Sales Management: Principles, Techniques, and Strategies at Tesco PLC

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of sales management principles and strategies within Tesco PLC. It begins with a brief introduction to Tesco, highlighting its history, global presence, and financial performance. The core of the report focuses on the key principles and techniques of selling, including understanding customer needs, building relationships, and effective communication. It then delves into building and managing customer relationships, emphasizing the importance of communication, trust, and customer support. Furthermore, the report explores the significance of developing robust sales strategies, emphasizing customer experience, competitive advantage, and budgeting. The report uses examples from Tesco's practices to illustrate these concepts, showcasing the company's approach to sales management and customer engagement. The report concludes by summarizing the key takeaways and reinforcing the importance of effective sales management for organizational success.

Running Head: Sales Management
Tesco PLc
Sales Management
Principles of Successful Selling

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Table of Content
Brief Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
Key Principles and Techniques of Selling...............................................................................................5
Principles of Selling............................................................................................................................5
Techniques of Selling.............................................................................................................................6
Building and managing customer relationships.....................................................................................7
Importance of developing sales strategies............................................................................................9
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................10
References...........................................................................................................................................11

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Brief Introduction
Tesco is a public limited company which was founded in the year 1919 in Hackney, London by Jack
Cohen. The 99 year old organization is the third largest retailer in the world (Profits) and ninth
largest retailer in the world by Revenue. Tesco stores are located in 12 countries including Asia and
Europe and are the grocery market leader in the UK, where it has a market share of around 30 %.
The expansion in its appeal was highly successful and the chain grew immensely from 500 stores in
the mid-1990s to 2500 stores fifteen years later, and presently there are around 6500 store in and
around the globe(Lukic, 2016) Story of Tesla in pictures can be depicted as:
Figure 1: First Store of Tesco
(Source: Tesco PLC, 2018)

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Figure 2: Growth of Tesco
(Source: Tesco PLC, 2018)
Figure 3: New Supermarket of Tesco
(Source: Tesco PLC, 2018)

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Figure 4: Diversifications of Tesco Empire
(Source: Tesco PLC, 2018)
The year 2016-17 saw the Tesco group reaching new heights by securing revenue of £49.9 Billion
under the leadership of Dave Lewis. Lewis euphorically says that at present the prices of Tesco are
lower, the range is simpler and the service and availability is at its peak. Its exclusive fresh food
brands have further strengthened its value proposition and the quality of its product. The company
has been able to consistently increase its profits by generating more cash and reducing its debt
significantly (Ismail, 2017)

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Figure 5: Growth of Tesco
(Source: Tesco PLC, 2018)
Figure 6: New Stores of Tesco
(Source: Tesco PLC, 2018)
Tesla’s future strategy is to offer more to customers at reasonable prices, improving its profitability
and way ahead of the expectation of its stakeholders.
The purpose of the assignment here is to explain the key principles and techniques involved in the
selling process and how these techniques can be further used in managing and building customer

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relationship. Further it would be interesting to learn about the importance of sales strategies which
yield highest profitability for the organization.
Key Principles and Techniques of Selling
Selling is most definitely not an easy job, it certainly is challenging, and that is why organizations are
very careful while picking up the right salesperson for the job. Some of the key principles which are
involved in Selling are:
Principles of Selling
 Always sell to people-One of the most important principles of selling is to understand that
the solution or the problem is being sold to a person and not a business or an organization.
This, it is important to understand a person and his need before selling him the product. One
has to be a people expert if he really wants to excel in sales(Bell & Ternus,2017)
 One has to sell himself-Another attribute of successful selling is that the person has to sell
himself to the customer before selling the product. What it means is that the sales rep has to
build a connect with the consumers, a connect so strong that the consumer is convinced in
whatever the sales rep is telling him about the product or the solution. This happens over
time with trust and rapport building(Armstrong, Kotler, Harker & Brennan, 2015)
 A lot of questions have to be asked-It is very important to assess the needs of the customer
before pitching him the product, thus comes the questioning abilities of the seller. He has to
use the entire arrow from his quiver to extract as much knowledge as possible to understand
the need of the customer for buying a particular product, or suggesting him a product for his
needs(Cespedes, 2014)
 Selling is listening-It is a said rules in sales, one has to do minimum taking and maximum
listening. According to a lot of sales experts, it has been founded that successful salesperson
talk 20% of the time and listen 80% of the time. This helps in understanding the requirement
or the pain point of the customer, so that the sales rep can provide him with the best
solution(Williams & Bizup,2015)
 Features of product to be linked with the benefits-Every product has certain features which
would benefit a customer or will satiate his need. Hence, in order to connect the two, seller
has to link those features of the product which would yield benefit for the
consumers(Francis, 2016)

