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SALES STRATEGY

Sales Strategies

The role of selling has become increasingly analytical and it is a central topic on

senior management's agenda in business markets. Sales strategy remains an under-

researched topic in the business-to-business marketing domain.

Rather than fighting the inevitable, companies need to find ways to adapt that don't

include ostracizing their customers or demonizing the online pioneers of the world

for having the audacity to give people what they want.


Establishing, defending and growing a loyal customer base must become a primary focus. The goal of every customer interaction must
be to start, maintain or leverage client relationships.

Customer focus starts with changing the way we listen. Instead of qualifying for features and cueing in on "hot buttons," solution
sellers diagnose needs with lifestyle questions and keep listening and asking until they understand the whole picture.

Customer-focused salespeople don't present benefits; they prescribe solutions. This means throwing out our inventory of canned
feature-benefit phrases and generic demonstrations and building a new inventory of targeted advantage stories and hands-on proof
that start and end with the customer, not the product.
Selecting and Developing Sales Personnel

Being the seller may also need some characteristics, having some strategies may lead you to an effective
sell, some of them are:

• Desire
• Imagination
• Enthusiasm
• Persistence

• Self-image

• Alertness

• Cooperation

• Teamwork
The firm must rationalize its account strategy and
The market adaptability benchmark refers to the necessity
investments in business, marketing, and selling models
of providing rapid and targeted responses to ever changing
according to its definition of high and low potential
market and customer opportunities. In a sense, this is the
segments. The goal is to provide "local ideal solutions that
organizational aspect that enables the financial gains of
best match individual customers' unique needs”.
customer orientation and target marketing to be realized.
Information Technology

The world of sales is changing. The Internet has had a profound effect on sales, but it is only the tip of the iceberg. Clearly, IT plays a
critical role in enabling customer focus, close customer relationships, and market adaptability. However, the centrality of IT is
intensified when the firm is competing globally and/or using customer-focused teams to "sell" to partnership accounts.

The fact that academic research concerning IT has emphasized the adoption of sales force automation is perhaps not surprising. In
the transactional model of selling, the salesperson is the key resource. Under this model, the role of the selling function is potentially
radically changed in that the sales force may be asked to play a much larger information collection role.
Sales strategies play an important role
when managers design general layouts
for any kind of commercial
organization. At every point, each
organization would offer a good o
service to a defined market, and the
currently emerging competence in
Supermarket different markets starred by retail
Sales Strategy stores across the globe. Following are
some cases related to success stories
in supermarket organizations.
Supermarket strategy Grocery stores' master plan has shoppers getting more than milk and bread.

The Food Marketing Institute developed a research related to the power of marketing in direct sales from customers and how they

have manipulated people’s minds by using effective strategies backing position of every decision at the store.

The desire for food ranks as a primal force that supermarkets have engaged customers and set big corporations into one of the

great success stories of modern retail marketing.

As a result, the shopper who stops off for a carton of milk often ends up with bananas, a six-pack of soft drinks, a package of

bacon and a special discounted item at the checkout counter. Supermarket retailers know from surveys and computerized data

that barely one-third of their customers stick to itemized lists of foods they want, and two-thirds purchase something they hadn't

thought of buying when they started out.


Marketing Mix and Merchandising Theory

Marketing Mix

Doyle (2002), the “marketing mix” is the central task of marketing professionals. The set of marketing tools (product, price, promotion and plac) is used by
companies to achieve their objectives. M.J. Baker (2003), the marketing mix is the only way to maximize customer’s satisfaction and it results in higher sales
and market share.

In order to understand the marketing mix first we need to take a look into it’s tools:

Four Ps Four Cs

• Product • Costumer
• Price Solution
• Promotion • Customer Cost
• Place • Communication
• Convenience

“These 4-Ps –Product, Price, Promotion and Place-, are the four key decisions areas that they satisfy or exceed customer needs better than the competition”

(Jobber, 2001, p.13). Lauterborn (1990), each element of the marketing mix is designed to meet a customer’s need. He assumed this being aware of the

importance of the four Cs –Costumer solution, Customer cost, Communication and Convenience.
Product

The product decision involves what goods or services should be offered to different groups of

customers. As Fifield (1998) said, the product policy is undoubtedly the most important element of

the marketing mix. The product is the vehicle used by companies to satisfy consumers’ needs and it

should be always to orientated to consumer.

