REPORT ON SALES MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN SHAFI RESO-CHEM, KARACHI PAKISTAN

Submitted by :Faraz Hussain Qureshi SP06-WB-0002 Muhammad Nasir Abdullah SP05-WB-0019

TABLE OF CONTENTS
S/No 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. Topic Preface Company Introduction and its Operation Industry Brief Strategic Management Planning Strategic Marketing Planning Sales Organization Hierarchy Sales Management Activities Strategic Sales Force Decisions Sales Management Competencies Sales Budget Account Relationship Management Sales Ethics Sales Forecasting Motivation Recruitment/Selection and Training Market Visit Report Word of Thanks Page # 3 4-7 8 9-10 10 11 11 11-12 13-16 17 18-19 20-21 22 23-25 26-30 31 32

P EAE RF C
Sales Management has always been a core issue in organizations and for smooth and successful running of the business, it is very important that right sales management practices are adopted. This report has been written on sales system which is being followed by management of Shafi Reso-Chem, Karachi. We hope that this report would be beneficial for all of its readers to understand about sales management. At the end, we are thankful to our teachers who really guided and encourage us at each step during preparation of this project.

COMPANY INTRODUCTION
Shafi Reso Chem is a chemical company located in Korangi Industrial Area. It is a sister-concern company of Shafi Group of Pakistan who is primarily engaged in manufacturing and exporting of finished leather from Pakistan and is in this business since 1953. Presently following factories are being run under the umbrella of Shafi Group : Muhammad Shafi Tanneries (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi Hafeez Shafi Tanneries (Pvt) Ltd, Lahore Siddiq Leather Works (Pvt)Ltd, Lahore Mian Muhammad Shafi & Company, Karachi Shafi Gluco-chem, Hub, Balochistan Shafi (Pvt) Ltd Shafi Taxel, Lahore Cybersoft Technologies Core Values of companies being run under Shafis name History Integrity Moderation Excellence in performance Customer delight Continuous improvement Open and direct communication Learning and education Dignity and mutual respect Safe and healthy environment

5 Network of Shafi Reso Chem An integrated sales network of Shafi Reso Chem and representatives all over Pakistan offers businesses the efficiency and convenience of a one-stop shop. Such comprehensive coverage and accessibility ensure Shafi Reso Chem not only stays close to its customers, but also helps them open up new market opportunities. Their presence at five locations in Pakistan enable their sales force to respond to their customers need on time, every time. At the moment they have their sales offices each in Karachi, Lahore, Kasur, Sialkot and Faisalabad.

Operations Industry Wise

Presently SRC is operating in the following markets: Leather Industry Shafi Reso Chems leather chemicals division has emerged as the leading specialty chemical manufacturer that has enables Pakistan leather sector to incorporate with the latest processing techniques and developments with the innovative chemicals products. SRC, being partner of M/s. ALPA S.p.a. Italy, together are committed to provide import substitution to the leather sector of Pakistan i.e bring cost of production down to enable Pakistan more competent in international market. Textile Industry Shafi Reso Chems textile division has a distinguished standing among a large group of local and multinational chemical suppliers, enabling their valued customers to win around the globe. Wood Adhesive Industry Shafi Reso Chems adhesive division proved that innovation is the key to success. Company feels proud to bring first time the Termite Protection glue in wood adhesive industry. Shoe Finishing Chemicals Shafi Reso Chems shoe finishing division has given a new look to leather shoe finishing which permit to increase the life of leather shoes with stable quality for longer period. There are many more arenas still to come under the umbrella of Shafi Reso Chem.

6 SRC Team / Human Resources The leaders of the company are hard-core professionals, supported by a team of highly qualified, technically experienced, dedicated and motivated team members. This team of highly qualified individuals can develop customized products and provide their customers with a worldwide technical assistance. New products demonstrations are made the whole year long within customer laboratories. Corporate Identity With a modest beginning in 1994, Shafi Reso Chem has been aware of the change in the industry, that is, the sale of products should be followed by adequate and prompt services to customers. This requires a skilful technical team synergizing sales activities with technical support to their customers. Having a full range of products, their customers rate them among the best technical service providers. Shafi Reso has established its name as a dependable supplier of quality products within a short span of time. International Recognition The confidence of Shafi Resos customers on their products and services has enabled them to cross the boundaries. They have reached outside Pakistan to serve customers in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Kenya, Zambia, Syria, India, China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and U.A.E.

