Reorganizing

the Sales
Force
Case study analysis
We don't grow Profits,
Presented by: We grow
• Harmeet Bhasin
• Dinesh Dalvi
• Salil Gokarn
• Shweta Kedare
• Vikram Kharvi
• Manish Khoravat
• Nikita Kulkarni
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILJYEauFdVw
Brief Summary
• EFL is of the opinion that customers will not buy water purifiers and vacuum
cleaners from Retail Stores, even though they are buying more sophisticated
and difficult to understand products from retails stores
• Over the years EFL has not changed its Sales Strategy and have relied on its
Sales personnel i.e. Euro Champs to sell its products and in this Case Study we
would see, if its time for EFL to change its Sales Strategy and give importance
to other Selling Techniques
Current Sales Strategy
• Currently EFL, continue with unique sales approach.
• Around 24 million cold calls are made, nearly 2.4 million product demonstration is being conducted and
more than 5, 00,000 Euro Cleans and Aquaguards are being sold by EFL field sales force annually.
• EFL thinks that selling their products in retail stores would be impossible, as it requires extensive
presentation, demonstrations and customer objection handling and all these things are possible through
Human Interactions and therefore selling at prospects “Homes” is the best method.
• As per EFL,many a times customer is not aware of the product use and therefore does not initiate the
buying cycle.
• Therefore the EFL salesperson gives powerful presentation, effective demonstration, superior and
customised explanation to overcome objections and close the sale, that to at the convience of the
Customer, at his place where there is no distractions, no competing models, no crowds and plenty of
time.
• EFL advertising creates a buzz and curiosity of the product and they promise a demo in the ad campaign
that helps in welcoming the Euro Champs at prospects home.
• It is estimated by EFL, that their media efforts reach a target audience of about 80 million annually.
EFL Sales Organization
• EFL is spilt into 3 Geographical Profit & Loss regions, each led by Chief Operating Officer (CFO)
• Human Resource, Marketing, Supply Chain, Information Technology and Business
Development support all three divisions
• Heart of EFL organisation is Euro Champs, customer sales specialist who brings the products
into customer homes, demonstrates it, and closes the sales
• Euro champs are the face of the EFL
• 4 Euro Champs make a group, led by a group customer specialist who functions as group
leader
• Team Leader oversee 2 groups, one in which they function as group leader. Group leaders have
Sales Quota
• Euro champs focuses solely on Sales
• The next level above him, have to sell and manage
Organization Hierarchy
CEO
Regional Head
Deputy Divisional Sales Managers (DDSMs)
Senior Divisional Sales Managers (SrDSM)
Divisional Sales Managers (DSMs)
Area Sales Managers (ASMs)
Customer Sales Specialist (CSS)
Euro Champs
EuroChamps
• While recruiting, EFL targeted young men early in 20s
from middle class
• Extrovert, Enthusiastic, outgoing and with effective
communication skills
• Financially needy made them driven and young age
made them enthusiastic
• Recruited from second-tier colleges through
recruitment sessions
• Through Friend - Get - A - Friend
• A current Euro Champ knows the qualities needed
and would be recommended friends with the qualities
EuroChamp Tasks
Sample of daily activity report
A Day in the Life of a EuroChamp
Morning:
30 minutes at 7 or 7:30 am meeting at open shop / Street corner, EuroChamp anthem sung by
the entire group. Team leader- Shared previous performance, what had been learned, plan for
the day. Objective- to generate at least 3-4 apt. at the evening. 40-50 doors knocking by midday.
Midday:
Return to office, Daily Activity Report, Deposit payments and request delivery for closed sale.
Role playing / Mock demonstrations.
Afternoon/ Evening:
Closing sale, Collecting payments, Courtesy calls for existing customers for referrals and
retaining in the use of Euro clean & AquaGuard.

Night:
Field meeting.
Recruitment
• Done by way of advertising and banners displayed outside colleges, newspaper articles and other modes
of recruitment advertisements.
• Recruitment starts just before the students final exams.
• EuroChamps tried to lure more female candidates but had to overcome a lot of obstacles due to social
stigma and lack of attractiveness towards the profile.
• EFL also tried the ‘Friend get a Friend Campaign’ where referring friend earned incentives for getting his
friend onboard Eureka Forbes
• Adding Incentives to the program was one way of attracting new sales recruits under the EuroChamp
programme e.g. Own Your Own Bike Program.
• Focus was to recruit dynamic, outgoing and extrovert personalities needed or closing a sales call,
grooming them under the training program to enhance performance.
Training
• Newly appointed EuroChamps are paired with Senior EuroChamps and asked to shadow their
seniors for a week or two before being allotted their own territory
• The Initial week is more of an induction program where the new recruits are given a run down
the company’s history, organization hierarchy, products, targets, vision and mission
statements, policies and payment structures
• New recruits have very little time to grasp all the information they need to go on and be a
successful EuroChamp
• Team leaders and supervisors are not only responsible for quality training of new EuroChamps
but also have to give feedback about their performance, behavior and overall appraisal of the
new recruits as attrition rate is high, making Eureka Forbes a poaching ground for rival
companies to prize their sales force away with better incentives and pay packages
• Time is a problem for new recruits to learn everything in limited time as they are pushed into
the environment to close a sales call
Supervision
• EuroChamps - engage in reporting and feedback at least three times daily

• To review performance and set targets DDSMs & DSMs expected to visit the field at least once every 15 days.

