Introduction
Selling is an activity in the area of business that has paved way for heated debates between those involved directly and those who are involved indirectly. Due to this closeness to the concept of selling many individuals often have strong and misplaced opinions of the sales people and selling in general, and it does not come as a surprise that these misgivings are believed by people who have engaged in selling their whole lives.
Processes and activities that assist an organization to efficiently and effectively run and support its business objectives and strategies is what is known as sales operations (Landers, 2002). Business operations or sales support is also known as sales operations. Sales operation sets differ from one company to another.
In the case of International Travel Agency management where the management feels that more needs to be done to maximize sales, the sales process and structure of the organization should be put into question. The answer to this question is very important as it solely depends on the strategy the International Travel Agency uses. Any company can be affected by the resulting structure that guides the sales force and their resultant actions generally.
Sales managers in any company when developing the structure of the sales force should put into account. The right combination of general lists is the activity specialist, the market and the product with whose aim is to balance the sales force productivity. Meaning the company needs to also start promoting the allied travel services.
Design a structure for reporting that eases the work of controlling and coordinating the activities of the sales people and the sales processes which means the travel counselors who work within the agency also need to be assigned quotas. The firm needs to provide performance management, information support, incentives, coaching and training to the sales people to help the sales people realize the company’s goals and ambitions which in this case is to sell other services to maximize the profits.
Designing Territories
According to Anderson and Oliver (1987) territory is defined on the basis of a combination of factors or, historically, potential sales and geography. The other services aside from tickets have the potential to increase International Travel Agency’s profits hence the sales manager should work hard to ensure there is a balance in territories as this can increase sales and reduce costs.
The purpose of sales territory or the sales force coverage metric is to form sales territories that are balanced (Anderson and Oliver, 1987).
There are several ways of analyzing territories and assessment based on the size potential is the most common approach. If there happens to be a big difference between territories or the territories tend to change over time, the salespeople may end up having either less or more work to do.
Less work may lead to customers being over-services while more work may lead to the sales people ignoring some of the customers. The end result of both these actions is that they will cost the firm revenue (Hill and Birdseye, 1989).
The sales people in addition may end up leaving and opt to work for a competitor if they feel the distribution of the territory is unfair. A balance territory as stated by Michael Page International (2005) is key to keeping the firm, the sales people and the customers all satisfied.
In order to be able to choose territories that are fit for an allocation of resources that are limited and also be able to determine target sales International Travel Agency can make use of “sales potential forecasts”.
A sales potential forecast, is a forecast that determines how many prospects are there and their buying power (Cummings, 2001). It does not however check the possibilities of converting potential accounts. There are a number of ways sales potential can be presented and the most basic of ways is through population, that is; the number of accounts that are potentially in a territory.
Quotas are how state goals are mostly stated. The minimum sales goal for a time span that is set is what is known as a sales quota (Challagalla and Shervani, 1996).
It’s not easy to set the sales territory or the sales quota but it’s something that management has to do. In this case out of the eight sales force only three are assigned quotas, while the other five have none. Failure to meet their quotas doesn’t call for much action in the company, meaning this affects the sales target. This is one of the reasons the sales force is reluctant, everyone in the company should be assigned quotas.
For the managers to be successful, they must set quotas that ask for much less than what they think the sales person can deliver; that compares the end results not to the forecasts but the past performances and that make sure the scheme for compensation gives room for the sales force to make money as the company does.
Transforming the manager is the beginning of the transformation of the sales team as evidenced many times in successful firms. Managers in sales are positioned uniquely to empower and influence sales representatives to greater heights of success, but at times the managers get too busy and distracted so they end up abandoning their own development professionally and end up getting stuck in what was in the beginning their simple obligations (Lewi and Johnston, 1997).
There are five key areas that need insight to enable direct increasing positive impact from the managers to the sales team in the travel agency.
Marketing effort
When an organization carries out marketing, it seeks to find out what the client’s needs are and what products or services can satisfy the client (Landres, 2002). There are certain tools used during marketing such as campaigns, promotions and even word of mouth advertising that could draw the customer’s attention. Marketing according to Landres (2002) keeps changing meaning the client’s taste and preferences also keep changing. Marketing borrows a lot of psychology, sociology and economics to come up with strategies in order for a firm to keep its market share.
