Analyzing Sales Planning and Operations: British Gas Case Study Report

This report examines the sales planning and operations of British Gas, focusing on key aspects such as developing sales strategies aligned with corporate objectives, the importance of recruitment and selection procedures, and the role of motivation, remuneration, and training in sales management. It further explores how sales management organizes activities, utilizes databases, and develops sales plans for products and services, specifically for the introduction of new boilers in the Indian market. The report also discusses the opportunities for British Gas in new international markets, including the use of exhibitions and trade fairs to enhance sales and customer engagement. The analysis highlights the significance of effective planning, monitoring, and adaptation to achieve organizational goals, emphasizing the importance of understanding customer needs and leveraging various sales channels for market penetration and expansion. Furthermore, the report underscores the benefits of database management for customer insights and the strategic advantages of expanding into new markets.

Sales Planning and
Operations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
b) Ways through which sales strategies are developed in line with corporate objectives..........1
c) Importance of recruitment and selection procedures for British Gas.....................................1
d) Role of motivation, remuneration and training in sales management at British Gas.............2
e) Ways through which sales management organize sales activities and control sales outputs..2
f) Use of databases in effective sales management.....................................................................3
g) Sales plan for services or product...........................................................................................3
h) Opportunities for British Gas for selling in a new international market................................3
i) Opportunities for British Gas for using exhibitions/trade fairs...............................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Sales planning and operations can be defined as process in which organization focus on
developing supply according to demand (Kilger, Reuter and Stadtler, 2015). In this context, it is
essential for the firm to develop effective planning and it also requires monitoring of plans
within the business operations. Present report is about British gas which is best recognized as
energy brand. This report covers the objectives and roles which are played by sales management.
Lastly, it includes planning sales activity for the services or product.
b) Ways through which sales strategies are developed in line with corporate objectives
Being a Heating Sales Advisor for British Gas, it is important top have primary
objectives with the help of which goals can be achieved.
Corporate objectives of British Gas:
 To deliver high quality service to clients.
 To engage stakeholders so that better services could be provided.
In order to achieve the above objectives, there has been creation of primary and secondary
objectives by which the sales strategies can be developed.
Primary objectives:
 To increase the sales by 20% with the help of central heating product.
 To ensure that the feature are been properly conveyed to Mr John. To make sure that all the information regarding the product is effectively conveyed.
Success of meeting: It can be determined from the response made by the client. If the product is
understood effectively by Mr John, then it can be determined that the meeting was successful.
Secondary objectives:
 To develop relationship with Mr John so that he would understand the importance of
product.
 to gain maximum profit through effective sale organization
 To achieve organizational goals and objectives.
c) Importance of recruitment and selection procedures for British Gas
In British Gas, candidates get to know about the vacancy through newspapers or through
company's website. Candidates are selected who have the qualification according to vacant post.
Then the selected people are called for interview (Islam, 2013). This is the main part where the
interviewer decides whether to the interviewee will be suitable for the vacant post. Recruitment
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plays vital role as it helps the firm have wide options in which they can select the best candidate
who will be able to help the organization in achieving goals and objectives (Benefits of
Recruitment and selection process, 2014). When interviewee is selected, then firm provide
him/her with offer letter in which all the details regarding policies and norm information are
included. Selected person is provided with training so that roles and responsibilities which have
to be played could be clearly defined (Turkulainen, Kujala and Levitt, 2013). Thus, it can be
stated that skilful and knowledgeable person can be selected with the help of recruitment and
selection process.
d) Role of motivation, remuneration and training in sales management at British Gas
All the three elements that is motivation, remuneration and training which are very
helpful in improving the performance level. Following are the benefits in sales management
through these three elements:
Improvement in performance: When employees get to know their roles and responsibilities
more clearly, then they aim to perform more effectively (Thompson, 2013). This is possible
through providing them with proper training. In addition to this, organization should be able to
identify the areas in which worker lack and then training should be provided so positive result
could come out of it.
Reduces negativity: Employees will focus on improving their performance when they will be
provided with remuneration, this will be helpful for British Gas to improve their performance
level and in gaining profit (Kopanos, Puigjaner and Georgiadis, 2012). In this context,
motivation also plays vital role, firm should identify the employees who are demotivated and
appropriate steps should be taken to motivate them as this will be helpful in improving their
performance level.
e) Ways through which sales management organize sales activities and control sales outputs
Following are the ways through which sales management organize sales activities and
control sales outputs:
Setting up goals: In any operations it is important to have an aim as it is very helpful in
developing path through which it can be achieved (Noroozi, 2014). Main roles of sales
management team are to understand their customers’ needs and wants. Accordingly, they should
be provided with services with the help of which customers can be satisfied.
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Budgeting, planning and organizing: It is very important for the organization to design a plan
so that targets could be easily achieved. Further, budget should be decided so that firm can plan
operations accordingly (Ross, 2015). Lastly, the developed plan should be executed according to
the budget decided. In this context, firm should also focus on identifying the obstacles which are
rise and appropriate steps should be taken so that desired goals and objectives could be achieved.
f) Use of databases in effective sales management
Database can be defines as collection of data which is organized in such a way that huge
information can be gathered related to specific topics (Lord, Lord and Martin, 2012). In context
with business, it is very important to manage database as through this they will be able to
understand their customers more effectively. Database is very helpful in developing future plans
as it includes all the detailed information regarding customers and this will be helpful in making
changes in their services products according to needs and wants of services users. Moreover, it
also helps the organization in developing their products or services according to demand and
firm could easily meet up the supply accordingly (Lawless, 2013). With the help of information
regarding customers firm can easily develop strategies through which they can aim at retaining
service users.
g) Sales plan for services or product
British Gas will make their business expansions at India. In this context, they will focus
on delivering their product which is new boilers. This product will be helpful keeping the room
temperature according to customer’s requirement.
