Describing

the personal
s e l in g
funtion

Strategic
Role of the
Sales
Function

Developing
the
Salesforce

Directing the
Salesforce

Salesforce
Effectivenes
s and
Performance

SALES MANAGEMENT PROCESS OF COCA COLA

Coca Cola Company uses personal selling technique in their sales management process.

Following type of sales people include in personal selling:

1. Order Takers
Seek repeat sales, make certain that customers have sufficient product quantities where and when
they need it. Do not require extensive sales effort. Arrange displays, restocks them, answer phone
calls. Low compensation, little training required. High turnover of personnel.
Inside Order Takers receive orders by mail/phone, sales person in a retail store.
Field Order Takers travel to customers.
2. Order Getters
Sell to new customers and increase sales to present customers, sometimes called creative selling.
Generate customer leads, provide information, persuading customers and closing sales. Required
for high priced, complex and/or new products. High pressure, requires expensive, time
consuming training
3. Trade Salespeople
May perform order taking function as well. Spend much time helping customers, especially retail
stores, to promote the product. Restock the shelves, set up displays.
4. Team Selling

Coca Cola Company | Sales Management

Team selling is selling using multiple people who each bring something unique to the sales
process, especially when specialized knowledge is needed to satisfy different interests in
customers' buying centers.

Elements of the Personal Selling Process

Salespersons use exactly the same sales method, but it is generally a seven step process:

Prospecting and Evaluating

Seek names of prospects through sales records, referrals etc., also responses to advertisements.
Need to evaluate if the person is able (Undergraduate degree to attend a graduate program),
willing and authorized to buy. Blind prospecting-rely on phone directory etc.
1. Preapproach (Preparing)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Review key decision makers esp. for business to business, but also family
Assess credit histories
Prepare sales presentations
Identify product needs.
Helps present the presentation to meet the prospects needs.
Approaching the Customer

Manner in which the sales person contacts the potential customer. First impression of the sales
person is Lasting and therefore important. Strive to develop a relationship rather than just push
the product. Can be based on referrals, cold calling or repeat contact.
2. Making the Presentation
Need to attract and hold the prospects Attention to stimulate Interest and stir up Desire in the
product
so
the
potential
customer
takes
the
appropriate Action.
AIDA
Try to get the prospect to touch, hold or try the product. Must be able to change the presentation
to meet the prospect needs. Three types of presentations:

Stimulus Response Format: Appropriate stimulus will initiate a buy decision, use one
appeal after another hoping to hit the right button.
Formula Selling Format: (Canned Sales Presentation) memorized, repetitive, given to
all customers interested in a specific product.
Coca Cola Company | Sales Management

Good for inexperienced sales people.

Better with heavily advertised items that are presold.
Need Satisfaction Format: Based on the principal that each customer has a different set
of needs/desires., therefore the sales presentation should be adapted to the individual
customer's needs, this is a key advantage of personal selling vs. advertising.
Sales person asks questions first, then makes the presentation accordingly.
Need to do homework, listen well and allow customers to talk etc.

3. Closing
Ask prospect to buy product/products. Use trial closes, IE ask about financial terms, preferred
method of delivery. Generally sales people close 80% of the sales.
Need to be prepared to close at any time. The following are popular closing techniques:

Trial Close (Minor decision close)

Assumptive close (Implied consent close)
Ask for the sale close

If prospect says no, they may just need more reasons to buy!!
4. Following Up
Must follow up sale, determine if the order was delivered on time, installation OK etc. Also helps
determine the prospects future needs. Accomplishes few objectives:

customer gain short term satisfaction

in the long run, repurchase

Functions Performed by salespeople to manage their customer:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Firstly, they do sales call to their prospective customer

Then they take their customer order
After this our sales people agreed on the purchase order which is given by the buyer.
Now we deliver the order according to the term and conditions written in the purchase
order.
Custo
Sales
5. In the last step we do follow up, determine that the ordermer
was delivered on time and it
Call
Order
also helps to determine the prospects future needs.