Shafi Reso Chem and ALPA collaboration

Shafi Reso Chem Pakistan and Alpa S.p.a, Italy have agreed upon a long-term strategic partnership to produce ALPA brands in Pakistan and to distribute them in Pakistan and in the middle-eastern markets. The advantage of this synergy is to provide their valued customers an assurance that their specialty products will continue to be available economically and on time, in Pakistan and abroad.

ISO 9001:2000 Certification

Shafi Reso Chem, a name synonymous with innovate to Win, quality products, excellent technical services and trust since its establishment has another distinctive edge, which is ISO 9001:2000. Quality management system certification.

INDUSTRY BRIEF
The market of leather chemical is very active in Pakistan and most of the leather manufactured here is exported to European and other foreign markets. To meet with local industry needs, presently there are BASF, BAYER, Clarient and STAHL who are multinational companies and fulfilling the chemicals demand in Pakistan. BASF and BAYER have the major share of the market (around 35% and 25%, respectively). While SRC also has the market share of around 10-12% in this category. Monthly revenue which SRC earns is around Rs. 10-12 Million while BASF and BAYER is generating 40-50 Million Pakistan Rupees per month (in leather chemical sector). This leather chemical market is very active in Pakistan due to shift in leather production to Pakistan, India and Bangladesh and it is likelihood that more and more companies will also be coming soon in this sector.

Strategic Management Planning

Strategic planning is employed to make better use of company resources and to create and sustain an advantage over the competition. Usually competitive advantage takes place from a firms choice of markets to serve, its distinct competencies, and the deployment of resources that gives it an edge over its competitors in chosen markets. Both marketing and sales personnel should be intimately involved in an organization's strategic planning process because they understand the customers' requirement and how they value the fulfillment of needs. The strategic management planning process include defining a business mission, setting specific measurable goals for the organization and deciding on a strategy for meeting these objectives. A well-defined business mission should provide a sense of direction for the organization, defined in terms of customers, competitors, and the company itself. Goals should be measurable and should guide goal setting throughout the organization. Strategies should be based on developing a sustainable competitive advantage.

Business Mission Statement

In this strategic management planning, Shafi-Reso Chem has a well-defined business mission which provides a sense of direction to employees and helps guide them toward the fulfillment of the firm's potential. The mission statement of Shafi Reso is: Shafi Reso Chem is a chemical company dedicated to the development and innovation of industrial chemicals that will ultimately contribute to improving the quality of life of mankind. This company is committed to total customer satisfaction by providing high quality innovative products and services consistently. The mission of SRC is to become a shariah compliant company. Islam drives us to lead in new vistas of knowledge and is a guide for us in all our dealings. We strive for sustainable profit for the owners and a rewarding place to work for the employees.

Establishing Goals
After the mission statement of an organization has been decided, the next step is to translate the mission into the organization's goal-specific objectives by which

10 performance can be measured. These objectives are usually stated in terms of profits, sales revenue, unit sales, market share, survival, and social responsibility. At Shafi Reso Chem, their goal is to increase their sales by 20% each year and a 10% after-tax profit on yearly basis.

Strategies
Once business objectives have been identified, the next step is to translate them into strategies. A strategy is the means an organization uses to achieve its objectives. According to Michael Porter, all successful business focuses on one of three generic strategies - low cost, differentiation, or niche. Each strategy is based on offering a customer value distinct from its competitors. Shafi Reso Chem, (afterwards referred as SRC) follows Differentiation strategy. Their chemical are economical but of high quality which gives them a competitive edge over competitors in the market.

Strategic Marketing Planning

Strategic marketing planning is a process whereby an organization allocates marketing mix resources to reach its target markets. This planning process is similar to the overall strategic management planning process in that it begins with a situation analysis. This information is then used to segment the market and choose target markets on which to concentrate the firm's marketing resources. In SRC, they know about their target customers who are mainly leather tanneries and therefore they use all their efforts and sales & marketing activities to serve this target audience which of course, has a significant proportion in export from Pakistan.