• Mistakes are viewed as opportunity to learn

• Front line work is high pressure job, which are
– Physically Demanding

– Psychologically Demanding

– Economically Demanding
• Group leaders and team leaders expected to address attrition problems, complaints from customers and poor performance of
EuroChamps.

• Detailed information on the EuroChamps' door knocks, demos, sale closings and installations help supervisors to guide the
EuroChamps.

• Paperwork takes a lot of time of supervisors.

Emphasizes

Developing
Learning
leaders
Quotas & Territories
• EuroChamps are expected to average 50 customer contacts per day
• Senior EuroChamps, who claim more popular territories or poach sales in areas
assigned to new sales reps are a source of conflict and tension within the
EuroChamp ranks.

Annual quotas

monthly requirements
at least eight sales
of 60 product
closings per month
demonstrations
Evaluation & Compensation
• An EuroChamps’ base compensation includes salary, rent allowance, a special pay per month,
a demo allowance, leave travel concession, holiday bonus, medical / travel reimbursement and
multiple other benefits
• Continuous Incentives
– Confirmed EuropChamps are also entitled to incentives called Friendship Chain
• An average successful salesman earns 2/3rd of his monthly earnings through commissions –
which works as an automatic sieving effect
• Recognized by making them part of EFL’s Achievers Clubs & Silver Circle Club and eventually to
Club 100
• EuroChamps enjoy a gift from EFL (a
product) during their wedding
• Trophies, Mementos, Entertainment Tickets
• Circle of Champions with 4 levels of
recognition
• Children of Eurochamps too, enjoy education
benefits through EFL unique Euro Wiz
schemes
Current Issues
• CEOs and other regional managers noticed something amiss in their
EuroChamps over the period of time, such as
– EuroChamps missed easy closure opportunities
– Demo equipments were damaged and unclean
– The art of responding to customer objections were neglected in their training
• CEO realized that Quota Management and sales volume left little time to
coach.
• EFL managers were too busy staying on top of their daily responsibilities.
• CEO realized it was time to make some dramatic changes…
Formalizing Training
• EFL started centralized recruitment and training centers in 2004 to ensure
formal, standardized, from wide training approach

• Training materials, trainers, training rooms, training benchmarks,

schedule and follow up systems were created to get the best output

• EFL had opened Centralized recruitment and training centers in 8

different cities in India where they found it difficult to get the talented
sales staff

• CRTCs were fully equipped with training and conference facilities audio
visual equipment and libraries

• Every centers has 2 talent development executives who had successful

careers as field leaders with track records in both sales and people
development
New evaluation and compensation plan
• EFL had came with the new compensation plan named as “Bettering the Best”

• Company introduced new compensation and incentive structures, resulting into high sales numbers, which brought
confidence and positive attitude among the staff, this motivated salesperson to try again to achieve more

• Rather than rewarding the employees only on sales volume the company launched the reward points based on various
parameters. Example a door knock earned 5 points, a demo 1oo, attending meetings 200, a sale will generate 300 points

• Sales staff which used to qualify for this points used to be recognized by his superiors, shorts incentives schemes were
launched

• Monthly rewards were launched at area level for best performing Euro Champ, at division level for best group leader and at
state level for the best team leader.

• The CEO decided to test run this new system with only one sales force in one region

• It was found that the productivity of low performing staff was improving, staff were fully motivated.
A New Evaluation and Compensation Plan
• The objective of the new system was to split the bigger goals into smaller targets
• Soon after the first few weeks of the launch of new system the Eurochamps complained about
the time it took them to fill the activity reports forms
• Group Leaders complained that the new system is time consuming as the leaders need to tally
the points of each Eurochamps and had increased the paper work
• Many senior managers thought that the new system will shift the focus of sales staff from
making sales to earning points
Next Steps
• The CEO realized that the implementation of new system would rely heavily on the character
& leadership of the senior managers.
• EFl sales force carried the “friend For Life’’ vision of the CEO.
• He wanted the sales rep to build bridges with customers even when they did not have
anything to sell.
• The vision of CEO was to emphasize the customer with retention and referrals.
• The EuroChamp team was focused on how to sell instead of how much to sell.
• EuroChamp took the pride in what they do.
• All this steps were initiated for providing a process orientation to the EFL sales force instead of
end-result oriented approach.
Next Steps
Thank You
People often say that
Motivation doesn’t last.
Well, neither does
bathing – that’s why we
recommend it daily

- Zig Ziglar