Purcha
se
Order

Follow
Up

Coca Cola Company | Sales Management

Order
Deliver
y

Strategic Decision and Sales Strategy:

At Corporate level the strategic decision is to grow & build and find new infant markets. At
marketing level the strategic decision is to target new market making good relation with existing
customer and use IMC strongly and effectively. So Strategic decision must be translated into
strategies for individual account, So the Coca Cola company sales department focus more on
relationship strategy they also do account targeting strategy and selling but focuses more on
relationship strategy. They also use different sales channel to promote their company, generate
profit and increase the market share.

Specific Characteristics which makes sales manager effective:

1. Coaching
Coaching is the number one sales management activity that drives sales performance. The goal
of coaching is to help each sales rep to improve their performance and reach their true potential.
Its about developing your A sales people to become A+ and developing your B sales
people to become As.
A sales manager with great coaching skills will not only see improved sales performance, but
will have better sales rep engagement, reduced turnover and improved job satisfaction.
He Said, In my work with many sales managers, one of the toughest skills to master is
coaching.
2. Critical Thinker
Critical business thinking required to achieve your sales objectives. The business environment
demands that both sales reps and managers have strong business skills. Sales managers need to
be able to understand complex business issues and help their sales reps view their
business strategically. Sales managers need to teach their sales people how to make wiser
decisions, plan better, and effectively allocate their resources based on customer needs
and potential for growth.
Coca Cola Company | Sales Management

3. Hiring
Most sales managers are not hiring on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Therefore it becomes
challenging to develop great hiring skills. However, hiring the right sales person makes a big
difference. Hiring mistakes are costly and take time to fix.
Sales managers who can systematically identify and select top sales talent will deliver improved
team performance and sales results.
4. Be a team player
Sales managers are often in a middle management position, with salespeople reporting to them
and other managers or executives above them in the corporate structure. In this situation, higher
levels of management often pass down policy changes to the sales manager and expect the
manager to report to them as to the performance of the sales team. As the person in the middle,
your role is to act as an interpreter for both sides. When the CSO sets a new policy, find out why
he's chosen a new approach and pass that information along to the team. And if your team is
struggling, work with them to find the cause so that you can explain the problem fairly to the
executive side.
5. Treat all your salespeople equally
Given that there are a limited number of hours in the day, many sales managers focus their
coaching efforts on the best and worst salespeople on the team and let the ones in the middle do
their own thing. Unfortunately, this approach doesn't exactly send a positive message to the
neglected salespeople. Set aside time to meet with every member of the sales team regardless of
their performance.
6. Give positive feedback
Salespeople tend to have two top motivators: money and recognition. You may be limited in how
much money you can shower on your salespeople but there's no limit to the recognition you can
provide. If a salesperson is performing well, praise her both privately and in front of the team.
Any time a salesperson's performance improves markedly even if he's not doing much better
than the rest of the team make a point of showing him that you noticed that improvement. A
little positive feedback can do wonders to boost your team's morale and get them performing at
an even higher level.

Sales Process and how to Prospect New Account

1. Get a decent list of prospects.
Ideally, you want to be prospecting for customers who are already likely to buy. To do that, draw
your list of prospects from the following sources in this order:
Coca Cola Company | Sales Management

Referrals. People whom your existing customers have contacted and suggested that they
get in touch with you.
Networks. People whom you've connected with personally at industry events or online
via social networking.
Website Visitors. People who've shown an interest in your offerings by accessing your
website and leaving contact data.

2. Create a qualifying script.

Based upon your experience, define a conversational way to ask, during an initial conversation
3. Set reasonable prospecting goals.
Set a target for how many prospects you will need in your pipeline order to generate the number
of sales that you need. For example, if you must generate five sales a week and on average close
one out of fifty prospects, you will need to make 250 calls a week.
4. Get into a positive mental state.
Find a place where you won't be interrupted or distracted. Take a few minutes to focus yourself
and your thoughts:

Be positive. Believe you will succeed. If you fail try again.

Be optimistic. Look for the best in people and expect good things to happen.
Visualize success. Imagine ALL the emotions you'll feel when you achieve your goal.