Price

The price is a key element of marketing mix because it represents on a unit basis what the company

receives for the product or service which is being marketed. In other words, price represents revenue

while the other elements are cost.

“Often an organization is willing to spend a hundred thousand dollars on researching its new product

concepts, but it is loathed to spend one percent of that on researching the different customer

perceptions to various price levels” (Fifield, 1998).


Place

Jobber (2001), “place” involves decisions concerning the distribution channels to be used and their management, the location of outlets, methods of

transportation and inventory levels to be held. “Manufactures are concerned with how to distribute and deliver product to customers, and service

providers are concerned with the location of service points and customer accessibility” (Fifield, 1998). In other words, we could use place and distribution

to know where would our customer expect to find our products or services.

PromotIon

Paul Fifield (1998), “promotion” is defined as the whole array of methods and procedures by which the organization communicates with its target

market. Promotion is the element of marketing mix used to inform, persuade and remind to the target audience the capability of the company to satisfy

their needs, and they use it willing to influence audience’s feelings, beliefs and behaviour.

Promotional Mix:

 Advertising  Exhibitions

 Publicity  Packaging

 Direct Marketing  Sales Promotion

 Sponsorship  Personal Selling


Merchandising

Our main focus will be POS Merchandising, which is the merchandising in the supermarkets. According to Crosier (2003), POS merchandising is

promotion via various forms of displays, acting as a reminder to consumer of previously noticed promotional message. The American Marketing

Association (2007) mentions in its dictionary that Merchandising has two definitions; the first definition emphasizes the promotional activities applied

inside stores, like displays for their products, and the second one focuses on identifying and choosing correct decisions about products or products

portfolio.

Advertisings
Advertising is defined as the use of posters and displays inside super and hypermarkets, excluding advertising made outside the store, like advertising on
TV, magazines and newspapers. Zorita (2008) said the best method to rise sales is using advertising and promotion tools. Is in the sales outlet where the
battle can be won of the decision-making final consumer.

Shelves
“Shelves" strategy is focused on the collocation of products on the shelves (how supermarkets put or organize them). Hita (1997), shelves of
supermarkets have three levels where products are placed; eyes, hands and feet..
The first level and the most important one is the eyes level, because the consumer is able to see clearly the product. Supermarkets use this level to place
the most expensive products which usually belong to the most wellknown brands. Manuel (2007) says in his article that the brands often pay
supermarket because they want to place their products on this level.
The second level is hands level. This level is also easily accessed by the consumer. Here, the products are frequently cheaper than on the eyes level,

but more expensive than on the feet level. The brands are well-known as well.

The third level is the feet level. On this level the cheaper products are placed. Access is more difficult than to the other levels, and the consumer

has to do effort to take the product. The “private label brands” are frequently placed on this level. “Private label brands”are those owned not by a

manufacturer or producer but by a retailer or supplier who gets its goods made by a contract manufacturer under its own label.

Product Placement

This strategy consists of organization of products using “cold-zones” and “hot-zones”. “Hot-zones” are those places where the flow of consumers
is heavier; for example, a cross between two hallways or near the entrance. In these zones, products are easier sold because they are more visible
for customers.
In “cold-zones” sales are lower. These are generally transitional spaces, poorly illuminated or hidden. In such areas are often placed essential
products as sugar or salt. These products are placed there because do not need to be boosted and customers will buy them anyway.
Music, Lighting, and Visual Effects

Baker (1992) and Morin (2007) stated that music has been shown to affect consumers’ responses to retail

environments, typically in a positive manner. According to Fulberg (2003), music communicates to

people’s heart and mind and serves as a powerful influence on emotions. In others words, music helps

supermarkets making customers’ visit more comfortable and pleasant.

The main aim of this strategy is to control human flow, through different kinds of music. Depending of

the kind of music, flow can become slower or faster. When the store is overcrowded the ideal is to use

fast-paced music which compels consumers to make purchases quickly and rashly. When the

establishment is less crowded the best option is slow music, encouraging customer to spend more time

inside the store which rises the impulse buying.

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