In marketing the 4Ps marketing plan strategy is an essential guide to any sales force. The four items if well balanced by International Travel agency marketing department it is bound to reach its main sales target and even surpass it. The 4Ps are explained below:
The first ‘P’ represents the product which is in this case the packages being sold by the International Travel Agency. This is what forms the core business the reason for being and the reason the company generates income. The tickets and other allied services fall under this category. Place represents the second ‘P’ and this is where the product or service is made and later offered. Also referred to distribution since companies operate in multi-international levels (Lewis and Johnston, 1997).
The ‘P’ is what creates awareness that the product is in the market. The ‘P’ stands for promotion and this is one of the main determinants of whether a product or service is a success or fail. The promotion involves marketing, advertising, public relations, door to door selling, campaigns and many others. Clients need to know where to attain the product/service and how to purchase it so as to go ahead and spend their money on the particular service. Price is the last ‘P’ in the 4Ps plan and this entails the equivalent amount a customer’s pays for to attain the rights to use a product fully (Lewin and Johnston, 1997).
Marketing requires a lot of effort from the organization of the sales force and this is where relationship marketing comes in. Relationship marketing is a sales strategy utilized by companies to keep in touch with existing clients in order to build an understanding of what their needs are. Every product has a life cycle and to develop accurate cycles the organization must make emphasis on referring to current client needs to assist the marketing department make informed decisions (Cummings, 2001)
Relationship marketing gives a detailed account of who the customers are, what they like, what they would be happier with. With this information a company is able to do market segmentation of their services. Relationship marketing can assist International Travel Agency know what services their clients need and hence only keep what the clients consume and do away with services that clients hardly ask for. Through relationship marketing the agency would also find the right segment of clients who would be interested in the extra services besides buying the usual tickets.
The second marketing effort is applied of experimental marketing tools. Experimental marketing tools can be engaged during the mall promotions, or mobile sells, where there will be direct contact with the customers, through interactive communication. By the end of the sales promotion and direct sells the firm can measure the outcome of the events, telling the marketing department, how many clients the sales force were able to speak with. This effort also shows how many clients got interested and it is through this the sales people will identify their market. This is another marketing effort that has been traditionally been used to motivate the customers. This helps the public know about the products and services and even get to get free services to acquire the feeling of the service.
This strategy that is applied for both products and services, states the benefits of the product and services. The message aim is to appeal on all marketing communications and lastly have a repetitive nature, to stick in the consumer's mind, motivating them to buy the travel agency extra services.
Strategy implementation
Strategic implementation is creating the right circumstances within the travel agency to execute the formulated strategies (Landers, 2002). For International Travel Agency to acquire their set goals it should have an implementation strategy that is supported by a good structure and plan. The agency has to be innovative and creative at the same time to keep up with the stiff competition. Service differentiation requires a team of motivated individuals to draw more clients to pay for more services.
Employing the right people in the various positions is part of the strategy implementation. Human resource is the backbone of any successful institution. The travel agency should endeavor to have a diverse workforce who can contribute equally to great ideas for the firm. The sales force team needs to be well versed in ticket selling and also have convincing language to sell the clients the accommodation or travelers check package.
There are various models used by managers today to come construct strategic formulas. The process of managing is designed to design and satisfy strategic plans that support the mission and goal (Hall, 1976). The strategy starts with a careful analysis on the company’s opportunities, strengths and weakness and lastly the threats that is the SWOT analysis.
All companies have their various strengths and weakness plus external strength and weakness. While the company has no control over its external environment it can easily manipulate its internal environment. The competitive advantage is expressed in the way the agency is able to handle both the external and internal environment
Employee training also plays a great role in the success of any firm (Bennet, 1999). Employees will need to adopt new systems put in place by the institution and to do this fast the institution needs to train its employees. Training also helps employees deal with culture shock positively and they take up their roles easily because they are clearly defined.