5. Make the calls.

While doing so, remember to listen as much (or more) as you talk

Attract keep and develop Sales Talent

The answer of the question is going to be divided into three parts. Each respective part of the
question is discussed below in detail.
Attracting Sales Talent: We use different tools and procedures to help us attract the sales talent.
Motivation is a common practice in our firm and we do that to raise the morale of our sales
employees. We also provide them with an immediate feedback regarding their tasks which is
necessary to help keep them on a straight path. We use the following techniques to keep our
employees motivated:

Public Recognition: When our sales reps have an exceptional week, we highlight their
achievements in front of their peers so that it might boost up their morale a little bit.

Coca Cola Company | Sales Management

Celebrate The Good Times: When the good times come in, we celebrate by doing
simple things like giving a shout-out on the sales floor or an email message to
congratulate everyone on doing a great job.
Implement Monthly Incentives: We give incentives to those sales people who
outperform others on a monthly basis which increases the competition among the sales
staff members and it keeps them motivated.

Keeping Sales Talent: We try to keep the members of our sales talent happy and content in the
following ways:

We try to maintain the environment of our firm as pleasant and friendly as it could be so
that our employees might not feel the sense of insecurity.
We Praise them when the praise is due.
Let them know that our door is always open to them and they can ask us anything at any
time.
We treat our fellow employees with respect.

Developing Our Sales Talent:

It is very important to develop our sales force so that they might produce the desire results.
Below are a couple of ways we do so

Evaluation of Performance: We evaluate the performance of our sales force and then try
to find out the problem that they might be facing while performing their respective tasks.
Peer Monitoring Program: We assign experienced sales person to help out the
employee if he is facing any troubles achieving the target or performing his duties
effectively.

Sales channel use in Coca Cola:

Our firm uses three types of sales channel. They are Trade shows and Team selling. The way they
are implemented are discussed below:
Trade Shows: We conduct our trade shows in the following ways:
Business Theater: We set up our business theater where our well trained sales rep
gives the potential customers the presentations regarding our product.
Brief Overview: A brief overview of the company is given to the attendees along with all the
exciting things that they would find inside our booth. They are also giving a brief introduction
regarding our product.
Booth Activities: Fun activities are offered at the booth where people can play different games
and are offered prizes.
Coca Cola Company | Sales Management

Team Selling: We practice team selling in our organization. It is implemented in the following
ways
Distribution:

Direct Distribution (Company 2 Company)

Indirect Distribution (Company to Distributor)

We create clear and realistic goals so that the sales team can succeed successfully without falling
to a prey to frustration. Teams are made according to the individuals skills and later on their
performances are checked to determine that whether we need to make any adjustments or not.
Training is provided to the sales rep which is focused on working collaboratively and efficiently.
We hold a ten minute meeting every morning to answer questions and provide inspiration and
share tips so that they could feel motivated towards achieving their goal. We also arrange team
building activities so that they could learn to work together as one unit.

What is more important for you and your organization sales volume or sales
productivity kindly give me reason?

As they said that productivity is more important than volume because our customers
focus on value instead of quantity.
Of course quantity matters as it is important for the availability of the product but they
said that more focus at the organizations end is on productivity.
They said they also give importance to volume but to some extent they focus on what is
demanded by the customers and if the value is good then demand will increase and this
will increase the volume of the product.
As we know in old period people more focus towards volume and they keep on
producing the products without focusing on the value that is required.
They keep on increasing the expenses by producing more and more products cause the
more the volume is more the expenses will be.
But now a days organization (coca cola) more focusing on utilizing fewer resources and
do more sales so that they can generate more profit because main motto of every business
is to earn more profit and make fewer expenses.
They also mentioned that they are in demand so they are focusing on volume as well
because the availability matters a lot but they are using such ways so that they will utilize
best of resources and make profit by increasing sales.
They are leveling their cost and expenses by doing the whole procedure more effectively
because they got good employees so they are doing the whole procedure effectively.
They evaluate the sales by focusing on productivity not majorly volume and they also
give rewards according to the sales productivity their employees made.

Coca Cola Company | Sales Management

Their employees are much motivated and they are using their skills to reduce expenses
and increase value because they are providing incentives for their abilities and work.

How your sales people contribute toward their own organization, society and
customer?
Sales people act on behalf of their companies by doing the following:

Creating value for their firms customers.