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 Selling is about relationship building-It is almost impossible to deliver sales without building
a relationship based on respect and trust with the customer. Relationship building aides in
easy selling to the customer, and the customer is convinced that he is not getting deceived in
the process(Grob, 2014)
Some of Principles which are pivotal to sales are:
 Reputation of the sales rep/Brand
 Customer mostly cares about the business and not just a person
 Extensive product knowledge is a key to selling
 Being professional at all times.
Tesco trains its sales representatives of the above mentioned principles, which is one of the
strongest reasons why Tesco is so successful with its stores across the globe.
Techniques of Selling
 Rapport Building-Sales rep is advised to build a rapport with the customers so that they can
trust the person who is selling him the product. Without a rapport building, selling to
consumer becomes tricky(Williams & Dobie,2014)
 Selling people on Value- In order to sell a product to a consumer, either a cost or value
strategy has to be used. In retail sector it is recommended to sell product on the value or the
benefit one can derive from the product.
 Being honest and confident- Customers are really smart, and they can quickly pick up if the
sales rep is faking about the product or is trying to over sell. One has to be really honest with
his communication with the customer, should know what he is selling and be confident in all
the dealing with the customer. Once a customer is confident that the sales rep is honest and
confident about the product, it becomes easy for him to make a purchase(Morden, 2016)
 Add on, upsell or cross sell- One of the promising technique for high selling is, upselling or
cross selling. A sales rep must know about other product alternatives which would yield
more or the same value for the customers and should also know about the product which
would supplement the existing choice of the customers(Allen, 2016)
 Learn from the mistakes- Every customer is unique and thus one is not supposed to apply
the same strategy with every customer. He has to adapt in every condition, learn from his
mistake and come up with a better strategy every time to sell a product

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 Going the extra mile for the customer-Customer instantly like a sales rep who goes on extra
mile for the customer. For example in retail stores like Tesco, if a customer is not convinced
with a product, the sales rep has to go an extra mile and look for products which will satisfy
his requirement, try and learn more about the need of customer and eventually deliver the
right product to the customer(Khanan, 2014)
Building and managing customer relationships
The principles and techniques of successful selling make it easier for a sales rep to build a successful
relationship with customers. Customer relationship further helps in increase of sales and customer
spreading positive word of mouth about the store or the sales rep. Some of the ways to build and
manage customer relationship are:
 Communicating like a human being-These days when Robots are becoming increasingly
important in the current landscape, emotions and personal selling is going down the hill. It is
strongly recommended that sales rep keep a real connect with the customers and not
behave like emotionless machines(Pearson, 2016)
 Learning about the customer-Data these days is easily accessible; hence it becomes really
easy to know about a person. His needs, wants and demands can be easily accessed; his likes
and dislikes, his taste and preference will aide the sales rep to build a strong relationship
with the customer.
 Addressing customer complaint- Complaint is often seen as negative feedback, but for an
organization complaint is a source of improvement. Organization can learn a lot from the
kind of complaints customer is making, working on the customer complaint can help the
organization in improving their internal processes and operations(Keller, 2016)
 Staying in regular touch with the customers-Customer relationship management tool is an
important tool in keeping all the information about the customer at one place. A sales rep
can use the information to wish the customer on important days like birthdays and
anniversary, such small gestures will go a long way in building and managing customer
relationship(Wirtz & Lovelock, 2016)
 Building trust with customers-Trust building is another important parameter which helps in
building customer relationship. It is often seen that a customer is retained if he perceives
that he can trust the sales rep of the organization.

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 Rewarding loyal customers- Loyalty cards or membership cards are seen as one of the most
important tool to retain the customer and make them feel valued. Rewarding loyal
customers help in spreading a positive word of mouth about the organization and further
strengthening the loyal customer base.
 Providing customer support- Tesco is doing exceptionally well when it comes to after sales
support. Tesco has call centres across the globe which is operating 24*7 to address any
complaint or query of the customers. Customer value the company’s effort in providing
support to them as and when required.
 Asking for the feedback from customers- Feedback not only helps the organization to find
the lacunae in its current practices but also helps in making the customers feel empowered.
Customer get a sense of belonging if the organization asks for their feedback and more so, if
the organization takes some action on the given feedback.
All the above mentioned factors helps the customers in realizing that the organization values their
contribution and actively listens to their concerns, hence building a strong resolute relationship with
the organization. Tesco over the last 100 years have been practicing excellent strategies to give
strength to its relationship management with its customers

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Importance of developing sales strategies
A sales strategy can be understood as a plan which a business implements in order to generate leads
and sales through positive brand awareness. It is a company’s plan to increase the sales and help the
business to achieve sustainability in its revenues. Some of the reasons which show why sales
strategies are very important to yield a high profitability are:
 Customer experience –A sales strategy is created to ensure that the sales are always
climbing up the hill and helps in creating delight for the customers. 21st century is all about
focussing on enriching the experience of customers when they interact with an organization.
 Competitive advantage- One of the most important advantages of building a sales strategy
is development of competitive advantage over other firms. A company build sales strategy
by analysing the target market, market forces, competition landscape & customer
knowledge, all these factors helps the organization to come up with a strategy no one is
currently executing.
 Budgeting – A sales strategy helps to identify the number of sales rep to be hired to achieve
the desired sales, it also encompasses the budget for the marketing activities or other
factors ensuring the utilization of resources.
 Addressing the needs of the customers- A well-defined sales strategy helps in better
understanding of the customer needs and preferences. Further the sales strategy aides the
sales rep in following a defined path.
 Hiring the right talent- A sales strategy helps in identifying the skill set a sales person should
have in order to excel at sales. Thus hiring a correct person for the sales profile becomes
easier with a well-defined sales strategy.
Conclusion
Tesco is a 99 years old retailing organization which has presence in almost 12 countries worldwide.
Stores of Tesco have garnered huge praise for themselves owing to its customer centric approach.
Tesco uses the tried and tested methods of selling to woo its customers. At Tesco, sales rep ensures
that the customers feel welcomed and their problem will be solved by the representatives. The staffs
at Tesco is warm, jovial and co-coordinating, they give customers their own time to select products
and do not intervene unnecessarily. Although, their eyes are always on the customers and as soon as
they find that the customer needs their help, they are extremely forthcoming to help them .Sales
personal are very important in the success of Tesco stores all across the globe.

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