The leadership qualities of the agency are very important, and all employees need a role model. According to Lewin and Johnston (1997) good leadership assists the organization to come up with self reliant employees and also creative employees. Companies also require a leader who can employ global skill and allows the people to adapt to new environments. A successful leader should work towards implementing policies put in place and also control and monitor this policy.
Compensation and motivation
Employees as stakeholders as a concept simply means actions that are taken by a firm that affect the employees directly and the interest the employees have as far as wanting to see the firm succeed (Hall, 1976). The stakes of the employees in the affirmative are, political; that is their rights as citizens and employees as well. Psychological; the pride they derive from the work they do at the firm. Economics; their day to day lives and how they live comes from the company (Hall, 1976). The company can provide more familiarization trips to the sales numbers and this will influence the employees to contribute their skills and give their ideas for the success of the business.
The agency should motivate its employees in various forms to encourage them to perform to their level best. Motivated workers are assured of high results as opposed to workers who are not motivated. The agency should develop packages like rewards, recognition, promotions among others to motivate its employees.
Effective Job Design
The allocation of work tasks specific to groups and individuals is referred to as job design and it is important for any organization. Job allocation and handing out tasks involves specifying the methods, contents and the job relationships satisfy organizational and technological personal needs of the employees as well as their requirements (Locke and Latham, 1990). The firm’s direction and general strategy will be diverted strongly if successful job design is not implemented. In turn employees might end up being de-motivated.
The sales force has to apply the necessary knowledge to address the aspect of diversity in the college. The human resource has to begin establishing training programs for both the sales managers and sales staff. This training session will assist both learn to appreciate the existing services (Lewin and Johnston, 1997).
The sales force at the travel agency will generally need to be compelling and exited in order for them to do their work well or perfectly even. Thus the goal should be motivation as it is key to designing their jobs. The base element for a sales force that is effective is the job design, if the job design is not meaningful, then International Travel Agency will not be able to operate at its full potential.
The base pay system should be internally equitable, and this is the first thing to consider in designing a compensation system (Landers, 2002). This means the pay differentials need to be appropriate between jobs. The reflective contribution of each job to the objectives of the company’s business should be relative to the base pay amount assigned to the job.
Types of compensation
One way to compensate employees is via cash but it is rarely enough as other forms of non-monetary compensation and benefits in today’s workplace are becoming popular. International Travel Agency should consider the benefits and other non-monetary means of compensation to motivate employees, attract and retain them and give them morale.
In order to form a different culture for the employees, International Travel Agency should offer various benefits to promote the social interactions of the employees, to motivate them to want to sell other services aside from the tickets.
Pay for Performance
Taking into account other incentives and the base salary it is imperative to design reward systems carefully, especially when referring to sales people (Cummings, 2001). Various systems of compensation include variable pay which depends on the work performance. Many companies without affecting the basic pay of their employees get to reward them and this is done mostly through bonuses. Long term incentives are also inclusive of the benefits. This means International Travel Agency could reward employees who aggressively sell the other services.
Conclusion
For sales maximization in the company, the organization must also encourage a lot of team work and give the sales agents the freedom to brainstorm together and come up with their own creative sales strategy. If the employees come up with their own strategies, they are likely to improve and work through them as easily rather than assigned tasks.
The rewarding system put by the company should not only look into the quality and quantity but also scope and practicability and therefore they will invest in the research and development of potential sales and advertising strategies instead of wasting funds on impracticable strategies.
In order to improve the performance of the employees and motivate them as well the sales management team should strive to enhance the influence and participation of the employees. With better control, set targets and implementation strategies, the International Travel Agency has the potential to enhance their sales performance and bring greater gains to the company.
Reference
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Cummings, B. (2001), “Selling around the world,” Sales & Marketing Management, May,p. 70.
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Hall, Edward T. (1976) Beyond culture, Doubleday: New York.
Hill, J. S. and Birdseye, M. (1989), “Salesperson selection in multinational corporations: An empirical study,” Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 9 (2), 39-47.
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Lewin, J.E. and Johnston, W. J. (1997) “International sales force management: A relationship perspective,” Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 12 (3/4), 236-52.
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Michael Page International (2005), Sales & Marketing Salary Survey for 2004/5 – Hong Kong.
