Sale planning and operation is an incorporated process of the organization management which includes appropriate forecasts for demand and supply of the different products and services of company that leads sales, production, operation, inventory, marketing, customer and financial plan of the organization (Dent, 2011). The present research report is based on various aspects of sales planning and operations of Lenovo. It focuses on role of personal selling on overall marketing strategies of the company. The study comprises different principles of selling process of the association. In addition role and objective of management is also a strong section of this research. Along with this sales plan for a product and services are also describing in the following paragraphs of the report.
Lenovo is a personal technology company and it is dedicated to building engineered Personal computers and mobile internet devices. At present Lenovo has selected Steelwedge software and it is leading in the cloud based sales and operation planning. Sale planning and operation of the Lenovo focuses on stakeholder’s engagement, flexible planning and integrated with business planning of the organization (Gupta, 2009).
Personal selling is an important element of the promotion of the organization in which Lenovo use sales force to sell personal computers and mobiles with face to face meeting with customers (Rust and Verhoef, 2005). Lenovo uses a rage of promotional activities for increasing the awareness of their products and services in customer’s mind. Promotional mix depends on the marketing budget and strategy of Lenovo. Personal selling supports promotional mix of the organization by various ways which are as follows:
Major promotional mix objectives of Lenovo includes high demand of PCs and mobiles, communicating present information to customer about products and services and differentiating their products and services to competitors (Charles, 2007). Personal selling plays an important role in accomplishment of all these objectives. Personal selling helps in finding out new customers for the organization which helps in increasing the demand of PCs and mobiles which is the one of the major objectives of promotional mix of Lenovo. Along with this personal selling also augments the communication with existing and potential customers which helps Lenovo in communicating information to all consumers about product range. Along with this, sales officers can get appropriate feedback to customers about their products and their needs and requirements which help in changing and differentiating products and services to competitors. Thus, personal selling plays an important role in attaining all promotional mix objectives of the Lenovo in an effective way.
Major marketing objective of Lenovo is increasing the awareness of existing, new and upcoming product range of the organization in mind of customers. As per the above discussion, by using personal selling, Lenovo can enhance face to face communication with its customers which helps in distributing all information about products and services to different consumers. Therefore, personal selling plays an important role in attaining marketing objectives of the organization in an effective manner.
Buyers behaviour and decision making process is different in distinct situations. At here different situations may consider consumer and organizational purchase decision making process; personal, psychological and social influences on consumer purchase behaviour; environmental, organizational, interpersonal and individual influences on organizational buyer behaviour, occasion of purchase, interest and motives behind purchasing, involvement level, importance and structure of decision making unit, finding the decision taker, distinction between customers and users (Ferrell, 2012). Comparison is as follows:
Customer and organizational buyer (Personal and professional use): Consumer decision making process starts and ends with the ultimately buys the products and services of Lenovo and for personal consumption. On other hand organizational buying decision making process starts with the new ideas and facts and purchasing of products for the business use (Fifield, 2012). For example an individual purchase a new mobile of Lenovo for personal use than its buying behaviour will be influences by the various social, personal, psychological and cultural factors. But if an organization uses mobiles for their employees then they think about the professional use of products and services of Lenovo. Price is also a significant factor for the organizational buyer of the Lenovo.
Buying interest and motives: Also influences the buyer behaviour and decision making process of the consumer of organization (Grieves, 2006). For instance different customer have different motives behind purchasing Lenovo mobiles such as one person buys this product due to its features and looking but other person buys the same product due to the low pricing. Thus, individual’s needs and motives towards the Lenovo mobile change the decision making process of the consumer (Prasad, 2010).
Status and income level of buyer: Is also an important situation which affects the buyer behaviour and decision making process of consumer of Lenovo. For example, if any consumer who has high income level then its buyer behaviour influences by the marketing activity of Lenovo and decision making process is based on the high quality products. But on other hand those customer which have low income level they purchase those products and services which provides maximum services in low prices (Oudan, 2007).
Sales force is generally used by Lenovo for the personal selling of products and services of the Lenovo. Major role of sales force within the marketing strategy of organization is as follows:
As per the presentation of Lenovo on selling process of ThinkPad I have learned various principles for developing selling process for the organization.I understood that for developing an effective selling process Lenovo should follow customer oriented approach in their sales planning process. Along with this they should focus on technology, innovation in products and services and diverse and international team for each and every task of sales management.I learned that for developing an effective launch of ThinkPad 8 Lenovo should develop an appropriate plan before making promises to consumers, well perform as per the made promises, and provide the first priority to the company and customer of the Lenovo.In addition I gained knowledge that for effective selling processes each sales personnel requires continuous practice that improves the overall performance of the sale force.I learned that preparation and objectives play an important role in selling process of the Lenovo so organization should decide smart objectives for their sales performance.I earned knowledge that Lenovo decides windows software and 8 inch screen of ThinkPad as an opening remark of the table launch of the Lenovo.
I realized that personal presentation and techniques also play an important role in selling process of the ThinkPad so, organization should communicates different information of tablet regarding windows 8 software, sharing apps convenient, security features of tablet and dual HD camera to their customers.It helps in increasing the sales of the organization. Along with this I am awarded about the principles of selling process which focuses on the need for identification and stimulation are essential for significant selling process of ThinkPad of Lenovo.Current presentation helps on gained knowledge about that how demonstration and visual aids help in increasing the overall sales of the organization.It also provided knowledge about that various factors which affects the buyer behaviour towards the purchasing of tablet of Lenovo.It showed that price and warranty services are major factors which influence the buying process of different consumers of the organization.Sales plan presentation of the Lenovo also help in learning that buying signals, closing techniques, post sales follows-up and relationship marketing also help in attaining objectives of selling process of organization.Consequently, this presentation helps me in learning about different principles of selling process for sales management of Lenovo.