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Sales organization Hierarchy

The sales force hierarchy in SRC is very simple. They have total four sales persons who visit the market to know about their customers demand and their fulfillment. The hierarchy in SRC can be described as follows : CEO/Director National Sales Manager Branch Manager

Sales Executives

Administration

Accounts

Technicians

Sales Management Activities

Although the activities of each sales management position will vary somewhat according to the industry and company involved, this is probably a fair description of most field sales management position. At SRC, most senior sales executives spend their time according to following percentage : Sales Admin issues Accounts Meetings Training 70% 10% 10% 05% 05% 100%

Strategic Sales Force Decisions

Strategic sales force decisions refer to the key sales force decisions that when once made will influence how the sale force will be organized, built, led, and controlled. Two decisions are particularly important with respect to the sales force; (1) how the company will access the market segments that it has targeted and (2) the types of relationships in which the company chooses to engage and the choice of customers within for each type of relationship. For SRC, there are six channel alternatives in addition to a direct sale force and three types of customer relationships, including transactional, consultative and enterprise.

12 Market Access Through Distributors Direct contact / Email / faxes Alliances Customers relationship Since 95% business of SRC is done with other business firms in the industry, therefore the relationship between SRC and its customers is at enterprise level. This means that investment and risks involved at both sides is very high. Special attention is given to customer and proper sales force is deputed to satisfy these big and important customers.

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Sales Management Competencies

We have learnt from this course that a Manager should have six major competencies that help to perform his responsibilities of sales management successfully. Sales Management Competencies are basically known as set of knowledge, skills, behaviors and attitude that a manager needs to solve different issues of the organization in a right manner which satisfy his sales team as well as to organization. These competencies are: Strategic Action Competency Coaching Competency Team Building Competency Self-Management Competency Global Perspective Competency Technology Competency Strategic Management Competency Understanding the Industry means Manager should know the history, general trend in the industry and their implications for the future. Be informed about the action of competitors and can identify attractive market segments and their buying need. Understanding the Organization means should know company vision, over all company strategy and goals of the organization. Appreciate the distinctive competencies of the organization with respect to market opportunities and limitations. Taking Strategic Actions means assigning priorities and making decisions that are consistent with the firms mission and strategic goals. Develop an appropriate portfolio of account relationships. Consider long term implications of action in order to sustain and further develop the organization During discussion with Mr. Saeed Akhtar Malik, we come to know that he has worked for more than twenty years in the same industry and this is the reason he understands general trends of the industry and keep close eye on action of competitors and he has developed several key account for company through his continuous

14 struggle and own efforts. He knows very clearly about organizational goals and company competencies in term of opportunities and limitations. Coaching Competency : means being sales manager train and develop the skills of their sales team that how to compete with other companies and how to win accounts. Coaching is defined as sequence of conversation and activities that provides ongoing feedback and encouragement to a salesperson or sales team member with the goal of improving that persons performance. It is achieved by providing Verbal feedback means working with their salespeople provide training and coaching in selling skills and giving them product and market knowledge, Showing himself as role model in term of his attitude and behavior and building trust between a sales person and a sales manager. A climate of trust is created when a manager is honest, reliable and shows a genuine concern about the needs of the sales people. Listening and maintaining an open and two-way channel of communication to achieve this task. In SRC, their sales team meet with their immediate boss in the morning tea time daily and discuss problems, if any, and get solutions for customers. There is a typed format of each sales person which they have to fill up after meeting with their customers in which they have put column of value addition if provided from sales persons to customer in the meeting (Annexure A). We have seen a good understanding among their sales team and sales manager which clearly shows that their sales team has trust on their sales manager. He works with them to improve their selling skills. Team Building Competency: means accomplishing tasks through small groups of people who are collectively responsible and whose work is interdependent require a team-building competency. It is achieved by Designing teams properly and then formulating goals, defining tasks and identifying the staff needed to accomplish those tasks. Creating a supportive environment to achieve its full potential. Team members should be empowered to take decisions based on their best judgment.

