Job Responsibilities Of Sales Person

SALES AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT GROUP ASSINGMENT 2 SEC- B2C, GROUP - 7

PART – I Two FMCG Products that we have chosen are – ✔ BISCUITS ✔ CHOCOLATES The different Brands that the retailer store are – BISCUITS

CHOCOLATES

1) Britannia 1) Cadbury 2) Sunfeast 2) Nestle 3) Parle –G 3) Amul 4) Priya Gold 4) Hershey’s Actually a small retailer (kirana shop) stores the Brand for which there are following features (in order of the Preference) – 1) High Shelf Turnover

2) 3) 4) 5) 6)

Regular Supply Demand Good Replacement Policies Promotional Schemes Good Margins

If some of these are missing for a particular Brand than the shopkeeper prefer not to store the Brand. Again, it depends on retailer to retailer and their behaviour and also in some cases on the Brand Equity. In Biscuits, there is a huge diversity. We mean that for different types of biscuits he (the retailer) prefer different brands. As for example, for Glucose Biscuits he prefer Parle-G, for Marie & Cream him prefer Britannia, for Snacks (or namkeen) he prefers Priya Gold. The reasons for the preferences are many as discussed earlier. But again for some Brands there can be other reasons too. Like for Parle-G (glucose), the reason being the retailer has to put a very low effort for the sale as customers come with a preparation to buy it and then if he will try to persuade the customer for some other Brand then he may lose the sale. In Chocolates, the interesting thing here to watch is that although Cadbury ranks average on all the features what we have mentioned earlier for preferring a particular Brand then also it is the most preferred Brand. Again, the reason is low effort for converting the prospective buyer into actual buyer. We all know the dominance of Cadbury in the Indian Chocolate Market. So, the preference of selling Cadbury is self-explanatory. Page 1

SALES AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT GROUP ASSINGMENT 2 SEC- B2C, GROUP - 7 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PART – II BRITANNIA FOR BISCUITS The sales person calls on weekly basis to the retailer. On daily basis he visits 12-15 such stores and in a week a total of 60-70 stores. The areas allocated to the sales person are – ✔ Bardi ✔ Dhantoli ✔ Ramdas Peth Job Responsibilities of the sales person of Britannia – 1) Order Taking – The primary work of the sales person is to visit shops and taking order

every week from a particular shop and on a particular day of the week. 2) Handling of the Order Register to Office – At the end of each day the Order register has 3)

4)

5) 6) 7)

to be handled to the office staffs. These office staffs prepare bills and then delivery is made on generally on the next day. Informing Retailer about the promotions and schemes – The next important task of a sales person is to inform the retailer about different promotions and schemes that are on for both the customers and retailers. This is a task which have to be done very carefully as company’s sales depend a lot on this. Taking decision on Replacements – Generally, the sales person takes decision on the replacements at a particular shop. Any product that needs to be replaced at a particular shop is inspected by the sales person at the point of order taking and then he takes decision whether to replace it or not as per the company norms. It is very rare that the decision is taken by some higher authority. Cash Collection – The sales person also does the job of payment collection. The sales person collects the payment against a particular order on his/her next visit (i.e. next week). Point of Purchase Advertisement – The sales person has an important role in deciding about putting up of Displays, Hoardings, Banners, etc at a particular shop. On the Job Training – The sales person also provides the on job training to new sales personal. He/she does this by taking the new comer with him to market place (i.e. to different retail shops) at the time of his visits.

Various Activities of the sales person at a retail shop –

Page 2

SALES AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT GROUP ASSINGMENT 2 SEC- B2C, GROUP - 7 Of the job responsibilities which have been discussed above, activities 1, 3, 4, and 5 are the ones which the sales person perform at a retail shop.

Various Forms/ Formats that the sales person maintains – The sales person maintains an Order Book (register), a cash collection sheet, and replacement forms. A sample of all these are given in Appendices. Order and Delivery Process – The sales person at a particular retail shop collects the order by calling name of each and every SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) which is there in its Order Register and also which is in stock. Now, the retailer has to respond by saying the quantity which he requires of a particular SKU. Again, sometimes if a retailer doesn’t order for a particular SKU then the sales person tries to persuade the retailer for ordering by again recalling the different promotions and schemes which are there for that SKU or if there is no such promotions and schemes and still the sales person has to make a sale then he persuade by some other means. The frequency of delivery always matches the frequency of Order Taking. Generally, both equals to once a week but in some cases if there is urgent order and a sufficiently huge order then the delivery can be made more than once a week. But this is a rare case to happen. The delivery is done on the next working day of which the order is taken. The cash is collected on the next visit at a particular retail shop and in some cases the cash is collected at the time of delivery too depending on the credit policy of the company for a particular retail shop. Role of a sales person in educating the Retailer about the new product – This is an important role of a sales person in an industry like biscuit. The reason being here the sales person is the only link between company and retailer on a regular basis. So, if a new product is launched by the company then that information and its features has to be passed to retailers through sales person only. Now, educating the retailer about the new product is not a huge task as there is it involves no technicality. A typical day in the life of a sales person –

Page 3

SALES AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT GROUP ASSINGMENT 2 SEC- B2C, GROUP - 7 The sales person typically reaches his/her office by 8.30 am. Here, he/she collects his order register and the Billing Challan against which he has to collect payments. Then he/she leaves the office around 9.00 am and goes out in the market place on visits to retailers. He/she visits different retailers as per the schedule (fixed earlier by him/her at his/her convenience) that he/she has to visit on that particular day. He/she takes order from each of the shop and also performs other activities which need to be performed by him/her. At around 1.00 – 2.00 pm he/she takes an half our break for lunch. Then after the lunch time he/she again starts with his/her regular activities at retail shops. After completing the quotas of retail shop which he/she had to on that particular day he/she returns to office in evening by around 5.00 pm. After reaching to the office, he/she hands over the Order Book to office staffs. The payment which he/she collected is handed over to Cash Department. Once in a week or as per company norms he/she has to report to his supervisor/boss in evening.