Generating Revenue.
Managing relationships.
Relaying customer and market information back to their organizations.

From societys perspective, selling is wonderful when professional sales people act on behalf of
both buyers and sellers. The sales person has a trust responsibility and ethical responsibility to
the buyer. At times, however two responsibilities conflict with one another. Sales people also
face conflicts within their companies. When a sales person tells a customer a product is delivered
in three days, he/ she has made a promise that will either be kept or broken by her companys
shipping department. When the sales person accepts the contract with certain terms, he/she has
made a promise to customer that will either be kept or broken by her companys credit
department. What if the credit department and shipping department cant agree on the shipping
terms the customer should receive? Which group should the salesperson side with? What if
managers want the salesperson to sell a product thats unreliable and will swamp the companys
customer service representatives with buyers complaints? Should she / he nonetheless work hard
to sell the offering? In general, salespeople handle these conflicting expectations well. Society
benefits because salespeople help buyers make more informed decisions and help their
companies succeed, which, in turn, creates jobs for people and products they can use. Most
salespeople also truly believe in the effectiveness of their companys offerings. Our sales
employees are very motivated and they are contributing at their level best to us, our customers
and society. Firstly they are contributing to us as they are the source of profit for us they are
bringing money in our organization. They are generating revenue for us. They are also following
the norms and ethics that are in our organization they work according to our ways but through
their skills. They care about our norms and values and they follow them as we tell them to do.
Sales people are very important for any business because they are directly interacting with our
Coca Cola Company | Sales Management

customers plus society and these both are very important for us because they are the source of
income for our company. They are contributing to our customers by providing them the required
things according to their need. They are taking care of our customers demands and they let us
know what is needed by our customers and the society. They provide satisfaction to customers
and this will increase our positivity in the mind of our customers. They are contributing to the
society as they are socializing and active in society. They are ethical to society as they are not
violating the norms and ethics. They are the direct source between us our customers and society
and they connect us through selling our product and making our positive image in customers
mind and in front of society. Sales people often doing conversations with customers to know
their needs and wants, define characteristics of products and services to meet their needs. Sales
people contribute to their customer by solving their problems. Coca cola use consultative selling
for achieving customer strategic goal and solving their problems. Sales people keep in touch with
their clients. Sales people must have knowledge about their product (product benefits,
competitive strengths). Sales people must have the skill to develop interest of customer towards
their product and he must have to know that time is very important element and how effectively
they use this time. In addition to acting on behalf of their firms, sales representatives also act on
behalf of their customers. Whenever a salesperson goes back to her company with a customers
request, be it for quicker delivery, a change in a product feature, or a negotiated price, she is
voicing the customers needs. Her goal is to help the buyer purchase what serves his or her needs
the best.

Hiring/Recruiting procedure of the Coca Cola

Our recruitment process is well established first of all we give ads in newspapers and company
website our company relies on internal and external recruitment internal sources include
employee referral and our job portal.
The selection process will vary depending on the position candidate is applying for as one
process cant fill all the different roles we have here at our company however in most cases a
combination of many of the following tools are used for identifying prospective candidates these
are interview, group exercises, presentations, role play and situational exercises.
Interview is designed to reveal more about candidate we ask them that how they behave in
different situations may be at school. University and their previous jobs. We conduct interviews
because its a two way process to understand the nature of the candidate.
To analyze communication skills of a candidate we conduct group exercises and presentations
giving them chance to show their abilities and skills. Role play and situational exercises are
designed to assess how candidate react in certain situations these help to highlight particular
skills and how well candidate is suited for particular position. Candidate may be given facts and
figures to review or a report to complete we may also have an assessor acts as a customer or
employee to stimulate a situation that could occur in a workplace.
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At offer stage candidate will be contacted by either the recruiter or the hiring manager to discuss
the terms your employment. Candidate will discuss salary, benefits, start date, all the things need
to clear up before you start in your new role. Once candidate is accepted, details will be sent
through to our Human Resources to generate your contract and the HR relationship thatll
continue throughout time with us.