15 Managing team dynamics means maintain cooperative relationships while pursuing a common goal. Conflicts and disagreement among team members are natural but if managed well, conflicts can be productive other wise it can destroy the team. Company vision, targets and goals are well defined in SRC. Their teams are empowered to take decisions based on their past experiences. There is customer wise distribution among their sales team rather than area wise as their 90% customers are tanneries, situated in Korangi Industrial Area, near Chamra Chowrangi. Monthly targets are set which is reviewed on day to day basis, week to week basis and at the end of the month. Their ground staff supports their sales team to keep them informed about how far away they are from their set targets and if there is any situation like shortage of chemicals, city situation e.t.c so these issues are communicated to head of the deptt and these issues are considered from their top management and necessary guide line and help is provided to the sales team in this situation. Self-Management Competency: means taking responsibilities of actions at work. When problem arise, people often blame on the situation or others. It is achieved by Showing Integrity and ethical conduct means should show his integrity in work and should admit mistakes and accept responsibilities of their own action. Managing and Balancing Personal Drive means seeking responsibilities, work hard and willing to take risk. He should be ambitious and motivated to achieve objectives but does not put personal ambition ahead of organizational goals. Understand that success is achieved through development of salespeople. Developing Self- Awareness and Management Skills means should know his strength and weaknesses, analyze it and learn from work and life experiences. We have been shown several certificates which shows own going job training of managers as well as their sales team bearing all expenses in company a/c to improve self competencies and company is very concerned about it. They are encouraged to attend seminars related to their field which helps them to understand and judge industry future exposure. He showed himself as example that he has reached to this position in his eight to ten years service by improving his self management skills and applying them in his job and showing integrity in his work.

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Global Perspective Competency: means not all companies compete in Global Market. But as a Manager he should be prepared for such an opportunity and begin to develop Cultural Knowledge and should know its Sensitivity means be informed of political, social and economic trends and events around the world. Recognize the impact of global events on the market and organization. Should know sensitivity of cultural cues and ability to adapt quickly in novel situations. Since nature of SRC business is local based so this competency is not involved in their business. Technology Competency: means understanding the potential for technology to improve sales force efficiency and effectiveness and knowing how to implement the integration of technology into the sales force. SRC knows the importance of Technological Competency and considering this aspect, they made a joint venture with an Italian company namely Alpa for technology transfer six years ago. Their technical team visits SRC and transfer latest technologies to SRC and SRC also send their technical people to Italy to learn the technology and to implement in their company. This is the first local company who has this kind of technology transfer arrangements with Italian Chemical firm which give them additional competitive edge among other local chemical manufacturing companies. They informed us after this agreement their sales are almost has been double than before.

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SALES BUDGET
Budget is a key element used by sales mangers in planning programms to reach their objectives. A sales budget is essentially a set of planned expenses that is prepared on an annual basis. At SRC, this sales budget is prepared on percentage of sales from July to June. A proper planning is done before making a sales budget.

Percentage of Sales
At SRC, determining a sales budget is the percentage of sales method. This technique bases a sales budget on what managers think is a reasonable percentage of planned revenues. For year 2008 SRC expects, for instance, that : Rs. 12,000,000 ......................... Expected Sales x .064 Field sales expense ratio (wages, commission and travel expense) Rs. 7,68,000 Sales Budget x .085% for sales force (i.e. 15% for supervisors) Rs. 6,52,800 Available for Sales people

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Account Relationship Management