CADBURY FOR CHOCOLATES The salesperson calls on weekly basis to the retailer. On daily basis he/she visits 15-20 such stores and in a week a total of 75-85 stores. The areas allocated to the sales person are – ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Bardi Dhantoli Ramdas Peth Dharam Peth

Job Responsibilities of the salesperson of Cadbury – 1) To take orders – One of the jobs of a salesperson is to take orders from the shops that are

located in the particular area that has been allotted to him. 2) Collecting cash – The other important job of the salesperson is to collect the cash from

the shops. This is in accordance with the credit terms of the cadbury’s. 3) Reporting to the office – At the end of each day the salesperson is expected to document all the proceedings of the day and to hand over the report to the office.

Page 4

SALES AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT GROUP ASSINGMENT 2 SEC- B2C, GROUP - 7 4) Informing the retailer about the current offers of cadbury – One of the tasks that a

salesperson of Cadbury does is to inform the retailer about the various offers that are available for both retailers and customers. 5) Information gathering – One of the works that they do is to collect various information about the customers’ attitude towards cadbury’s product, its competitor’s product, and the trends, etc. which are used by the company to make changes in future. 6) Building relationship – One of the primary jobs of the salesperson is to build a long term relationship with the retailer. 7) Negotiating/Securing the order – Sometimes a salesperson is supposed to negotiate and secure an order. This can also mean to keep a new product of Cadbury. 8) Problem Solving/Taking decisions – Many a time a salesperson may face problems like a particular retailer wants to discontinue a particular SKU of Cadbury etc. Such sort of problems must be handled and rectified on-the-spot. Hence it is the job of the salesperson to take care of such problems efficiently. Here, they might be forced to take decisions without consulting the higher authorities. 9) Point of Purchase jobs – The salesperson many a times might be asked by the retailer to arrange the products of cadbury’s on display or put up the banners for advertising etc. 10)On the Job Training – The salesperson may also be responsible for providing the on job training to new sales personal. He does this by taking the new salesperson with him to different retail shops at the time of his visits. Various Activities of the salesperson at a retail shop – Of the job responsibilities which have been discussed above, activities 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are the ones which the salesperson performs at a retail shop. Various Forms/Formats that the salesperson maintains – The salesperson maintains an Order Book (register), a cash collection sheet, and replacement forms. Order and Delivery Process – The sales person at a particular retail shop collects the order by calling name of each and every SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) which is there in its Order Register and also which is in stock. Now, the retailer has to respond by saying the quantity which he requires of a particular SKU. When a retailer doesn’t order for a particular SKU then the sales person tries to persuade the retailer for ordering that SKU and asks the reason for the same from the retailer. The frequency of delivery always matches the frequency of Order Taking.

Page 5

SALES AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT GROUP ASSINGMENT 2 SEC- B2C, GROUP - 7 The cash is collected as per the credit policies. It may be collected immediately by cheque or at a later date by cash. Role of a sale person in educating the retailer about the new product – This is one of the tasks that every salesperson has to do some day or other. Whenever a new product is launched by cadbury’s, the retailers do not come to know of it automatically. The salesperson goes to the retailers and urges the retailer to keep this product. The salesperson describes the product to the retailer so that he/she can sell it to the customers. In this way he/she educates the retailer about the pros and cons of the product over other chocolates.

A typical day in the life of a salesperson – 0900 hrs: The salesperson reaches his office. 0930 hrs: He/she collects his order register, billing book and other necessary registers and he leaves the office to visit the retailers. 1000 hrs to 1300 hrs: He/she visits different retailers as per the schedule (fixed earlier by him at his convenience or by order from higher authority) that he/she has to visit on that particular day. He/she performs different activities at different retail shops as required. 1300 hrs: He/she takes a lunch break at more or less 1pm. 1400 hrs: By this time he/she resumes his/her work after the lunch break. 1700 hrs: He/she reaches the office after completing his/her day’s task. Here, he/she does all the office tasks such as reporting, cash depositing etc. 1800 hrs: He/she completes his entire task for the day.

Page 6

SALES AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT GROUP ASSINGMENT 2 SEC- B2C, GROUP - 7

APPENDICES

1) A Sample Order Book Sheet NAME OF THE RETAILER _________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS - ____________________________________________________________________________ CONTACT PERSON - _________________________________. CONTACT NO - _____________________ 01/06

02/06

03/06

Tiger 88gm Marie 90gm Marie 180gm Marie 360 gm Thin 90 gm Thin 180 gm Thin 360 gm Milk Bikis 75gm Milk Bikis 225gm

Page 7

-

SALES AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT GROUP ASSINGMENT 2 SEC- B2C, GROUP - 7 Time Pass 90gm Time Pass 125 gm Time Pass 225gm Cream Craker 90gm Cream Craker 180gm Cream Craker 360gm Good Day Kaju 90gm Good Day Kaju 225gm Good Day Butter 90 gm Good Day Butter 290 gm Good Day Chocochips 90gm Good Day Cookies 90gm Good Day Pista 90gm Little Hearts Rs. 5 Little Hearts Rs. 10 Good Day Cup Cakes

2) A Sample Cash Collection Sheet CASH COLLECTION SHEET NAME OF THE RETAILER

BILL AMOUNT Rs. P

AMOUNT RECEIVED Rs. P

Page 8

BALANCE DUE (IF ANY) Rs. P

SALES AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT GROUP ASSINGMENT 2 SEC- B2C, GROUP - 7

TOTAL

Page 9