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TABLE OF CONTENT
TITLE PAGES
INTRODUCTION 2-3
QUESTION 1 4-5
The functions of a Sales Manager
in an organization
QUESTION 2 6-9
The types of planning within the
management
Theelements of a firm’s marketing
mix
QUESTION 3 10
The types of specialization in a
market-driven sales organization
QUESTION 4 11-18
Discussion of the organizational
aspects and strategic management
in STSB
REFERENCES 19-20
INTRODUCTION
Marketing strategy involves careful and precise scanning of the internal and external
environments. Internal environmental factors include the marketing mix and marketing mix
modeling, plus performance analysis and strategic constraints. External environmental factors
include customer analysis, competitor analysis, target market analysis, as well as evaluation of
any elements of the technological, economic, cultural or political/legal environment likely to
impact success. A key component of marketing strategy is often to keep marketing in line with
a company's overarching mission statement.
Marketing Mix Modeling is often used to help determine the optimal marketing budget
and how to allocate across the marketing mix to achieve these strategic goals. Moreover, such
models can help allocate spend across a portfolio of brands and manage brands to create value.
1. Briefly identify and explain the five (5) functions of a Sales Manager in an organization.
(5 marks)
A sales manager plays a key role in the success and failure of an organization. He is the one
who plays a pivotal role in achieving the sales targets and eventually generates revenue for the
organization. A sales manager must be very clear about his role in the organization. He should
know what he is supposed to do at the workplace.
1. A sales manager is responsible for meeting the sales targets of the organization through
effective planning and budgeting. A sales manager can’t work alone. He needs the
support of his sales team where each one contributes in his best possible way and works
towards the goals and objectives of the organization. He is the one who sets the targets
for the sales executives and other sales representatives. A sales manager must ensure
the targets are realistic and achievable. The duties must not be imposed on anyone,
instead should be delegated as per interests and specializations of the individuals. A
sales manager must understand who can perform a particular task in the most effective
way. It is his role to extract the best out of each employee.
2. A sales manager devises strategies and techniques necessary for achieving the sales
targets. He is the one who decides the future course of action for his team members. It
is the sales manager’s duty to map potential customers and generate leads for the
organization. He should look forward to generating new opportunities for the
organization.
3. A sales manager is also responsible for brand promotion. He must make the product
popular amongst the consumers. A banner at a wrong place is of no use. Canopies must
be placed at strategic locations; hoardings should be installed at important places for
the best results.
4. Motivating team members is one of the most important duties of a sales manager. He
needs to make his team work as a single unit working towards a common objective. He
must ensure team members don’t fight amongst themselves and share cordial
relationship with each other. Develop lucrative incentive schemes and introduce
monetary benefits to encourage them to deliver their level best. Appreciate whenever
they do good work.
5. It is the sales manager’s duty to ensure his team is delivering desired results.
Supervision is essential. Track their performances. Make sure each one is living up to
the expectations of the organization. Ask them to submit a report of what all they have
done through out the week or month. The performers must be encouraged while the non
performers must be dealt with utmost patience and care. He is the one who takes major
decisions for his team. He should act as a pillar of support for them and stand by their
side at the hours of crisis.
2. Under building relationships through strategic planning, there are three (3) types of
planning within the management. Explain. (3 marks)
What are the four (4) elements of a firm’s marketing mix? (2 marks)
There are three main types of plans that a manager will use in his or her pursuit of company
goals, which include operational, tactical and strategic. If you think about these three types of
plans as stepping stones, you can see how their relationship to one another aids in the
achievement of organizational goals.
Strategic Plans
To best understand the relationship between the different types of plans, let's start at the
top. Strategic plans are designed with the entire organization in mind and begin with an
organization's mission. Top-level managers, such as CEOs or presidents, will design and
execute strategic plans to paint a picture of the desired future and long-term goals of the
organization. Essentially, strategic plans look ahead to where the organization wants to be in
three, five, even ten years. Strategic plans, provided by top-level managers, serve as the
framework for lower-level planning.
