A Report on Understanding Integrated Functions of Sales and Marketing

This report delves into the integrated functions of sales and marketing, emphasizing the critical role of marketing research in understanding market trends, customer preferences, and identifying opportunities and threats. It differentiates between primary and secondary research methods, explores various data presentation techniques, and highlights tools for analyzing sales-related information. The report includes a sales analysis of the Toyota Innova Crysta, interpreting sales data and emphasizing the importance of up-to-date and relevant market information for sales-related decisions. It discusses the significance of feedback from colleagues, the need for realistic market information, and how sales-related information influences the marketing mix and budget allocation. The report also presents proposed sales strategies, addressing the requirements of the target market, financial returns, meeting changing customer needs, and the importance of marketing strategies and plans for building positive customer relationships.

Running head- Understanding the Integrated Functions of Sales and Marketing
Understanding the
Integrated functions of
Sales and Marketing

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Understanding the Integrated Functions of Sales and Marketing
Marketing Research
Marketing research is a set of processes to gather relevant information regarding the market
trends, taste, and preference of customers, opportunities, and the problem associated with the
particular market. It also links customers and producers to the marketers through the gathered
information that is used to identify opportunities and threats of the market (Babin et al., 2015).
There are two major types of research. First one is primary marketing research and the second
one is secondary marketing research. There is a significant difference between these two. The
primary research is done by self, or the company hired, but the secondary research is done by
someone else. In the primary research, the data is collected through surveys, interviews,
experiments, observation while in the secondary research the data is collected through observing
the existing data. Both the research could be either qualitative or quantitative. The major
difference between these two is that primary research is specific to the needs and the quality of
data can be controlled while the data extracted from secondary research is weak or cheap and not
specific to the needs (Babin et al., 2015).
Source of Marketing Research Information
There are two major sources of marketing research information available for the organization.
First one is the internal source and the second one is an external source. The internal source
includes various reports generated by the organization itself such as the report of a salesman,
reports of expenditure such as transportation cost, advertisement cost, etc.
The external source includes primary data that is collected by the researchers through interviews,
questionnaire, observations, and experiments and secondary data which is collected by the
existing information. The sources available for the secondary data are periodicals, journals,

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Understanding the Integrated Functions of Sales and Marketing
newspapers, government reports, and publication published a survey of markets, reports of
international agencies (Hair et al., 2014).
Different ways of presenting qualitative and quantitative information
There are various ways of presenting qualitative and quantitative information. To present
qualitative information we can use the following ways; bar chart, pie chart, pictogram, map
diagram and to present quantitative information we can use the histogram, frequency curve, line
chart, frequency polygon, normal distribution curve, cumulative distribution curve, scatter
diagram (Creswell et al., 2017).
Tools to analyze sales-related information
There are various tools that can be used to analyze sales-related information.
Whisker Plot and Box- it is used to analyze and display various sets of variation data on a single
graph (Pendell et al., 2016).
Control Chart- this tool is used to study about the changes of a process over time.
Histogram- it is used to show frequency distribution or how each different value in a set of
information occurs.
Scatter diagram- this tool is used to analyze the relationship between two variables.
Stratification- it is used to separates information gathered from various sources to see the pattern
of data.
There are various other sources such as the design of experiments, check sheet, survey, etc.

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Understanding the Integrated Functions of Sales and Marketing
Sales Information of Toyota Innova Crysta
Months Number of cars sold
December 2016 6552
January 2016 5013
February 2016 6054
March 2016 7252
April 2016 6589
May 2016 5643
June 2016 1068
July 2016 9369
August 2016 5963
September 2016 6323
October 2016 6455
November 2016 NA

