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Running Head: SALES PLAN??? PHASE THREE Sales Plan ??? Phase Three Introduction [Valerie] [Overview of original sales plan and the subsequent changes to product life cycle] Overview of Original Sales Plan The original sales plan is based upon the SWOTT Analysis; strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and trends. The SWOTT analysis is a sales plan that Coco Cola can use to its advantage in all areas that need to be assessed. The SWOTT analysis will also help provide any and/ or all information that is needed for Coca Cola to make any changes for area’s or improvements; and also to see what is working and keep it the same.
The main area’s for improvement is the weaknesses, and threats section of the SWOTT; because there are the areas that can be worked and evaluated to Coca Cola’s advantage. Knowing what the weakness and threats that pose to an organization will give all divisions at Coca Cola to focus on and asses any changes that need to be made to great more strength in the organization. The SWOTT Analysis will also help Coco Cola assess what the current trends are towards what consumers like to purchase. By knowing the trends the organization will be able to “keep up to date” with what consumers prefer to purchase for beverage products.
Finally, focusing on opportunities will increase what strengths the organization already had and to overcome any weaknesses and threats the organization may have or may come up against. [Overview of original sales plan and the subsequent changes to product life cycle] Sales Plan Review As an organization, Coca Cola is aware that there can be many changes to a product’s lifecycle. With the success of the company with all its products, Coca-Cola had to adapt to changes in the market. The company learned to dapt when it decided to replace the original Coca-Cola with new Coke. That change back-fired on the company and Coca-Cola had to revert to the original recipe to satisfy its consumer base. The company had to ensure that they would not lose market share to their competitors and not lose any of their relationships with existing customers. Team B, still concedes that its proposed sales and distribution concept is best suited for Coca-Cola’s sales strategy but for any changes in the product lifecycle, the company should perform a marketing assessment.
At the maturity stage, the strong growth of sales begins to diminish. At this stage the competition will release similar products. The objective at this point is to defend market share while maximizing profits. Product: Features should be enhanced to differentiate itself from the competition. Pricing: Should be lower because of the competition. Distribution: This should become more intensive and incentives should be offered to discourage preference of the competitions product. Promotion: This should focus on, and emphasize product differentiation.
Market Reassessment With the changes to the product life cycle, Coca-Cola will reassess the market to evaluate changes that may affect the sales plan. Coca-Cola will then update its sales plan to address the potential effect of those changes. As part of this market reassessment, Coca-Cola will perform an environmental scan, situation analysis, and SWOTT analysis. As part of the environmental scan, Coca-Cola will reassess certain aspects of the market including the products, competitive landscape, target markets, distribution, and community involvement.
For example, the competition may have released new products on the market or a health-conscious trend may have developed for consumers to select products with or without certain ingredients. In such cases, Coca-Cola may need to offer new products also or modify the contents of its existing products. Coca-Cola would also evaluate the necessity to develop new target markets as well as the effectiveness of the distribution to the existing and new markets. Coca-Cola would also evaluate event sponsorships that could help to promote the sale of its products.
In terms of internal influences, Coca-Cola would evaluate processes and performance of different areas within the organization such as the marketing strategies and tactics, to determine if they can remain effective with the changes to the product life cycle, and the sales force to determine if performance is optimum to address the market changes. The company could then implement process improvements to optimize marketing activities and optimize sales performance.
To understand the factors that changed in the market that can influence a company’s sales and marketing success, Coca-Cola will perform the “5 C Analysis” that includes an analysis of five key internal and external influences; company, customers, competitors, collaborators, and climate (NetMBA, 2010). The following is a summary of analysis that Coca-Cola will undertake: Company. Coca-Cola will evaluate its products and the image of those products in the marketplace to determine if any changes should be made to market the product more effectively, and to satisfy the needs of the customers.
Customers: Coca-Cola will analyze customers in terms of the size of each market segment and the growth rate in each segment. Depending on the results, Coca-Cola will determine if it should continue to focus on each market, change the marketing strategy to increase growth in particular segments, or the establish new market segments. Competitors. This analysis will consider existing and potential competitors and the market share of each. The analysis will also seek to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each competitor.
In addition, Coca-Cola will evaluate the competitive products, including the distribution channels. Coca-Cola will use this information to develop strategies to remain competitive and to retain or increase market share. Collaborators. Coca-Cola will review distributors to analyze the level of sales by each and to determine if the company should establish additional distributors. Using this information in conjunction with the feedback from the consumers’ survey, Coca-Cola will establish a strategy for selling to its distributors to meet the needs of the consumers.
Climate. Analysis of the climate will include a review of environmental factors at a macro level. According to NetMBA (2010), this level of analysis also called the PEST Analysis, will include an evaluation of the political, economic, social, and technological influences. In terms of political factors, Coca-Cola will need to take into consideration any new policies or regulations that will affect the market, for example, a regulation to reduce the use of plastic bottles to help preserve the environment.
This regulation would affect Coca-Cola’s bottling activities, and associated costs. From an economic perspective, Coca-Cola will need to understand factors such as taxes, inflation, or similar factors that could affect the price or distribution of its products, as these factors could also affect sales and profitability. With respect to social issues, Coca-Cola will need to pay attention to trends such as a reduction in the consumption of beverages containing fructose possibly related to health concerns.