Major corporate objectives of Lenovo:
As per the corporate objectives of the Lenovo, organization can develop their sales strategy in a specific process which includes various steps these are as follows:
1.It is a significant part of the sales strategy in this step Lenovo needs to review the past sales and sales targets which has followed by organization (Richards and Padilla, 2009). Along with this sales management of the organization needs to consider the future sales forecasting of the organization.
2.After review of the pre and post sales performance of the Lenovo, marketing management of the company needs to develop some significant goals and objectives for the organization such as:
3.For attaining different corporate objectives of the Lenovo, sales management of the company needs to develop effective market plan which must include optimal route of market and significant channels for marketing purpose.
4.After developing market plan sales manager of Lenovo focuses on development of sales force structure and size for improving the personal selling of the organization (Craig and Campbell, 2012). Sales force structure depends on the effectiveness and efficiency of organizational model of Lenovo. Sales force size is based on selling capacity and market demand of the Lenovo.
5.After deciding the sales force management company needs to develop effective sales strategy for an organization which helps in attaining the corporate objectives of Lenovo as well as increasing the sales of the company, for obtaining high number of customers and increasing the demand of the products and services of organization (Fleisher and Bensoussan, 2003).
Role of motivation in sales management of organization is as follows:
Role of remuneration in sales management of Lenovo:
Role of training in sales management of organization:
Lenovo organises sales activity for different sales personnel as per the products, customers, segmentation and target market and target location for selling products and services of Lenovo (Brooks and Simkin, 2012). As per the products Lenovo decides different sales activities such as for Think8 tablet organization uses social media marketing but on other hand for personal computers organization does not use social media marketing because for tablet organization targets youngsters and at present social media is highly used by youngsters so Lenovo has chosen social media marketing for their Think8 tablet. Along with this, sales activities are also based on the available sale force of the company, allocation of the resources and sales meetings, etc (Vignali, 2001).
Sales outputs are controlled by the Lenovo by effective monitoring of sales budget which focuses on actual and budgeted performance of the sales as well as variance in the sales performance of the Lenovo. Along with this by establishing performance standards for individual sales outcomes of the sales force organization can control the sales output. By developing sales development plan and using appraisal Lenovo can control the sales output of the organization.
Data base are used by Lenovo for developing activity program of performance of the company, segmentation of customers, developing marketing strategies and increasing sales of the organization (Brooks and Simkin, 2012). Along with this some specific use of database in effective sales management is as follows:
Database of the all customers of the Lenovo can be used by organization for developing complete Marketing Customer Information File for organization assists in developing sales strategy of the organization.
By developing a sales plan for products and services of the Reload Gym personal training program I has been learned various things which enhances my knowledge towards the sales management of organization. In this training program I have played a role of sales management and as a sales manager I had learned that lifestyle, education and exercise play an important part in personal life of every individual. Along with this as a sales manager I have well-read that motivation and appropriate guidance is very helpful for attaining individual goals of each trainee. Including this for successful training program trainers must focus on the quality of services, requirements and expectations of customers. Through this training session I understood that for developing a successful sales plan some elements are essential such as objectives, sales forecasting, review of financial targets, Swot analysis of competitors, monitoring the performance of staff, determination of success factor, and customer feedbacks about training program, products analysis and market segmentation. Along with this I learned that objectives and sales forecasting of the sales plan must be based on the past and future performance of the organization. For sales foresting I learned that if organization wants to increase the future sales of the company than they should enhance the quality standards of product and services of the company. By managing this training session I become skilled that review of financial targets help in sale pricing decision of the organization.
As a sales manager I learned that SWOT and competitor analysis help in developing sales strategy of the organization and effective management of sales in coming future. I gained knowledge about that how organization can increases the staff level and their performance. This training program helped me in understanding the importance of training and development program as well as motivation activities of the organization. Different sales activities of this training session assisted in increasing knowledge about how product improvement, market segmentation and customer feedbacks are effective for improving the sales management of the company. By developing a sales plan for the training session I understood that international opportunities can be gained by appropriate selection of agents, source and distributer in the international market, effective training and development programs for all agents and distributers, etc. Along with this I learned that international selling can be enhanced by the export of roles, responsibilities of sales personal as per the culture and environment of international market. Along with this I had faced various difficulties also for managing sales force of the organization. I faced difficulties in analysing the sales of the past year performance due to the in appropriate data of the sales. I countenanced problems in managing entire sales force effectively because each and every sales personnel was belonged to different culture as well as their needs and requirements towards the training and development programs are also very different. Therefore, overall I understood the each and every task for developing effective sales plan of the organization.
The present research report concludes that personal selling help in attaining the objectives of promotion of each and every products and services of the organization. Along with this personal selling improves overall marketing of organizations. Including this I learned from presentation about different principles of selling process of the organization. The study also finds out that appropriate development of sales strategy, recruitment and selection process, motivation, remuneration, training and sales activity play an important role in effective sales management of organization. As a Sales manager of the training and development program I had learned that sales channels, international selling and exhibition and trade affairs are very important for management of sales in different sales environment and context.