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Understanding the Integrated Functions of Sales and Marketing
Interpretation- Toyota Innova Crysta has registered high sales rate in the last 12 month. Although
there is little bit fluctuation in the sales rate throughout the months in June 2016, the sales rate
was lowest, and only 1068 cars had been sold in that month. But in the next month that is July
2016 it registered highest sales rate and sold 9369 cars in that particular month. The sales rate of
Toyota Innova Crysta is almost constant if we talk about average sales rate.
Analysis of suitability, validity, relevance, and reliability of market information;
The success and failure of any product or service are much dependent on the market information.
If the market information is not relevant to the needs of the marketers the product or service
launched in the market would fail. Either the marketers cannot launch product or service in the
potential market, or they cannot launch in the right way. There would be wrong information of
the taste and preference of the customers, market trends, etc. Therefore, it is very necessary that
the market information should be relevant, reliable, valid, and suitable to the needs of the
marketers.
Up to date and relevant market information
For the marketers, it is very essential to use up to date and relevant market information to support
the sales-related decision. Taste and preference of the customers always keep changing. The
market keeps fluctuating, and market trends change every day every and every hour. Therefore,
the marketers need to use up to date and relevant market information because up to date and
relevant market information leads to the right path to get success (Baker et al., 2015).

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Understanding the Integrated Functions of Sales and Marketing
Making the Most of Marketing Research
Feedback from colleagues
It is very important for all the department of the organization to get feedback about the product
or service, process, etc. to improve the quality of product, service, process, etc. Feedback can be
taken from customers, employees, colleagues. Feedback is very necessary to know the
effectiveness of the services provided to the customers. For the sales team, it is important to have
sales-related information to analyze the performance of the team. Feedback helps in finding the
shortcoming and improving the service by mitigating the shortcoming (Gabay, 2015). Therefore,
we should get feedback from the colleagues regarding the sales-related information on a regular
basis.
Realistic Market Information
As we have discussed above that the success and failure of product or service depend on the
market information. If the market information is not correct or unrealistic, the product or service
might be failed. For example; there is wrong information about the consumer buying behavior, in
this case, the marketer would not meet the needs of the consumers, and hence the product or
service would be failed (Baker et al., 2015). Therefore, it is essential to have realistic market
information so that marketer can target the potential audience accordingly. So, realistic market
information is very important to meet the needs of the customers as well as improve the
performance of the team because with the right information the team can serve better and yield
an impressive result.

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Understanding the Integrated Functions of Sales and Marketing
Sales-Related Information
Sales-Related information can bring changes in marketing mix because sales-related information
provides details of sales such how many units have been sold, what is the demand, whether the
supply is meeting demand or not, what are challenges and opportunities, etc. This information
provides information about the required attribute of the product, the acceptable price of the
product, potential market to enter, etc. Hence the marketers follow this information and make
required changes in the marketing mix.
Due to the available sales-related information, the market analyzes the market and its potential.
They revise their strategy to fit the demand of the market. They formulate a strategy to position
their product differently in the market. The pricing strategy also changes due to the available
sales-related information. For example- if the sales rate is very high the price of the product
would also be high, and if the sales rate is low and not meeting the target, the price would also be
low to attract more customers. Therefore, the sales-related information changes marketing and
sales strategy.
Allocation of Budget
Budget is one of the most important things which allow proper functioning of the organization.
Budget is considered as the backbone of the organization because it provides financial support to
all the functions of the organization. Obtaining marketing information also requires huge money.
There is two major source of information internal and external. The internal source does not
require much financial support, but external source requires huge money (Hossain et al., 2014).
Therefore, the organization allocates handsome money to obtain marketing information,
especially from an external source.

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Understanding the Integrated Functions of Sales and Marketing
Data Protection Requirement
Protection of obtained data or available data is necessary for the organization to avoid any issue.
The organization stores all the information in the database which is necessary. To protect the
required information the company has following policy. Firstly the company identifies and
prioritizes confidential information then conduct a study to know the current information flows
and performance risk assessment. Then the company has implemented an enforcement and
monitoring system to monitor the data to avoid the risk of information theft. The company also
reviews the system periodically to monitor the progress and avoid risk.
Task4: Marketing and Sales in Practice
Proposed sales strategy
Sales strategy is an approach to selling which allows the sales team to communicate and position
the products and services of the company to potential customers in a differentiated and
meaningful way.
Poisoning Statement- for the age group of 35- 55 Toyota Innova Crysta is the affordable as well
as a reliable family car which combines the excellence of Toyota in hybrid technology with the
performance, features, and style of the Innova.
The first and foremost thing is the hiring of the right candidate in the sales team because they are
the one who generates sales and improves the performance of the overall team and organization.
The second step is to train the hired candidate to make them aware of the needs and demand of
the customers. Then monitoring the performance of the sales team is much needed. It provides
the information about the area of excellence as well as the area of improvement. It is important