Q: What do you prefer while selecting your sales candidate? (Internal /

external)
They prefer more on internal hiring. Recruitment is the process of finding and hiring the bestqualified candidate (from within or outside of an organization) for a job opening, in a timely and
cost effective manner. The recruitment process includes analyzing the requirements of a job,
attracting employees to that job, screening and selecting applicants, hiring, and integrating the
new employee to the organization.
Internal Hiring
The assessment of an employer's current staff to ascertain if any current employees are
sufficiently skilled or qualified to perform required job vacancies. When a business engages in
internal recruitment, a current employee might be reassigned to the new position by giving them
either a promotion or an internal transfer.
External hiring
External recruitment is the assessment of an available pool of job candidates, other than existing
staff, to see if there are any sufficiently skilled or qualified to fill and perform existing job
vacancies. It is the process of searching outside of the current employee pool to fill open
positions in an organization.
Coca Cola Company practice both external and internal hiring modules but they prefer internal
hiring in the sales department due to the following reasons:

Morale
Cost
Competition
Revitalization

Though most of the companies prefer external hiring to enhance young blood and diverse skills
but on the other hand they have to work quite hard for training the newbies and in such
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competitive environment, the company has to look for timely solutions and this internal practice
is quite desirable, need of the hour, informal and efficient.

Process of sales training and development:

To improve as a company and to help associates realize their full potential, we are committed to
extending education and development programs to our associates at all levels of our
organization.
We have a designated person in our territory for commercial training. For every department. We
have a team of trainers. Training is conducted as per the objective of our business. The training
strategies in Coca Cola focus on bridging the gap between the organization needs with the
consumer needs. The target is to produce quality of labor with various educational, technical and
analytical skills among employees. The perspective of Coca Cola is to enhance its training and
development in way which does not affect the creativity of the workers, and therefore allows it to
create an advantage for the company.
Training and development is beneficial not just for the company itself but also to the individual
workers. Here, training and development leads to improved success and more positive behavior
toward profit alignment, enhance the job abilities and knowledge at all levels of Coca Cola. On
the other hand, training and development program benefits personal workers through helping
them make better choices, helping in motivating and achieving self-development and selfconfidence, helping an employee to handle stress, disappointment and moving the individual
toward personal objectives.
We make our sales people capable of understanding their firm its products, its customers, its
competitors through our training programs as per our business objectives they enhance their
knowledge skills and abilities and become more productive in the field.
This training technique is designed with organizational objectives and perspective of Coca-Cola
and also the present difficulties they are experiencing. At Coca Cola, we create it a concern to
cure their individuals well, help them create and provide them a fulfilling operating life. By
offering training and development program, role plays, coaching and feedback, we make sure
that everyone who performs in Coca Cola has the sources they need to understand more and
develop their professions. And also to have some fun along the way - we want Coca-Cola to be a
good place to work where individuals are motivated to be the best they can be.

How would you prospect new accounts?

At Coca-Cola, customers are at the heart of everything we do. Customer preference is a core
value of our business. This means building true partnerships that create sustainable value and
profitable growth for our business and our customers across all key channels. By finding new
ways to win together in the marketplace, we aim to be the preferred supplier to all of our
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12

customers. To achieve this, we have adopted a comprehensive set of initiatives designed to build
collaborative customer relationships and ensure excellent execution.
We prospect new customers through the following:

Referrals. People to whom our existing customers have contacted and suggested that
they get in touch with you.
Networks. People that are connected with us personally at industry events or online via
social networking.
Website Visitors. People who've shown an interest in our offerings by accessing our
website and leaving contact data.

How do you overcome buyers concern?

They prefer to listen more from customer. They use probing technique .The idea that people love
to buy is one of the biggest myths in sales. The actual buying process is hindered by fears and
doubts. Its up to the salesperson to allay the buyers fears.
People dont like being sold to, but they like to buy; so goes one of the oldest myths in sales.
The solution, we are told, is not to sell to people, but to help them buy. While there is no doubt
that a salesperson should facilitate a purchase, the myth that people enjoy buying can
hinder sales taking place.
In any selling situation, it is likely that you will need to overcome a buyers obstacles before a
buying decision is made. Often, the way we "handle" objections turns the buyer off. Resolving
objections effectively is a process that involves careful, sensitive listening and positive, factual
responses to a buyers concerns.
Buyer objections are not always rational. Objections are often totally emotional. You must
respond to customers emotional needs and to the obstacles preventing them from buying.
We overcome objections by following the certain guidelines such as viewing objections as
selling tools, being aware of the benefits of our products, and creating a list of possible
objections and the best answers to them.
Objections can generally be handled easier through listening, clarifying, respecting, and
responding. The purpose of listening to the buyer is to gain as much knowledge as possible about
their objection. Showing interest can also show prospects that you want to know their concerns
in order to help them. Do not interrupt the buyer while he is speaking, as doing so can quickly
close the deal and result in a loss of the sale and clarifying the objection can allow you to ask
questions to gain more information.

