
of support in making smart and effective decisions regarding sales strategies. Through the help
of qualitative technique, management of Michel’s Manicure & Pedicure Salon can collect the
data related to past sales performance of competitors in terms of sales figures so that demand of
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the products and services can be identified (Waarden, Benavent and Castéran, 2013). The main
advantage of this approach is that, researcher can easily gather wide range of valuable
information on the basis of which smart decision can be made. Thereafter, with the help of
quantitative approach, market researcher focuses on recording the responses of consumer with
the help of questionnaires and collect wide range of reliable and valuable information regarding
the products and services. Therefore, with the help of both the approaches sales management, top
level management of Michel’s Manicure & Pedicure Salon can gather wide range of data or
information regarding demand, revenues and sales performance etc. of the industry and
accordingly indulge different strategies to sell the Medicare and Pedicure services (Adcock,
2001).
MERIT THREE
Skills and abilities are the most important aspect that management of Michel’s Manicure
& Pedicure Salon has to focus on while recruiting the individual as a sales personnel. However,
sales is considered as the most difficult operations to carry out therefore, skills and attributes
required by the individual should be fulfilling the expectations. Following are the skills required
for a sales person of Michel’s Manicure & Pedicure Salon:
 Individual should have better communication skills so that interacting with varied
customers in appropriate way (Sejin, and Stoel, 2012).
 Should possess influence power to encourage and motivate the target audience to buy the
Medicare and pedicure services of Michel’s Manicure & Pedicure Salon.
 Better grasping power so that understanding towards products and services can be
developed effectively.
 Listening habits so that can listen to customer expectations and need and accordingly
satisfy them.
 Should be creative thinker so as to sell such intangible services in creative and innovative
ways.
The skills which a mobile sales person and salon sales person have common in them:
 Both requires appropriate communication skills so that different types of customers can
be handled in appropriate way.
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 Having grasping power helps sales person in both sector to understand the attributes of
products and services so that they can frame the approach to sell them (Cheung and
Prendergast, 2006).
 Influencing power is common to all sector and especially for sales person is important to
have this skills as to encourage and motivate target audience to buy the products and
services.
DISTINCTION TWO
Virgin Atlantic is one of the leading companies in airline industry because of highly
satisfied workforce. There strategies employed by management is effective in terms of
motivating the employees and retaining them for the long run. Following is the recruitment
process of Virgin Atlantic:
 Group interview scenario: It is the first part of the entire interview that individual has to
face in order to get selected in the Virgin Atlantic. Under this, individual has to go
through group discussions with batch of 10 people for 15 minutes. The main purpose of
this section is to understand the basic skills and attributes of the person towards
contemporary scenario (Virgin Atlantic Assessment Criteria, 2015).
 Face to face interview: This is the second and final stage in which recruitment panel
takes the face to face interview of those individuals who come through first stage. In this,
on the basis of resume and attributes of the individual entire process is conducted and
decision is made.
There are several ways with the help of which Virgin Atlantic is improved its employee retention
such as:
 Assessment centre: This is the method with the help of which management of Virgin
Atlantic assess to strengths and developments needs of employees so that various
training and development sessions are being organised in order to enhance the expected
skills and attributes of the individual.
 Group discussions: The main purpose behind this approach of the cited firm is that,
according to them group discussion is a useful tool to help them understand how to relate
employees of different department in order to work in a team and generate positive
outcomes (Venugopal, 2008).
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 Ability Tests: Through this, abilities and aptitudes of employee is measured so that gaps
and lacking areas can be identified and accordingly strategies and tactics can be
developed to enhance the skills.
DISTINCTION THREE
There are several prominent trade exhibitions/trade fairs based in Europe which can be
useful for the top level management of Michel’s Manicure & Pedicure Salon in marketing and
promoting its products and services around the whole country.
 Beauty Trade Special: It is the trade fair for Beauticians, Pedicures and Manicurists in the
Hertogenbosch, Netherlands is one of the biggest trade where top level management of
Michel’s Manicure & Pedicure Salon can enter and showcase their products and services
as large number of people around the globe attend this fair.
 Beauty Show Krasnodar: It is the Exhibition of Perfumery and Cosmetics, Equipment
and Accessories for Hair-Dresser's, Nail Centres, Fitness Clubs and Beauty Shops in
Krasnodar, Russia which also attract large number of people.
 Trends of Beauty: It is the fair for the Cosmetics sector in Graz, Austria and will be
another good opportunity for the owner of Michel’s Manicure & Pedicure Salon to
market and promote the products and services (Trends of Beauty Trade Fair for the
Cosmetics Sector, 2016).
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REFERENCES
Adcock, D., 2001. Marketing Principles and Practice. Pitman.
Blythe. J., 2009. Principles and Practice of Marketing. Prentice Hall.
Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S., 2003. Principles of Marketing. Prentice Hall.
Cheung, W. L. and Prendergast, G., 2006. Buyers' perceptions of pirated products in India.
Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 24 (5).
Hendricks, D., 2013. 5 Ways to Use Social Media as a Sales Tool. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.inc.com/drew-hendricks/5-ways-to-use-social-media-as-a-sales-tool.html>.
[Accessed on 28th January 2016].
Pedler, M., Burgoyne, J. and Boydell, T., 2006. A Manager’s Guide to Self Development.
McGraw-Hill Professional.
Roesler, P., 2013. 5 Benefits of Social Media Business Owners Need to Understand. [Online].
Available through: <http://www.inc.com/peter-roesler/5-benefits-of-social-media-
business-owners-need-to-understand.html>. [Accessed on 28th January 2016].
Sejin, and Stoel, L., 2012 Online apparel retailing: roles of e-shopping quality and experiential e-
shopping motives. Journal of Service Management. 23(2). pp.197 – 215.
Smith, J., 2014. How To Use Social Media To Make Sales. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2014/01/10/how-to-use-social-media-to-
make-sales-2014/#4ef252e56f4c>. [Accessed on 28th January 2016].
Trends of Beauty Trade Fair for the Cosmetics Sector, 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.tofairs.com/expo.php?fair=109639>. [Accessed on 28th January 2016].
Venugopal, P., 2008. Sales and Distribution Management: An Indian Perspective. SAGE
Publications India.
Virgin Atlantic Assessment Criteria, 2015. [Online]. Available through: < http://careersuk.virgin-
atlantic.com/recruitment-journey/assessment.html >. [Accessed on 28th January 2016].
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.
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