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Understanding the Integrated Functions of Sales and Marketing
because we can maximize the area of excellence and improve the area of improvement.
Therefore, there should be a system for continuous improvement. After getting some experience,
the sales manager should allocate some responsibility with authority to the sales team boost-up
their morale and increase the level of motivation. This will make the sales team highly potential
to generate sales and highly potential sales team would lead to the competitive advantage which
is necessary to survive and excel in the market. The market is uncertain, and it changes very
quickly. Therefore, the sales team should be aware of the market trends and taste and preference
of the customers.
Addressing the requirements of the target market
The main goal of any organization is to meet the needs and requirement of the target market. The
total business of any organization is depended on how the organization is meeting the
requirements of the target market (Marilungo et al., 2015). If the requirement is not being met by
the organization, it would be out of the market very soon. Therefore, to sustain in the market and
be profitable it is necessary to meet the requirement of the target market.
Financial Return
If the organization is targeting the specific customer groups, the organization can expect a
handsome financial return because targeting the specific customer group can increase the sales
rate as well as return on the sale.
To Meet Changing Customer Needs
The demand or needs of the customers is always kept changing, and therefore the marketers
need to meet the changing needs of the customers to be in the market. The changing needs of the

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Understanding the Integrated Functions of Sales and Marketing
customers could be met by the new products or services because the new products and services
are designed according to the needs of the customers. The new product includes the features that
are in demand to meet the needs of the customers.
Marketing Strategy and Plan
Marketing strategy and marketing plan help in building a positive relationship with the
organization as well as with the customers. The marketing strategy and marketing plan are
formulated to serve the customer better and generate a high rate of sale (Armstrong et al., 2015).
To generate high sales rate the sales team is advised to meet the requirement of the customer and
treat them as a customer. When a sales team generates high to return the management also
appreciates the effort of sales team which develops a positive relationship with sales team and
customers. The positive relationship with the sales team and customers also helps in gaining a
competitive advantage because due to a positive relationship with the organization the customers
would not approach the competitors for the same product or service. The sales team would also
be highly motivated due to the positive relationship, and hence the performance would also be
high which also help in gaining the competitive advantage and customer loyalty.
Value of Marketing
The main aim of marketing is not maximizing the sales but satisfying the needs of the customers.
A satisfied customer becomes loyal customer of the organization and never goes to the
competitors. The concept of marketing is concentrated on customer satisfaction. The customer
satisfaction helps in generating sales or high sales. Therefore, the value of marketing is
progressing sales is very high.

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Understanding the Integrated Functions of Sales and Marketing
References
Babin, B. J., & Zikmund, W. G. (2015). Exploring marketing research. Cengage Learning.
Hair Jr, J. F., & Lukas, B. (2014). Marketing research (Vol. 2). McGraw-Hill Education
Australia.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed
methods approach. Sage publications.
Pendell, A., Brooks, T., & Heidemann, J. (2016). U.S. Patent Application No. 15/265,827.
Baker, H. K., & Haslem, J. A. (2015). Information needs of individual investors.
Gabay, M. (2015). Providing Feedback to Colleagues: A Continual Challenge. Hospital
Pharmacy, 50(4), 259.
Hossain, M., & Rahman, R. M. (2014, March). Budget allocation model for the academic library
acquisition using data mining technique. In Computer and Information Technology (ICCIT),
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Marilungo, E., Peruzzini, M., & Germani, M. (2015). An Integrated Method to Support PSS
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Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction.
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