What Specification qualifications and skills do you look for in sales staff?
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There are numerous qualifications and skills level that are considered to be present in the sales
staff in accordance to their job hierarchy level. Moreover, there is no hard and fast rule that is
developed to see if a person has enhanced such skills to be incentivized monetary and nonmonetary. The generic and essential qualifications and skills required for sales staff are listed
below:

Communication Skill
Negotiation Skills
Problem Handling
Problem Absorber
Strong Follow up
Logical.

Communication Skill:
Being able to communicate effectively is the most important of all life skills. Communication is
simply the act of transferring information from one place to another, whether this be vocally,
written, visually or non-verbally. The ability to communicate information accurately, clearly and
as intended, is a vital life skill that is needed from the sales staff as they are the human bridge
between the company and its customers.
Negotiation Skills
Negotiation is a method by which people settle differences. It is a process by which compromise
or agreement is reached while avoiding argument and dispute. In any disagreement, individuals
understandably aim to achieve the best possible outcome for their position. However, the
principles of fairness, seeking mutual benefit and maintaining a relationship are the keys to a
successful outcome which are intended by a good sales staff.
Problem Handling
One should be analytic and develop the perfect knowledge about their product/service offered to
understand the problems of the customers so that they could lever the queries and satisfy them to
the fullest. The sales staff should develop this skill to reflect competency and flawlessness.
Problem Absorber
Absorbing a problem for a client (internal or external), supporting those who are Absorbing
problems, or discovering new problems to solve, the problems you face can be large or small,
simple or complex, and easy or difficult. A fundamental part of every sales staff is finding ways
to solve them. So, being a confident problem solver is really important to your success. Much of
that confidence comes from having a good process to use when approaching a problem. With
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one, you can solve problems quickly and effectively. Without one, your solutions may be
ineffective, or you'll get stuck and do nothing, with sometimes painful consequences.
Strong Follow up
The act or an instance of following up, as to further an end or review new developments: The
follow-up is often as important as the initial contact in gaining new clients. Intended to follow
up, as to reinforce or evaluate previous action. These actions are essential for sales staff to build
a fruitful relationship with customers.

Q: What key measures are you using to track sales effectiveness?

Sales effectiveness refers to the ability of a company's sales professionals to win at each stage
of the customer's buying process, and ultimately earn the business on the right terms and in the
right timeframe. The measures to fulfill the need of check and balance regarding sales
effectiveness are as follows:

Comparison of sales with last year sales

Vertical Growth
Horizontal Growth
Market Share
Numeric distribution

Comparison of sales with last year sales

The comparison of sales will make a benchmark for the sales staff to develop and increase the
sales target for the next year plus it helps the managers to see the performance of each and every
sales person that will relate the geographical segments that needs attention.
Vertical Growth
The vertical growth relates to elite performance that results in promotion of the sales staff within
the hierarchy level of the sales department. The sales effectiveness provides the scale of
promoting the deserving staff which results in further motivation, retention and loyalty.

Horizontal Growth
The horizontal growth refers to the diversity among the same level of hierarchy among the sales
staff in which the performance of selling different product/service line is observed that helps to
make the sales person jack of all trades. Moreover, this diversity helps the sales staff to
understand different sales techniques that are required for each genre of product/service.
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Market Share
The variations in the market share are also one of the benchmarks that help to evaluate the
performance of sales staff and help to executive certain measures that align the market share
positivity.
Numeric Distribution
Numeric distribution is based on the number of outlets that carry a product. It is defined as the
percentage of stores that stock a given brand or SKU, within the universe of stores in the relevant
market. Distribution metrics quantify the availability of products sold through retailers, usually
as a percentage of all potential outlets. Often, outlets are weighted by their share of category
sales. For marketers who sell through resellers, distribution metrics reveal a brands percentage
of market access and works as an evaluation tool for performance of the sales staff.