This would reduce Coca-Cola’s sales and the company would need to revisit its product ingredients. For technological influences, Coca-Cola will need to be aware of any technological develop that could affect the demand for the product or customer satisfaction, for example, developing a can that can be re-sealed to prevent spillage. Using the information obtained from the environmental scan and the situation analysis, Coca-Cola will perform a SWOTT analysis to determine the primary areas on which to focus to maintain growth and competitive advantage. Customer Relationship
Coca Cola is a company that is always expanding it services in order to satisfy the needs of consumers or change in a market environment. The company wants to create a company that expands year by year. To accomplish this goal Coca Cola will could make some changes in the advertising and promotion strategies. The company has a strong marketing campaign with so many different avenues that the marketing reaches the consumers. Some minor changes in the marketing campaign could lead to steps in success and generate profits. Currently the marketing campaign does not have celebrity spokespersons for the product.
Media has captured some celebrities using the different Coca Cola products but the company can capitalize on hiring a spokesperson such as an actor or sports figure in order to reach different demographics. For example a younger demographic can be reached by new music artists or popular sport athletes. The company is such a global icon and the product is know around the world and the use of different spokespeople in different countries can help the marketing campaign in a global sense. The company can also use a global icon to reach all the demographics through ifferent marketing plans. Another strategy to help increase sales is offering promotions that could increase the sales of the different products. With the cost of production becoming lower through the product cycle, Coca Cola can offer low prices and sales on the products to attract those consumers who could only afford the products on a seldom basis. The drop in the price of the product can increase that sales and profit of the company. With the drop in the price point the product will allow for a better market penetration and fight off other competition.
The promotion could be for limited time during the year so the promotion and advertising of the different Coca Cola products is critical in reach all the demographics across the world. The sale of the product can reach and promotion can show that the company is committed to offering the product to all consumers and is willing to reach the needs of consumers. In an economy where the finance is shifting day to day the price drop of the product can meet the demands expressed by consumers. Although these strategies will help the company, other tactics can be used in order to achieve success.
Other tactics that be used is internet marketing where the company will adopt for attaining the sales objectives of the sales plan. For promoting the product and ensuring its reach to the new target group, internet marketing will be used. The use of online articles, magazines, websites, and newspapers can be used to inform the target group about the different product sales and promotions. The content of message can have promotional items that will entice consumers to continue to purchase the products. Sale incentive for the promotion products can motivate a sales force in order to reach sales goals of the company.
It is important to have a motivated sales force when promoting products and sales of the products. Motivated sales force will work for the attainment of sales goals, a critical success factor for the sales plan. Performance Measurement Tools To meet the objectives of its sales plan, it will be important for Coca-Cola’s salespeople to perform at an optimum level. To manage this requirement, Coca-Cola will review and update its sales management system to measure the salespeople’s performance effectively.
The sales management system will include tracking and measurement tools to determine the success rate at which the salespeople identify, qualify, and close sales opportunities as well as how well the salespeople retain and grow existing clients. These measurement tools will use software technology that enables Coca-Cola to store systematically, monitor, and report the necessary sales activities. The following are some of the measurement tools that Coca-Cola will have in place: Revenue Targets. Coca-Cola’s sales representatives will focus on identifying and winning new clients to grow the client base and generate new revenue.
Account managers will be responsible for managing the relationship with existing clients to retain the business, and to sell more services to those clients to increase revenue. Different revenue targets will be set annually for sales representatives and account managers respectively. The annual target for each sales representative will be a revenue amount for the sales representative to achieve from sales to new clients. The target for each account manager will be a revenue achievement amount calculated as a combination of revenue retention from existing customers and additional revenue from the sale of more services to those customers.
The sales manager and the individual salespersons will agree to the targets at the beginning of the year. The sales manager will store the individual target amounts on the sales management system, and each sale throughout the year. Each month the sales manager will generate a report to show how each salesperson is tracking to target. The sales manager will review this information with each salesperson and offer support to the salesperson to achieve the target. Sales Calls. Coca-Cola believes that the higher the amount of sales calls each day, the higher the likelihood of identifying and closing additional sales.
The company will therefore set targets for the number of sales calls that each salesperson must complete each week. The salespeople must enter the sales calls into the sales management system. The sales manager will have the option to generate a report from the sales management system to track the number of sales calls against target. Opportunity Management. Salespeople must enter their sales opportunities on the sales management system, and assign a stage to the opportunity e. g. identified, qualified, presenting, negotiating, or closing.
Similar to the sales calls, the sales manager will have the option to generate a report from the sales management system to determine the number of opportunities at the different stages, and the velocity of the opportunity from stage-to-stage. For example, if an opportunity remains in the identified stage for a long time, the sale manager will review the opportunity with the salesperson to understand any challenges that he or she is experiencing, or to determine the actions necessary to progress the opportunity to close the sale.
Performance Evaluation. As part of ongoing performance evaluation, the sales manager will provide feedback to the salespeople on performance, such as performance results compared to targets, areas for improvement, and changes in expectations. The manager will also solicits feedback from each salesperson on his or her level of satisfaction, professional development requirements, management support requirements, and any other factor that the salespeople wish to discuss. Conclusion
Coca-Cola Company is an extremely diverse and mature organization that has experienced highs and lows throughout the life of the soft drink product, Coca-Cola. A sales plan helps devise an outline for the company and product to follow, and helps the marketing and sales team to stay on track. Similar to any product on the market today, the sales plan needs to be re-evaluated to ensure that the product and company stay on track with the growth and maturity of the product. The ultimate goal of Coca-Cola is to increase product awareness that will help increase profits.
Sales representatives must be operating at maximum performance in order to achieve these results. Sales teams can achieve great results by having management that is supportive, knowledgeable, and can lead through example. Strong leadership will help both the company and soft drink product reach their goals and be successful. References NetMBA (2010). Situation Analysis. Retrieved June 8, 2010 from http://www. netmba. com/marketing/situation/ NetMBA. com (2010). Product Life Cycle. Retrieved June 13, 2010 from http://www. netmba. com/marketing/product/lifecycle/