Tactical Plans
Now that you have a general idea for how organizational planning evolves, let's look at
the next level of planning, known as tactical planning. Tactical plans support strategic plans by
translating them into specific plans relevant to a distinct area of the organization. Tactical plans
are concerned with the responsibility and functionality of lower-level departments to fulfill
their parts of the strategic plan.
Tactical plans are sometimes called short-term action plans because they breakdown
bigger-picture goals and strategies into narrower, actionable tasks. The key to a well-developed
tactical plan is having specifically stated actions assigned to particular employees with specific
deadlines. Bold objectives and thoughtful strategies produce nothing if no steps are taken to
put them into action. The goals and strategies give vision and the actions make the company
plans real.
In tactical planning, you need to understand and decipher the strategic goals; then
identify the courses of action you will need to achieve those strategic objectives. Tactical
planning is developed by those who deal with getting the work done, day by day. They draw
STRATEGIC MARKETING RASHID @ ABDUL RASHID BIN ASBAH
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up a tactical plan so they know what to do, when they need to do it, and this will help them
deal with the “how” part of the plan. The main question for them is: “How can the strategic
goals be accomplished within the designated limits of resources and authority?” The only way
that can happen is to insure that the tactics create results which lead to the strategic benefits
you desire.
As a small business owner, you need to make plans that include specific activities that
are arranged on specified time frames and have specific outcomes. Ensure the performance of
all tactical planning activities and calculate their effects; then help connect the tactical moves
to the strategic plan.
In Summary To sum up, strategic planning relates to issues pertinent to the mission of
your small business—the purpose of its existence. The responsibility for strategic planning
rests with you (and your partners and investors, if any). No one else is ever going to do that
work for you, or without your involvement.
Tactical planning relates to actions taken day-to-day, and whose results will move the
company forward to achieve the objectives outlined in the strategic plan. The responsibility to
plan this belongs to those who perform the work. They are truly the only ones qualified to plan
it. Strategic is the what and why. Tactical is the how.
The terms tactical and strategic are fundamental to an understanding of the different
responsibilities attached to management and governance of any small business. If you fail to
do this for your company, then you are driving a 1000 mile race without a roadmap. If you
don’t know where you are going, or how you are going to get there, then where you end up
will most likely not be where you hope.
Operational plans
Operational planning is the day-by-day and month by month planning for what your
organisation is doing; strategic planning determines the entire direction of your organisation,
including what it's not doing but should be doing. The two forms of planning must be
integrated, but must not be confused.
1. Product
The products or services offered to your customer: Their physical attributes, what they do, how
they differ from your competitors and what benefits they provide.
The product range and how it is used is a function of the marketing mix. The range may be
broadened or a brand may be extended for tactical reasons, such as matching competition or
catering for seasonal fluctuations. Alternatively, a product may be repositioned to make it more
acceptable for a new group of consumers as part of a long-term plan.
2. Price
How you price your product or service so that your price remains competitive but allows you
to make a good profit.
Of all the aspects of the marketing mix, price is the one, which creates sales revenue - all the
others are costs. The price of an item is clearly an important determinant of the value of sales
made. In theory, price is really determined by the discovery of what customers perceive is the
value of the item on sale. Researching consumers' opinions about pricing is important as it
indicates how they value what they are looking for as well as what they want to pay. An
organisation's pricing policy will vary according to time and circumstances. Crudely speaking,
the value of water in the Lake District will be considerably different from the value of water in
the desert.
Where your business sells its products or services and how it gets those products or services to
your customers.
Although figures vary widely from product to product, roughly a fifth of the cost of a product
goes on getting it to the customer. 'Place' is concerned with various methods of transporting
and storing goods, and then making them available for the customer. Getting the right product
to the right place at the right time involves the distribution system. The choice of distribution
method will depend on a variety of circumstances. It will be more convenient for some
manufacturers to sell to wholesalers who then sell to retailers, while others will prefer to sell
directly to retailers or customers.
4. Promotion
The methods used to communicate the features and benefits of your products or services to
your target customers.
Promotion is the business of communicating with customers. It will provide information that
will assist them in making a decision to purchase a product or service. The razzmatazz, pace
and creativity of some promotional activities are almost alien to normal business activities.
