Executive summary
This study sheds light on the different sales theories, their application and their advantages. Various sales theories help the business companies in their growth and to achieve the desired reputation in the business. This report also describes the various communication theories such as a “GroupThink Theory” and “Value Proposition Theory” which can help Chiltern System company to keep its communication transparent in the meeting. Finally, a future plan has been described which can assist the company to deliver the order on time.
Introduction
Companies require applying effective theories in order to achieve their desired growth in the competitive industry. Moreover, they need to ensure that they possess the capacity to implement a new strategy in order to mitigate issues that impede the overall development of the organisation. Chiltern Systems Company in London wants to purchase Mackbook and Public Relation Agency aims to get the tender. Public Relations Agency has arranged a meeting to convince the client company by applying different sales theories.
1. Activity 1
1.1 Brief Description
A PR agency has approached the Chiltern System to make an order of 500 MacBooks at once. A PR agency always deals with celebrity clients and the old technical system makes them fatigued to provide them with a service. The firm intends to upgrade its current system which can match the interior design of the office to enhance its image globally. This public relations agency has communicated with the Chiltern system to buy 500 MacBooks at once. Chiltern System is a successful company situated in London which deals in the sale of various parts in equipment for the advanced computer system for office as well as factories of the media industry.
Now, the Chiltern system has the responsibility to offer 500Mac Books for a PR agency at once. It could be quite difficult for them as they specialize in computers with Windows operating systems. They have fewer MacBooks compared to windows OS based computers. Now, the company has to give a presentation in front of the PR agency to increase the brand awareness of the company. It also has to describe the benefit of the company as it specializes in selling various computer equipment at reasonable prices (Thabit and Raewf, 2018). The company has a good record of delivering the product on time without any delay. This company has to explain that taking service from the Chiltern System can enable them to gain two years of after-sales service. It can help a PR agency to repair the system free of cost till two years after the purchasing date.
1.2 Theory A: GroupThink communication theory
Companies can give a presentation in front of the PR agency using a communication theory named GroupThink communication theory. This theory specifies that the reduction of vulnerability and pressure helps to achieve the task properly. The agenda is joined by a group of team-mates after a deep conversation about the issue.
Figure 1: GroupThink Theory
(Source: Online.alvernia.edu, 2021)
Individual members of the group have to agree or disagree on the matter by analyzing its effectiveness. The final refined planning is developed to make a communication with the business entity to gain the approach.
Application of GroupThink communication theory
The Chiltern System can use this theory to give a presentation for A PR agency. It can be used by various team-mates of the company. Companies can explain the benefits such as on-time delivery and better pricing compared to other dealers in the communication with the PR agency (Lui et al. 2018). The Chiltern System can offer two years of after-sales service which means no cost service for the client till the next two years from the date of purchase. In this regard, a company can make a contract for warranty sales service by following the regulations of the “Sale of Goods Act of 1979” (Legislation.gov.uk, 2021). The company has to offer all sorts of possible after-sales services such as repairing, OS installation, offering free drivers and basic network systems to the client. The company needs to explain that taking service from the Chiltern System can increase its brand image as it offers a good quality of the product on time by offering discounts. On-Time delivery and sustainable products can also improve the system and enable a PR agency to cater the best service to celebrities based on current trends.
I feel that using Groupthink theory enables the company to place the employees of relevant skills in the relevant place. It will improve the communication system of this company with the PR agency. For example, a sales manager can solve the query of after-sales service in the communication which can motivate the client to make an agreement in the order.
1.3 Theory B: Value Proposition theory
This theory explains that service providers always use ethical ways to prove the service to the client. Customer loyalty and motivation are the first priority for enhancing the business (B2binternational.com, 2021). If the customers face any major difficulty in the business then it is the responsibility of the service providers to solve that issue. It will help to increase the brand image of the company.
Application of Value Proposition theory
The Chiltern System needs to follow the theory of value proposition and pitch for those services which a company is able to provide. This company has to make the client aware of its specialization in the business as it specializes in offering a windows-based computer. Companies can pitch the clients by offering the true information instead of giving any false information to them (Malone, 2018). The communication can be done involving individuals for the sales team and technical team which can help to give accurate information regarding pricing, after-sales service, technical development and delivery process and schedule. This process will help a PR agency to keep the business communication process transparent by solving their queries. It will also help the company to avoid possible conflict with the client (De Giovanni and Ramani, 2017). This transparency and ethical communication will help the client to set up a good relationship with the celebrity member. A PR agency can also buy the products from the Chiltern System without any business concern as the clear and transparent marketing business policy of the company suits the marketing strategy of a PR agency. This step from the Chiltern System can make them loyal to A PR agency in this big deal.