In order to be successful, the sales force of SRC creates value for its customers. They usually add value in following account purchasing process : Recognition of needs : - First customers needs are identified or they are informed about any particular need which they are not aware about. Means defining them in a new or different way. Sales force of SRC visits its customer on regular basis and try to find out what is the market trend / fashion and where their customer stands. Customers are introduced about new developments which SRC do in order to meet the fashion changes in the market. Evaluation of options : - SRC's sales force is trained enough to give a good service to its customers. Regular and frequent visits to customers allow SRC sales team to know each and every customer in depth. They know what are the strength and opportunities at customer side so that proper planning can be done to exploit these opportunities. In some cases, even the opportunities are lying at customer's side and SRC also has the ability to fulfill that particular need also. A recent example on this subject can be seen in Asia Pacific Leather Fair (APLF, Hong Kong, March 29 - 31 2008) where some customers of a Karachi based tannery visited the stand of SRC in APLF and inquired SRC with some of their queries. It is good to know that SRC is known as a trustworthy supplier among its customers. Purchase decision : - Since most of the buyers of leather industry chemicals are tanneries, therefore usually the purchase decision from customer side is made on straight re-buy. These customers are well satisfied with SRC's products and they are used to of the chemical quality and have a clear understanding what they are going to purchase from SRC. This purchase is not a matter of one day; in fact this is based on a historical data, relationship, credibility and service which SRC has with its customers. Therefore, they simply go on with the purchase decision and sales forces of SRC does not face as such problems in their sales.

Enterprise Relationship and Buyer's influence

In case of SRC, since investment and risks are high in Enterprise relationship, purchase decision is heavily influenced by economic and user -buyer. SRC's sales

19 team has good business relationship with Directors / owners of these tanneries, specially with senior technicians who are primarily involved in technical operations in tanning process. Sales team knows that these user-buyer have very strong say in the organization and therefore they focus on them well in order to conclude and continue a regular sales with them.

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SALES ETHICS
Sales ethics provide a moral framework to guide salespeople in their daily contacts with customer. Ethical dilemmas are common in selling because salespeople often have to make decision in the field in response to customer's demand and competitive offers. Ethical problems are usually the result of poor decisions by individual salespeople or company policies that encourage wrong-doing. Sales Manager must make decisions in a wide variety of situations that have ethical dimensions. These include relationship with superior, sales people, customers, competitors, dealers and issues such as sexual harassment. The culture of SRC is very well defined and there is no room for any wrong-doings. Sales Manager and all sales force is trained with the aim that their first priority will be to establish the relationship with their customers on very fair basis which is without any condition of gifts, bribes or commission on purchase. Though customer to customer, there are some entertainment expenses like dinner with customer or a souvenir but they are less expensive gifts. Furthermore, it happens seldom and depends on customers' type and size of their business. Like in our visit, we have been given a ball point which they usually give to their customers in market. Since all the staff in SRC is male and company culture and atmosphere is very positive and friendly, therefore there is no any issue of sexual harassment and whistleblowing.

BUILDING A SALES ETHICS PROGRAMME

Building a good company sales ethics programme would include the following : Getting support from top management Developing and distributing a sales ethics policy Establishing a proper moral climate Assigning realistic sales goals Setting up control when needed Suggesting that salespeople call for help when faced with unethical demands

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In SRC, Sales Managers have complete support from Directors. They know that their Directors would not allow/like them to involve in any un-ethical business activity just to get more sales or more customers. At present, SRC is the premier and leading chemical supplier in Pakistan which the advantage of being the first Pakistani company to have a joint venture with Alpa, Italy. They have strong market and customers in Pakistan and thus they do not feel any need to do any unethical business practice. We did not find any written code of conduct policy in SRC. However, according to Mr. Saeed Malik, they verbally train all their employees about good ethical business practices which they have to follow while working in SRC and these sales people strictly adhere it. Directors of SRC also demonstrate a role model to their employees and as an example we find that they do not do any un-ethical business practice like under-invoicing etc which many business firms do, just to save some cost and increased profit. Directors of SRC have thorough update about market and thus realistic sales goals are set for the company. Sales goal of each territory is set by sales manager who has an in-depth knowledge about each and every customer in that particular area. Therefore, no sales person is under pressure for meeting his sales target by using unethical practices. Similarly, company also controls and keep a close eye to monitor sales activities of their team. For this purpose, sales manager often visits customers and get their feedback about market and their demand. This way, he keeps himself abreast for the changes which are taken place in the market. A most common ethical issue which many of the companies face is honesty/integrity in sale steam. SRC has a very strong check & balance on this and for this purpose, they have given a receipt book to each of their sales person. Whenever this sales man visits any customer and gets a cheque or cash, he has to give a receipt of payment to that customer. Customers are clearly informed that they must ask for the cash/cheque receipt whenever they make any payment. Each day, when a sales person reports back to office, accounts department is responsible to check their receipt book to know if any payment has been collected or not. This was good point during our interview with Mr. Malik.