The cost associated with promotion or advertising goods and services often represents a
sizeable proportion of the overall cost of producing an item. However, successful promotion
increases sales so that advertising and other costs are spread over a larger output. Though
increased promotional activity is often a sign of a response to a problem such as competitive
activity, it enables an organisation to develop and build up a succession of messages and can
be extremely cost-effective.
For salespeople, there are four (4) main types of specialization in a market-driven sales
organization. Discuss. (5 marks)
1. Positions where the salesperson is predominantly an in-side order taker like the
McDonald’s hamburger salesperson standing behind the counter. Most of the customers
have already made up their mind to buy. All the salesperson does is serve them. The
salesperson may use suggestive selling by asking if the customer wants a large or small
order but opportunities for creative sales are few.
2. Positions where the salesperson predominantly delivers the product such as milk, bread,
fuel, oil and so forth. The person’s selling responsibilities are secondary. Obviously,
good service and a pleasant manner will enhance customer acceptance and hence lead
to more sales. However, few do any truly creative selling.
3. Positions where the salesperson is predominantly an order taker but also works in the
fields such as selling soap, food or health and beauty aids to retailers. In contact with
chain store personnel, these salesperson may even be discouraged from applying the
hard sell.
4. Positions where the salesperson is not expected or permitted to take an order but is
asked only to build goodwill or to educate the actual or potential user like the textbook
publisher’s salesperson.
4. Sutera Technology Sdn Bhd (STSB)is a small private limited company selling Closed
Curcuit Television (CCTV) equipments in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. En. Awang, a middle-
aged man who has been with the company for 25 years, is the sales manager for the
company. Recently, STSB has hired Putri, a young, intelligent, personable, highly-
motivated lady with the experience in the electronic distribution field. STSB corporate
management is interested in moving women into the organization and up to management
positions. She is assigned to Awang's department and immediately conflicts arise. Awang
is dissatisfied with her high technological selling methods such as selling online via
internet and felt threatened by her successes. He seeks to control and thus stifle her
creativity by demanding she follow a more conventional pattern. Awang has limited her
expenses, and rejected her suggestions for company improvement. Putri’s actions have
been aimed at personal and organizational success and not purposely antagonistic toward
Awang. The tensions climax when the Chief Executive Officer calls to congratulate Putri
on one of her suggestions that Awang had not even bothered to read. In his anger, he
calls for a meeting with Putri. How should he, versus how will he, handle the sales
meeting?
Discuss in the organizational aspects and strategic management on how Awang, Putri and
the Management of STSB should act. Your discussion should be based entirely as
professionals to an organization. (45 marks)
In this situation, Awang have the foresight to see the situation and look at the current
request. with the sophistication of the technology available at the moment. He should be open-
minded and selfless. Today's technology can also accelerate their company's sales information
is known and recognized by all people without borders. Awang, Putri and the Management of
STSB must follow this steps:
Goal Setting
At the core of the strategic management process is the creation of goals, a mission
statement, values and organizational objectives. Organizational goals, the mission statement,
values and objectives guide the organization in its pursuit of strategic opportunities. It is also
through goal setting that managers make strategic decisions such as how to meet sales targets
and higher revenue generation. Through goal setting, organizations plan how to compete in an
increasingly competitive and global business arena.
Increasing market share is the ultimate goal of any small business marketing plan. Small
businesses enter their industries as the underdogs, taking any competitive advantages they can
to gain customers from their established competitors. Many of the techniques used to gain
market share can be found in marketing plans, making market share growth an unavoidable
objective of a comprehensive marketing plan. Tracking the company's rate of new customer
acquisition is an effective way to gauge a marketing plan's contribution to growing market
share. Put a simple system in place to ascertain whether each customer you serve during your
marketing campaign is a new or existing customer and compare the new customer numbers
each day during the campaign to gauge progress toward your goal.
Keeping existing customers happily coming back is just as important as gaining new
customers. Market share can be gained temporarily with price promotions and grand opening
sales, but the most effective marketing plans increase market share permanently. Customer
retention rates can be tracked using advanced point-of-sale systems that use customers'
telephone numbers or other information to track purchase behavior.