Sales objective: Main objective for the organization will be to cover all the major states like
Delhi, RRajasthan, Kashmir, etc.
Sales channels: In order to attract customers personal selling and all the retail stores will be
provided with the product so that customers could easily get reach to their goods (Golub,
Guhathakurta and Sollapuram, 2012).
Target customers: Target customers will be all the age groups as the product can be used by
every house. Especially for areas in which temperature is comparatively low.
Sales forecast: Within one year British Gas will be able to cover all the areas which were
discussed above and then further states will be covered.
Conclusion: It can be stated that this product will be helpful for the British Gas to gain profit and
for its growth.
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h) Opportunities for British Gas for selling in a new international market
There are many advantages through expansion of business to a new market. In this
context, following are the opportunities for British Gas through expansion:
New customers: With business expansion customers will be able to focus on new services users
and this will be helpful in gaining huge profit (Färber, May and Dees, 2012).
Low labour cost: In a developing country like India, organization will be able to provide
products with low price as the labour cost is very low as a result firm will be able to develop
their product at low cost.
Increases sales and profitability: Organization will be able to earn high profit as they will be
able to develop new customer base and with the use of different promotional tool organization
will be able to attract more and more customers and this will be helpful in gaining competitive
advantage (Golub, Guhathakurta and Sollapuram, 2012).
i) Opportunities for British Gas for using exhibitions/trade fairs
Exhibitions/trade fairs are type of opportunities which British Gas can make use of as
they will be able to provide information regarding the product to customers. Organization will be
able to explain all the information regarding the product as they will have a face to face
interaction with their customers (Crevier, Cordeau and Savard, 2012). Most importantly, firm
will be able to know the make changes in their products according to customers demands. This
way organization can make improvement on the goods which they want to deliver to customers.
People at different market have different taste and preferences. In this context, it is very
important for the firm to understand it effectively. With the help of exhibitions/trade fairs
organization will be do it easily. In addition to this, British Gas will be able to collect personal
information of customers with the help of which they will be able to provide them with different
offers which will help in attracting service users (Kilger and Wagner, 2015).
CONCLUSION
From this report, it can be articulated that recruitment and selection process is very helpful for
the organization to identify candidates who will be helpful for the firm to achieve their goals and
objectives. Further, it is important for the company to identify the areas in which employee need
improvement. Accordingly, they should be provided with proper training so that workers could
enhance their skills and make improve their performance level. Further, there are many
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advantages through business expansion but the main problem which arises in high competition.
In this context, it is essential for the organization to make use of different promotional tools so
that customers could be easily attracted and profit could be raised.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Kilger, C., Reuter, B. and Stadtler, H., 2015. Collaborative planning. InSupply chain
management and advanced planning (pp. 257-277). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Islam, R., 2013. Improving productivity and profitability of a bioanalytical business through
sales and operation planning. Bioanalysis. 5(14). pp.1795-1804.
Turkulainen, V., Kujala, J. and Levitt, R.E., 2013. Organizing in the context of global project-
based firm—The case of sales–operations interface. Industrial Marketing Management.
42(2). pp.223-233.
Thompson, E., 2013. Striking a Balance between Sales and Operations in the Forecasting
Process. The Journal of Business Forecasting. 32(4). pp.29.
Kopanos, G.M., Puigjaner, L. and Georgiadis, M.C., 2012. Simultaneous production and
logistics operations planning in semicontinuous food industries. Omega. 40(5). pp.634-
650.
Noroozi, S., 2014. A Framework for Sales and Operations Planning in Process Industries.
Ross, D.F., 2015. Distribution Planning and control: managing in the era of supply chain
management. Springer.
Lord, B., Lord, G.D. and Martin, L. eds., 2012. Manual of museum planning: sustainable space,
facilities, and operations. Rowman Altamira.
Lawless, M.J., 2013. The View from the Sales and Marketing Organizations.The Journal of
Business Forecasting. 32(4). pp.13.
Färber, F., May, N. and Dees, J., 2012. The SAP HANA Database--An Architecture Overview.
IEEE Data Eng. Bull. 35(1). pp.28-33.
Golub, A., Guhathakurta, S. and Sollapuram, B., 2012. Spatial and temporal capitalization
effects of light rail in phoenix from conception, planning, and construction to operation.
Journal of Planning Education and Research. 32(4). pp.415-429.
Crevier, B., Cordeau, J.F. and Savard, G., 2012. Integrated operations planning and revenue
management for rail freight transportation. Transportation Research Part B:
Methodological. 46(1). pp.100-119.
Kilger, C. and Wagner, M., 2015. Demand planning. In Supply chain management and advanced
planning (pp. 125-154). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
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Online
Benefits of Recruitment and selection process. 2014. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.premierepeople-ni.com/resources/why-is-recruitment-important>. [Accessed
on 10th March 2016].
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