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SALES FORECASTING
First of all total market potential is determined. It has been measured by receiving total leather export figures from Pakistan Tanners Association and then total chemical consumption is calculated. Once the market potential is determined then last 2-3 years sales figures are taking into consideration and compare it with total market potential and check the rate of growth. As per last figures, they were contributing 10-15% of total market potential. While rest of 85% were shared among other chemical suppliers in which major competitors are Clariant from Switzerland and Buyer from Germany. These companies are as old as 50-60 years but contributing to 10-15% of market share is big achievement from SRC which is established 10 years ago. Comparing to the last history about 20-25% yearly target is enhanced for the sales team but again it is achievable because number of new product are also increased every year to meet these targets. By the year of 2011, they have set the target of capturing about 30% of total market size.

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MOTIVATION
Sales force motivation is a very important for sales managers or sales team. If the product or service is right, sales force selection, organization and training are right, then motivation becomes the critical determinant of success. Another reason sales managers are concerned about motivation is the demanding environment in which salespeople operate. Very often sales people have to talk with strangers who are not always ready or willing to buy what the salesperson has to sell. There are few reason which tells why motivation for sales team is very important and plays a critical role in success of the firm: Sales team often spends lot of their time in traveling and visiting customers.

They are away from their family and friends and therefore it is understandable that they need extra support to do an effective job. These salespersons are not always in direct supervision of their manager.

Infact most of the time, they work independently and therefore in case of absence of direct supervision, self-motivation is critical. Motivation not only affects what activities salespeople perform, but also their

enthusiasm and the quality of their work. In sales, the future of the business and possibly even the sales manager's job depends on manager's ability to understand the psychology of their salespeople. Sales Manager in SRC knows what his sales team wants - what drives them. If he feels that needs for status, control, respect, and routine are most important, a number of actions are available to him which he can take to motivate a sales force. For example, during our visit, we found that salesperson in SRC is called with a title of "Sales Executive". They have company maintained motorbikes. Sales personnel are welcomed in management planning to make and achieve sales quotas and amount of time to be spent on each customer. These sales executives are also invited in company functions/dinner so that they can also meet with top executive of group. We also found that there were many training course certificates lying on sales executives tables in a crystal mounted frame. These sales executives were trained with various sales and time management courses in order to perform better and also this

24 gives an opportunity to others to participate more and get motivation from their seniors. Similarly, to boost and encourage every sales person, company has given him 2-3 big and important customers as a support in meeting his target. SRC delivers a reward on monthly basis to all of its sales employees on successfully achieving monthly sales target of Rs. 10-12 Million.

Motivation Model
According to Maslows theory of hierarchy of needs, SRC also first focus to fulfill the foremost human needs i.e. affiliation and physiological needs. There is strong believe that in order to optimal utilization of one of this important asset, it is very important that first they are satisfied mentally with their job and it is upto the market. Valence Importance of receiving more of certain rewards Efforts Performance Rewards

Expectancy Likelihood that increase efforts will lead to greater performance

Instrumentality Likelihood that greater performance will lead to more rewards

In SRC, besides a good salary package, company also uses a motivation model to motivate its sales force. The first phase is effort-performance relationship in which employees of SRC believe that greater efforts will lead to greater performance. They are motivated accordingly from their management and thus try to put more and more efforts in the sales, which eventually results in greater performance by every individual. The second element of this motivational model leads from performance to rewards which means employees in SRC also believe that higher level of performance will lead to greater personal rewards. This is also called instrumentality. When these sales people are certain that their performance will be personally rewarded, ultimately

25 their motivation will be higher. For this process, SRC compensate its sales force by giving them commission if they achieve more then their monthly sales target.

Incentive Programms - Rewards

Rewards are common in good organizations to motivate and encourage their sales team and workforce to perform effectively. In SRC, company usually gives these rewards in terms of cash.