The marketing department is always concerned with top-line sales growth, or bringing
more money into the company. Sales growth is especially important for small businesses,
which often operate at a loss for their first one to three years in business. Growing sales
numbers can be a clear sign of marketing effectiveness, making it an ideal goal for a marketing
plan.
public relations activities and advertising and generally ensuring that a small company gets the
most bang for its marketing buck.
Realism is vital when detailing marketing objectives. Yes, you may want to sell 1
million widgets in your first year of operation, but that is not a realistic goal. It is much more
realistic to set a reasonable sales goal and then detail how you plan to achieve that goal. For
example, "X Business will target tech savvy consumers with a mix of online and offline
advertising to highlight the widget and its capabilities. Initial sales estimates from these
marketing avenues are estimated around 100,000 units."
Right in line with realism, you have the ability to measure the results of your objectives.
Stating that you want everyone to instantly fall in love with your brand is neither realistic or
measurable. If you are going to say something, you have to have a method in place to back up
the data and prove that you are accomplishing your objectives. It would be much better to state,
"Our teddy bear marketing efforts over the first year will be focused on a local level through
various promotions. We intend to introduce X number of people to our brand during this time
and encourage their continued interest through ad campaigns and local events."
The four "Ps" of marketing include Product, Price, Promotion and Place. Each of these
four things need to be included in your marketing objectives. The reader of your business plan
needs to fully understand the product you are offering, the price you intend to set for retail and
wholesale sales, how to you plan to promote the product and where you will distribute it and
market it. By including these four "P's" you're giving your reader everything he needs to know.
The analyses also facilitate in strategizing ways of adapting to changing technology and
emerging markets.
Basic strategic planning is comprised of several components that build upon the
previous piece of the plan, and operates much like a flow chart. However, prior to embarking
on this process, it is important to consider the players involved. There must be a commitment
from the highest office in the organizational hierarchy. Without buy-in from the head of a
company, it is unlikely that other members will be supportive in the planning and eventual
implementation process, thereby dooming the plan before it ever takes shape. Commitment and
support of the strategic-planning initiative must spread from the president and/or CEO all the
way down through the ranks to the line worker on the factory floor.
The components of the strategic-planning process read much like a laundry list, with
one exception: each piece of the process must be kept in its sequential order since each part
builds upon the previous one. This is where the similarity to a flow chart is most evident, as
can be seen in the following illustration.
accordingly. This leads to the development of a real advantage in the form of accurate responses
to internal.
The idea behind this continual process is that each step of the planning process requires
some degree of implementation before the next stage can begin. This naturally dictates that all
implementation cannot be postponed until completion of the plan, but must be initiated along
the way. Implementation procedures specific to each phase of planning must be completed
during that phase in order for the next stage to be started.
All business decisions are fundamentally based on some set of values, whether they are
personal or organizational values. The implication here is that since the strategic plan is to be
used as a guide for daily decision making, the plan itself should be aligned with those personal
and organizational values. To delve even further, a values assessment should include an in-
depth analysis of several elements: personal values, organizational values, operating
philosophy, organization culture, and stakeholders. This allows the planning team to take a
macro look at the organization and how it functions as a whole.
Strategic planning that does not integrate a values assessment into the process is sure
to encounter severe implementation and functionality problems if not outright failure. Briefly
put, form follows function; the form of the strategic plan must follow the functionality of the
organization, which is a direct result of organizational values and culture. If any party feels that
his or her values have been neglected, he or she will not adopt the plan into daily work
procedures and the benefits will not be obtained.
Strategy Formation
Strategy formation is a concept that entails developing specific actions that will enable
an organization to meet its goals. Strategy formation entails using the information from the
analyses, prioritizing and making decisions on how to address key issues facing the
organization. Additionally, through strategy formulation an organization seeks to find ways of
maximizing profitability and maintaining a competitive advantage.
objectives as well the medium to be used to realize those objectives. Thus, strategy is a wider
term which believes in the manner of deployment of resources so as to achieve the objectives.