1.4 Future Planning
The Chiltern system needs to do future planning in order to accomplish the deal successfully. It has to deliver 500 MacBooks on a strict deadline. The company has to make plans in the three segments which includes making a portfolio for presentation, price agreement and delivery time. The company has to give a presentation for the sales pitch to a PR agency. This presentation will be given by three members of the team which are a sales manager or representative, IT representative or Marketing manager. Sales Managers can be able to answer the sales related questions such as delivery date and management of the products (Colangelo and Maggiolino, 2018). The IT representative will be able to respond to the query related specification of the products and repairing services. The marketing manager will be able to provide information regarding the after-sales services (Huang and Rust, 2017). Usage of the portfolio of the sales and services used by the company will help to provide transparent information for the client.
The sales representative or manager will have to decide the cost of the 500 MacBooks. The average cost of the MacBook in the London market is different based on the different sizes of the products. For a 14 inch MacBook, the average cost is £1899/1999 and for a 16 inch laptop, the price is around £2399/2499. Based on that, price calculation will be done by them (Refer to appendix1). The company will have to make an agreement on the delivery time of the products as the number of MacBooks are quite high. Now the company will have to do the arrangement of the logistics for the on-time delivery system (Thabit and Raewf, 2018). The company will have to communicate with the PR agency in order to extend the deadline if it will not be able to deliver the products on a specific date.
2. Activity 2
2.1 Brief Description
In the second scenario, the difficulty of the Chiltern System has been described. The company has less stock of MacBooks and is not able to deliver the 500 MacBooks at the specified time. The Director of the company has given permission to offer a 10% discount to a PR agency if they are ready to accept the order at a later date. On the contrary, the company is able to deliver 500 units of windows computers on time as Chiltern System has enough stock windows computers. In this case, the company has to make an approval to provide one more year of free aftercare service due to the inconvenience of switching (Malek, Sarin and Jaworski, 2018). A meeting will be organized and attended by two members of the Chiltern System and members of a PR agency. All the issues and alternative solutions regarding this can be discussed to sort out issues in this big business deal.
2.2 Theory A: Snap Sales Theory
Chiltern Systems has adopted the Snap Selling theory to convince the client company Public Relation Agency. Snap Sales theory was introduced by Jill Konrath in the year 2012 on the basis that in today’s world as everyone is busy and prefers fast delivery, every company needs to speed up their sales process. Snap Sales theory aims at a simple, aligned and invaluable selling process as per the demand of the client company (Raju et al. 2021). It is a value chain system in which the selling company prepares their selling structure and offers according to the preference of the customer. The goal of the theory is to provide the customer with the most important information about the products in a simple, lucid way that helps the client company to understand the plans and offers that they are offering. This methodology aims to quicken the sales process and satisfy the demands of the client company.
Application of the Snap Sales Theory
The Chiltern Systems Company aims to get the tender to supply 500 Apple Mac books to the Public Relation Agency and the company adopts the Snap Sales Theory. The Chiltern Systems Company ensured very fast delivery of the computers to provide the client company with a better technological setup. According to the theory the company presents their product stock in a simple and lucid manner that the company does not have enough stock of Mac book and for this reason, they can deliver only half of the order (Ferreira, 2017). The company also offers a discount of 10% on all the pieces to mitigate the loss caused by the late delivery and they assure to deliver the rest of the order to be delivered within 15 days after the first date of delivery. The Public Relations Agency will be benefitted from the offer as the company can get the product at a low cost.
2.3 Theory B: OB (Organisational Behaviour) Theory
This theory analyses the act and behaviour of the individuals as well as the business organisations of different professions and business groups. It is a brunch of academic theory. The organisation’s demands, reactions to an offer, and way of behaviour can be recognised through this theory. The four aspects of the organisational behaviour theory are public, business structure, technology and the external environment. This theory helps to identify the client’s attitude, reaction and also the demands from the deal. This can also help the company to prepare the structure of the business policy.