Self-Management
In order to motivate sales team and enforcing self-management in them; SRC has allocated a given sales quota to every sales person of the company. They have to sell a certain quantity of chemicals in Tons to their customers on monthly basis. This quota system help management to motivate sales people to perform better in order to achieve their goal. Also it gives a direction to sales people where they need to put more efforts. This also enables managers to regularly measure performance of each individual on monthly basis in order to make sure that yearly sales target of every individual / overall company goal is achieved, successfully. If there is any deviation in this measuring process, efforts are made to correct this. For this purpose, often sales managers also visits the territory where his sales person is facing problems which sometimes are beyond his control like slump in market and customers demand. Sales people of SRC are confident and they usually work independently to achieve their sales target.

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Recruitment / Selection and Training

As the business grows and company has more and more customers, it is very important for any business to have sufficient workforce to look after every important customer. In todays business environment where a customer is bombard with thousand of products in a same category, it is very important that we have the right products and it should be in hand of right sales person as well so that they can sell it to right customer effectively. To meet with manpower requirement, some companies usually make a proper hiring plan that how much people they would need in coming future depending upon increase in business volume. In SRC, first managers perform job analysis which helps them to properly understand whether is there is any requirement of any specific post. After that they go on with publication of the ad in the newspaper. Obviously, they clearly mention what is job description and what qualification are required; either technical or educational skills are required for it. If the prospect candidate is for sales & marketing job, the first focus is on his past industry exposure and his skills in sales. Otherwise, in case of administration or technical job like in office or in laboratory, the first focus is on their respective education.

Recruitment process
The goal of recruiting is to find and attract the best qualified applicant for sales position. SRC do their recruitment process by using different channels which include classified advertising, present employees, referrals and customers. They publish the ad in the newspapers for the vacant job. The good point is that SRC encourages promotion within company and if there is any post lying vacant, the first priority is to fill it up with existing but deserving employee. This develops a good culture within company and encourage other people to perform well. Sometime, customers also give a reference for an applicant which company also considers but the point is that such candidate will have to go on with the same

27 selection process which will be kept with other candidates. No partiality is given to anybody in this respect.

Selection Process in SRC

After performing recruitment, the next step is selection where a candidate has to go through different test and stages in order to qualify for a job. In SRC, company uses :Applications Forms: - This kind of form is used to collect personal information of the candidate. All the information gathered in a standardized format which can be useful during interview and at the time of employment of that candidate. The information which is taken from this form most covers candidate educational background, his past employment record and sometime employment gaps which shows his interest in any company. Personal Interviews : - Personal interviews are also done from all the candidates which gives a good understanding about candidate interpersonal skills, his behaviour and attitude towards his job and company, his confidence and competency in his respective field. SRC mostly uses patterned and semi patterned interviews. In patterned interview, all candidates have to response with same questions and their evaluation is based on this particular criteria. While a semi-structured interview is that which is intended to gather critical pieces of information, but the questions are not repeated word-for-word and the candidate is expected to take a more active role in the direction an interview takes. Field Observation : This is special kind of interview which management of SRC applies on his sales team as this gives them a support in order to judge candidate market knowledge and his skills in sales.

Background and Credit Checks

It is very important that a company has honest people, specially in field of sales and marketing as this is the main department which is generating income for the company. Therefore in order to hire a good, hardworking and honest employee, SRC do check

28 their background and credit history. They are located at the heart of the market and have close business relationship with other firms which gives them a support in checking past history of any candidate. During our visit to SRC, we come to know that till now they have not faced any kind of problem specially on part of cash handling with their customers and this is because they have good check & balance at the time of selection and only honest and hardworking candidates get a chance to work with SRC.

Sales Training
Human resource is the most valuable asset for any organization and therefore it is very important that they should be managed in an efficient manner so that they are worth for the company. For this purpose, companies usually give training to their employees in order to have increased productivity, reduced turnover and to keep better relationship with customers. SRC gives sales and time management training to their sales people which helps them in improving their time in sales and territory efficiency.