While fixing the organizational objectives, it is essential that the factors which influence
the selection of objectives must be analyzed before the selection of objectives. Once the
objectives and the factors influencing strategic decisions have been determined, it is easy to
take strategic decisions.
Evaluating the Organizational Environment - The next step is to evaluate the general
economic and industrial environment in which the organization operates. This includes a
review of the organizations competitive position. It is essential to conduct a qualitative and
quantitative review of an organizations existing product line. The purpose of such a review is
to make sure that the factors important for competitive success in the market can be discovered
so that the management can identify their own strengths and weaknesses as well as their
competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
After identifying its strengths and weaknesses, an organization must keep a track of
competitors’ moves and actions so as to discover probable opportunities of threats to its market
or supply sources.
Setting Quantitative Targets, in this step an organization must practically fix the
quantitative target values for some of the organizational objectives. The idea behind this is to
compare with long term customers, so as to evaluate the contribution that might be made by
various product zones or operating departments.
Aiming in context with the divisional plans - In this step, the contributions made by
each department or division or product category within the organization is identified and
accordingly strategic planning is done for each sub-unit. This requires a careful analysis of
macroeconomic trends.
Performance analysis includes discovering and analyzing the gap between the planned
or desired performance. A critical evaluation of the organizations past performance, present
condition and the desired future conditions must be done by the organization. This critical
evaluation identifies the degree of gap that persists between the actual reality and the long-term
aspirations of the organization. An attempt is made by the organization to estimate its probable
future condition if the current trends persist.
Choice of Strategy , this is the ultimate step in Strategy Formulation. The best course of action
is actually chosen after considering organizational goals, organizational strengths, potential and
limitations as well as the external opportunities.
Strategy Implementation
Strategy implementation is putting the actual strategy into practice to meet
organizational goals. The idea behind this concept is to gather all the available and necessary
resources required to bring the strategic plan to life. Organizations implement strategies
through creating budgets, programs and policies to meet financial, management, human
resources and operational goals. For the successful implementation of a strategic plan,
cooperation between management and other personnel is absolutely necessary.
An organizational control system is also required. This control system equips managers
with motivational incentives for employees as well as feedback on employees and
organizational performance. Organizational culture refers to the specialized collection of
values, attitudes, norms and beliefs shared by organizational members and groups.
Excellently formulated strategies will fail if they are not properly implemented. Also,
it is essential to note that strategy implementation is not possible unless there is stability
between strategy and each organizational dimension such as organizational structure, reward
structure, resource-allocation process, etc.
the change in power and status roles, the managers and employees may employ confrontation
behaviour.
Strategy Monitoring
A final concept is monitoring of the strategy after its implementation. Strategy
monitoring entails evaluating the strategy to determine if it yields the anticipated results as
espoused in the organizational goals. Here, an organization determines what areas of the plan
to measure and the methods of measuring these areas, and then compares the anticipated results
with the actual ones. Through monitoring, an organization is able to understand when and how
to adjust the plan to adapt to changing trends.
Developing an effective strategic plan is only "half the battle." Getting it implemented
is the other, and generally the tougher, half. And an important part of strategy implementation
is monitoring – taking a periodic look at "how it's going."
Second, you've got to be sure the results you achieve align with your quantified
objectives.. That you're accomplishing what you intended to accomplish. Monitoring helps here
too. Also, monitoring allows for corrective action. For making the necessary changes along the
way. To "fine tune," not only your strategies, but your planning process as well. And since
monitoring is part of a control process, it encourages improved performance. Knowing they'll
be measured stimulates employees to do a better job.
Finally, and most importantly, monitoring provides the essential link between the
written plan and the day-to-day operation of your business. It demonstrates to all that "you
really are managing the business according to your plan". Monitoring the plan makes your
entire planning effort a tangible reality rather than a once a year academic exercise
Therefore, Awang should follow the proper management strategies that companies can
achieve the required target. He can’t be selfish and he needs to work with other staff.
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March 2015)
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(21March 2015)
http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Sc-Str/Strategy-Formulation.html