Q: Does the sales staff help in building sales strategies?

A sales strategy consists of a plan that positions a companys brand or product to gain a
competitive advantage. Successful strategies help the sales force focus on target market
customers and communicate with them in relevant, meaningful ways. Sales representatives need
to know how their products or services can solve customer problems. A successful sales strategy
conveys this so that the sales force spends time targeting the correct customers at the right time.
Planning and creating an effective sales strategy requires looking at long-term sales goals and
analyzing the business sales cycle, as well as meeting with sales people about their personal
career goals. Going through these exercises helps business owners and managers gain a more
intimate knowledge of the sales intervals, seasonal changes and what motivates the sales team.
After creating the long-term sales strategy based on long-term goals, sales managers should
create monthly and weekly sales strategies based on the long-term strategy. This allows for shortterm performance measurement of the sales team.
Yes, Coca Cola Companys sales staff helps in building sales strategies as they are one of the
basic and essential ingredients in planning, developing, initiating, accomplishing and evaluating
the strategies. Likewise, the sales staff has the following components within their reach that
helps building sales strategy:

Sales Knowledge
Market Knowledge
Company Knowledge
Customer Knowledge
Skills and Competency

Consequently, the sales strategy is developed for the sales staff to follow so their involvement is
very important as they have the key knowledge of everything on which the sales strategy is
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dependent and they know well how to accomplish the goals and objectives of the strategy in
accordance to their skill and competency.

Guidelines for a Sales Manager:

The guidelines that I would like to suggest for a sales manager are the following:
1. Should Possess Analytical Ability
2. Must Have The Ability To Attain Targets
3. Must Have The Ability To Get Things Done
4. A Sales Manager Must Be Creative
5. Should Have The Ability To Develop Subordinates
6. Must Possess Problem Solving and Communication Skills
7. Must Possess Technical Knowledge
8. A Sales Manager Should Build Enthusiasm In Their Sales Force
9. Sales Manager Should Have The Ability To Work Under Pressure
10. Should Coach and Motivate Sales Force
11. A Good Sales Manager should Provide Feedback To Their Sales People
12. A Good Sales Manager Should Have Management Skills and Experience

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Suggestions:
1. Just as we always encourage our sales people to follow up with potential clients, be sure
to follow up with your sales team on discussions brought up in coaching, training, or
sales meetings. Ask them whether the information was useful, how they are able to apply
it, what issues they are still encountering. When you follow up on key discussions, your
sales people will be more likely to actively apply the material to their daily activities.
2. Managers often emphasize to their employees the necessity for constant development and
training. Dont forget that the same applies to you. Consider taking a professional sales
management or sales coaching course to help you manage your sales team toward more
productive and profitable possibilities.
3. Goals do not have to be just about hitting numbers; you should also set developmental
goals with your sales people. Tangible goals around habit and attitude improvements as
well as knowledge and skills acquisition goals will produce well-rounded professionals
who will better be able to achieve their sales targets.
4. Be a resource for your team. Share your own success stories, best practices, and advice
on your areas of expertise, and direct them to appropriate external resources when
needed. Show your team that they can come to you with challenges and questions.
5. Do you know your sales team and how they learn best? Take some time to identify the
personality types and learning styles of the people within your team in order to help you
deliver your sales meetings, coaching, and training sessions in the most effective way.
7. Dont allow negative morale to pervade your company culture. When signs of negative
morale become apparent, find out what is at the root of your employees concerns, and
then have an informative and open conversation with them about their concerns.
8. With your sales team at the heart of your business, its important to keep them in constant
development in terms of industry, product, and sales knowledge. Early in the year, work
out a training and development plan with each sale professional, and stick to it, no matter
how busy things get. Ensuring that your sales team is equipped with the latest knowledge
will translate into more opportunities for new business and innovation.

Coca Cola Company | Sales Management

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