Planning for Sales Training

SRC properly plans sales training for its employees based on following criteria : First assessing sales training needs Establishing specific objectives for the training programme Setting a budget for the programme Assessing Sales Training Needs : - In this phase, management of SRC itself takes notice if the sales team needs any training . At this level, management first try to know what are the opportunities in the external environment and what are our strengths and accordingly sales team is trained to exploit these opportunities Sales force observation and survey : - This also guide management in determining if the sales force require any training or not. Feedback from sales force is taken that how they described the products to company and how much time they spent on these products. Training is given to them so that they spend their significant time on

29 important customers and products and should not waste their time on products/customers which are not worth to company. Customer Information : - SRC also uses one of this important channel in determining whether its sales team needs any training or not. Questionnaire are sent to customers where they confidentially provide information of their respective serving sales agent whether they are satisfied with him or not and what do they want from this guy. Similarly they are also asked what best practices they have observed in other sales person of any other supplier. This also gives SRC a support in order to decide if training to its workforce is required or not.

Setting a Training Budget

SRC usually allocated 1% of its sales budget over training of new sales people and existing sales and technical staff. Usually training of Sales manager and chemical technician is done in Italy where they know about new technology which is being adopted in leather finishing while it also provides them an edge over their competitors in Pakistan.

What SRC delivers by Training

SRC gives training to its sales people so that they have company orientation, product knowledge, selling skills, improved timework, customer and market information. Since they are the sales people who are visiting customer and presenting the company and its image there; therefore it is very important that they have complete knowledge about their company, its culture and history, products and core competency in this business. Similarly sales people must have complete knowledge about feature and benefits which they are going to sell otherwise they will be in trouble in front of customer. Training in SRC improves selling skills of its team, help in better time management and gives them information about their customer and market. Now after the training, their sales team can properly focus on customers which can be important business client of SRC.

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Training media
The training medium which SRC uses is mostly training (sales & time management) workshops which are held by Pakistan Institute of Management and for technical training, sales team and technicians are referred to National Institute of Leather Technology in Karachi and Gujranwala.

Evaluation of Training
Giving training is not enough and in order to keep your employees fully committed on the job, it is very essential that proper controlling and evaluation is done during and after training. In this respect, SRC takes the feedback of their employees who are sent on training outside the factory. It is closely monitored if there is any positive change in their attitude and behaviour towards work and company. This training given by SRC to its employees is very essential in enhancing their professional skills as they are dealing with leather industry which keeps changing season by season and thus, it is very important for sales people to have the ability to understand the needs of their customers and satisfy them with their products.

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Visit with Sales Manager of SRC to Zahur Sancho:

As we have discussed in our report that 90% of their customers are in the same area where office and factory of SRC is located so this is again a positive edge over their competitors. In case, their customers face any kind of problem, they can immediately visit and solve it. In case of any urgent need of chemicals from their customers, they can deliver it on same day or some times, customer can pick up from their factory which depends on situation and need. There was one issue with Tannery Zahur Sancho that SRC promoted chemical samples for Patent Leather which they tried in their laboratory but quality of product was not right. They called to Mr. Saeed Akhtar Malik and invited him to visit and solve their problem. We also accompanied Mr. Saeed to see how he covers up this situation. We arrived Zahur Sancho around 2:00pm. Half an hour discussion was in general includes politics and general situation of Karachi. Then gradually they go to review the products they are purchasing and asking for further requirements and future need and finally they come to major point of problem. Mr. Ahmed Akhtar Malik started trial in their lab in front of their technicians and it took about two hours to conclude the trial. During the trial several questions were raised from their technicians and Mr. Malik was giving them satisfied replied. This was purely technical questions about related product which was beyond our understanding. We could only understand that the problem was due to application problem and finally their problem was resolved. Their technician had to trial again by themselves and had to give them feedback. We returned back to SRC around 5:00pm and after taking tea, we went back to our home.

32 Word of Thanks We are thankful to Mr. Amir Adam that he has given us this assignment. This trip has has given us our practical approach of our course and we had learned a lot during this visit. We found Mr. Saeed Akhtar Malik very co-operative who has taken his precious time for us to give us all these details and enable us to prepare this report. We also thank to our company Director Mr. Amjad Hafeez who discussed with SRC Director Mr. Abrar Ahmed and got permission for this visit for us.