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com IMT 30: Sales and distribution management M1 PART - A Q1. In what ways should a sales representative function as a marketing manager? What should be the responsibilities of the professional sales representative to the customer? Is personal selling an effective means of sales promotion? Q2. Compare and contrast the workload and the incremental productivity approache s for determining the optimal size of a sales force. Which do you think is bette r? Why? Q3. What steps are involved in the selection process of sales personnel? Why is it important to have a well-planned selection process? What are the basic tests that can be used in the selection process with the purpose of each test? Q4. "Good sales people are born not made". Do you agree or disagree? Do you thin k sales training programmes will become more or less important in future? Why ? Discuss the five basic elements that all initials sales training programmes must cover. Q5. How can activities of the sales manager such as planning, recruiting and sel ecting affect sales force performance? Is it possible for a salesperson to perfo rm well when he or she is different in only one of their approaches of their int ernal influences i.e. motivation, attitude and skill level? Why or why not? PART - B Q1. Why is it necessary to establish sales territories that are equal? Is it imp ortant to match the right sales person with the right territory? Why are goals n ecessary for both the sales person and sales manager? Q2. Can you establish a quota without a sales forecast? A sales budget? An estim ate of the territory's potential? Explain three basic procedures for setting sal es volume quotes. Q3. Do you believe that most salesperson can be effectively 'steered' by financi al compensation? Explain. What compensation mix do you think is best for large f actory machines? What are the essential criteria for designing and implementing a sound bonus incentive programme? Q4. "We will ever develop accurate standard costs for marketing activities". Exp lain. What is a good SMIS? How does it work? What are the major components of an SMIS? Q5. Are middlemen necessary in a marketing channel? Why or why not? How do chann els adjust quantity and assortment discrepancies? Explain whether the shorter ch annels more effective than the larger channels? PART - C Q1. What is the importance of channel structure in making managerial decisions? Why single transaction and conventional channel arrangements are important chann el design alternatives. ? Q2. Describe intensive, selective and exclusive distribution and give examples t

aking specific firms. What is the difference between exclusive territorial arran gements and exclusive dealing? Q3. How does a product's life cycle stage impact its distribution channel struct ure? To support your conclusions, give examples of products in each stage. Descr ibe the differences between manufacturer's push strategies and pull strategies. Q4. Why is trucking often referred to as the backbone of the nation's transporta tion system? Explain the difference between speed of service and consistency of service. Why do most logistics managers feel that consistency of service is more important than speed of service? Q5. How would you suggest that the effectiveness of distribution be assessed fro m a macro perspective? For example, can market decentralization and product vari ety be measured. CASE STUDY-1 SUVIDHA'S INCENTIVE PLAN Suvidha Home Appliances Company pays its sales people well. They are on expense account. Their promotional prospects are bright. They get an opportunity to trav el to exotic places as a reward for their service. Many sales people draw five f igure salaries.

Suvidha has thought about an incentive plan to keep the sales people motivated. It has started to think of ways and means to compensate sales people without inc reasing their tax liability. It has thought of providing the sales people a cata logue of household items which can be obtained by redeeming the points earned by them on the basis of performance. It will provide good opportunity to sales peo ple to point out to others with a great degree of pride what they have achieved by showing the household item, and then explaining how they won it. They also want to introduce a travel plan, because a travel to beautiful locales home and abroad is an ultimate dream of many people. Travel plan scores over re ward redemption scheme because a reward that is repeated does not have incentive value, whereas a travel plan, though repeated keeps up its incentive value. Tra vel plan is also a family affair. Question Can you think of some more incentives for Suvidha's sales people ? CASE STUDY-2 Will Added Channels Pump Up GOOD YEAR'S Sales? Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. and its dealers had a srious problem. The long-stan ding relationship between Goodyear and its dealers was not in tune with the desi res of much of the tire-buying market. Even Stanley Gault, Goodyear's chairman s ince mid-1991, recognized that his company was "not serving the market with what the customer wanted." More and more consumers buy tires at outlets that stock multiple brands at disco unt prices or at big warehouse clubs that carry fewer brands but offer steeper d iscounts. In contrast, Goodyear persisted in selling its tires only through its

company owned stores and independent dealers that featured the company's product s. Besides this deficiency in its distribution, the company had other problems, such as too few new products. As a result, its share of the replacement tire mar ket for automobiles slumped from 15 percent in 1987 to 12 percent in 1991. Miche lin of France and Bridgestone of Japan gained at the U.S. tiremaker's expense. M oreover, Goodyear lost money in 1990, the first unprofitable year for the compan y in about 60 years. Independent dealers depending on Goodyear products were not faring much better. Consumers wanted to shop a full range of prices at a tire dealer, but Goodyear w as slow to respond to what consumers wanted. Consequently, Goodyear's dealers lo st sales to competitors. Eventually, and perhaps too late, the company provided dealers with cheaper All American Decathlon and Concorde lines of tires. In early 1992 Goodyear took a bold step toward reaching more consumers - the com pany arranged to sell seven of its tire lines through Sears. The Goodyear brands supplied to Sears include the popular Arriva, Eagle GT, and Wrangler HT,. The a greement was a logical step for Goodyear, since Sears sells more tires than any other retailer - about 10 million annually, or 10 percent of the replacement tir e market. Through its arrangement with Sears, Goodyear hoped to add an other 25 million tires to the 60 million it sells each year. Goodyear, under Gault's leadership, has strengthened other elements of its marke ting mix. New products are being launched at a faster pace. The leading introduc tion thus far has been the Aquatred, which is supposed to provide superior tract ion on wet roads. In addition, Goodyear has boosted its advertising budget by on e-third, to $50 million annually, to better promote its growing number of tire l ines. At the same time, the company has made more advertising dollars available to its dealers on a cooperative basis. Early results following the sweeping changes in Goodyear's marketing including i ts arrangement with Sears, have been encouraging. The company regained market sh are and recorded strong earnings in 1992. Still, the road ahead could be bumpy for Goodyear. In particular, many of its lo ng standing dealers were angry or alienated - or both - when the manufacturer ex panded its distribution channels to include Sears. Some are still upset that the y lost their exclusive rights to the well known Goodyear brands. Others fear ant icipated price competition with Sears. One Goodyear distributor said, " You feel like after 35 years of marriage your wife is stepping out on you." Goodyear rec ognizes that when several thousand members of its primary distribution channel a re upset, all's not well'. Question All factors considered, is Goodyear's agreement with Sears a sound distribution strategy? Contact www.solvedhub.com for best and lowest cost solution or email solvedhub@g mail.com