Application of the theory
Chiltern Systems Agency has adopted this theory to be clear about the demands and attitude towards their company. The company have arranged a meeting to know the preferences of the Client Company at the Latimer place Chalfont and Latimer station on the Metropolitan line London On 9th,14th,20th and 28th October of 2021 (Jayampathi, and Dissanayake, 2018). The lack of the storage of the product and the discounts that the company will offer to the client company will be discussed briefly in the meeting. The agenda of the meeting is to clarify the demands of both sides and their preferences and to build a better understanding between them. The Chiltern Systems Agency will try to convince the Public Relation Agency to get the tender of 500 Mac books (Kurlat, 2021). The CEO and the Sales Director of Chiltern System Company will be present in the meeting to put forward their company’s offers in front of the representative of the Public Relations Agency.
Meeting schedule
(Refer to Appendix 2)
Two members of the Chiltern System will attend the meeting with members of a PR agency. CEO and Sales Director will attend the meeting with other members of the PR agency. The time and date of the schedule need to be decided for this purpose. The issue and solution need to be discussed to make the delivery process efficient in this meeting. This meeting will enable the company to deliver the 500 Mac Book on time. The schedule of the meeting needs to be described every week to achieve this goal.
2.4 Future Planning
Implement Product diversification Strategies
Chiltern System has the current efficiency to deliver Windows operating systems while consumers are interested in MacBook Pro laptops. This indicates that this company is supposed to enhance the range of its products and add more customers to deliver on time and avoid the situation to make customers wait for their desired products. Based on the views of Vakulenko et al. (2019), customer satisfaction is a major factor for gaining rapid success in a highly competitive business market. Thus, Chiltern System is supposed to understand the current need of customers and develop its product range to add electronics systems that are in high demand. The product diversification can ensure more consumers visit the Chiltern System branches and this can help to increase the sales and revenue as well as brand value of the company.
Application of consumer data analytics to understand the customer’s future requirements
Consumer demands are changing with rapid change in technology and thus technology-based firms are focussing to advance the features of their products and modifying the services as per changing consumers’ needs. Based on the views of Kibria et al. (2018), Big Data Analytics and Machine learning can help to predict future customer demands. Thus Chiltern System is supposed to use emerging technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, and Big Data to forecast the future demands and modify its current services as per the future needs of customers.
On the other hand, the customers of electronics equipment have high switching power as the market is filled with a substitute range of products and thus customers can prefer the electronics brand providing the most relevant features and providing updated technology with better performance. Chiltern System is supposed to focus on selling MacBook Pro Tablets instead of windows based computers and laptops as windows based devices are common and have limited features to meet the current demands of customers.
Conclusion
Chiltern System is required to focus on its technological advancement to understand the changing demands of its customers as marketing strategies and talented sales force cannot convince customers without delivering desirable products. The sales and revenue of the Chiltern System can improve by technological advancement and the consumer base of the company can also be enhanced by using modern technologies that can predict future demands of customers. Chiltern System can have the opportunity to create a global brand image by focusing on improving its customer satisfaction and adopting new strategies to launch new products having high demands in the market.
Reference List
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Ferreira, T.S., (2017). Motivational factors in sales team management and their influence on individual performance. Tourism & Management Studies, 13(1), pp.60-65.
Jayampathi, G.S. and Dissanayake, D.M.R., (2018). Impact of Brand Citizenship Factors towards Sales Force Motivation: A Conceptual Review on Financial Leasing Service Sector of Sri Lanka. Singaporean Journal of Business Economics, and Management Studies (SJBEM), 6(09), pp.1-9.
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Kurlat, P., (2021). Investment externalities in models of fire sales. Journal of Monetary Economics, 122, pp.102-118.
Legislation.gov.uk (2021). Understanding legislation. Available at:https://www.legislation.gov.uk/understanding-legislation#Howlegislationworks [Accessed on 20.11.2021]
Malek, S.L., Sarin, S. and Jaworski, B.J., (2018). Sales management control systems: review, synthesis, and directions for future exploration. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 38(1), pp.30-55.
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Appendices
Appendix-1: Price of Apple MacBook
(Source: https://www.pcworld.co.nz/article/609490/latest-macbook-pro-price-reset-resembles-shift-retina-2012/)
Appendix 2: Meeting schedule
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 (Time 3 pm) | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 (Time: 4pm) | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20(Time: 2 pm) | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 (1 pm) | 29 | 30 | 31 |
(Source: Created by author)
