P1
Hello Tomorrow, as a global brand platform and direction, strategically positions Emirates as a company that enables global connectivity and momentous experiences. Hello Tomorrow, as portrayed in the company’s integrated marketing communications campaign, creates a brand promise of continued evolution from the travel brand to the global lifestyle brand. The Hello Tomorrow brand platform is displayed in all the elements of the company’s marketing communication mix such as advertising, personal selling, and direct marketing, among others.
The main objective of Hello Tomorrow is consumer empowerment and engagement. It inspires the people to see and explore the unlimited potentials of the future. “Hello” denotes a greeting that invites the people and experiences, while “tomorrow” denotes the unlimited potentials of the future (Emirates News 2012).
In personal selling as an element of the marketing communication mix, Hello Tomorrow extends invitation to the people to create new ideas, try the unfamiliar, and make new visions. It encapsulates the potentials of life and embraces the future with all its possibilities. As the world’s interconnection increases, the mobility and global focus of individuals also increases. In this campaign, Emirates is portrayed as a company that connects, creates and shares ideas that propel the world forward. The company refers to its customers as the “globalistas” which simply represents the individuals living for, and constantly looking for, new experiences. These are the well travelled, as defined by the places visited and experiences shared. They explore the future’s unlimited possibilities and are open to try the unfamiliar, with Emirates as the brand that enables this global lifestyle. Hello tomorrow campaign aims at driving and increasing consumer engagement in the new, fresh and innovative world thereby empowering the people to engage, explore and live.
In advertising, hello tomorrow is a global marketing campaign that creates a new corporate image which underlines the company’s confidence in its products and services and its vision for the future growth. It brings out the image that, besides connecting people from one point to another, Emirates acts as a catalyst that connects the dreams, hopes and aspirations of the people. It connects the people and communities, and encourages them to join together and make positive contributions to the society. This message is also brought out clearly in other elements of marketing communication mix such as direct marketing and public relations. Hello tomorrow campaign is featured in print media, TV and digital advertising including websites and iconic billboards. It features vibrant messages with the spirit and touch of tomorrow which brings the company’s vision to the marketplace (Emirates News 2012). Through it, the company expects to take its customers closer to new people/friends, experiences, and styles – a true spirit of tomorrow.
P2 and P3
For every commercial organization, consumers/customers play the most critical role. They are the people who buy the organization’s products and services, enabling the organization to earn revenue. With the today’s advances in technology, consumers have varieties of products and services from which they can make choices and options. In every organization, the role of marketing is to influence the customers to buy more products and services so that the firm can make more profit. This, however, cannot be achieved by aggression, force or plain alluring. Customers are nowadays more informed, knowledgeable, demanding and discerning, and above all, there are varieties of marketers to choose from. The marketer must therefore earn or win the customer. It is important to understand the buyer behavior to enable the marketer understand and predict what the consumers buy, why they buy it, when, where, and how often they buy it.
Buyer/consumer behavior is defined as the behavior that buyers display when they search for, purchase, use, evaluate, and dispose of the products and services that are expected to satisfy their needs. The buyer behavior is influenced by various complex variables and how these variables influence and interact with each other. They include the environmental (external) variables such as culture, the social class, family and interpersonal factors, and economical, geographical, political, and religious factors; and the individual (internal) variables such as personality and self concept, perception and information processing, motivation and involvement, attitudes, learning and memory, purchase decision and post-purchase behavior among others.
The complex interaction of the personal attributes and the external factors dictate the buying decision. In some cases, marketers are uncertain about the variables that influence consumers. In other cases, marketers are certain about the variables, however, their nature and relative degree of influence is unclear. It is therefore important to understand all the concepts of buyer behavior in order to predict to a reasonable extent the decision making process of the buyers. The understanding of buyer behavior is a continuous activity where marketers apply various theories and concepts.
Other than individual buying, groups of individuals can be involved in buying, especially for organizations. The roles of organizational buyers differ immensely depending on the type of the product or service. It involves group decision making and every individual has a role to play. The understanding of the buying behavior of such individuals is equally important. Although common factors affect individual and group buyers, the two markets should be differently approached.
The understanding of the buyer behavior makes it possible to establish the requirements of the consumers and to communicate the marketing response through personal selling. The success of marketing is not only about discovering what the consumers require but also finding out why they require it. It is only through deep and comprehensive understanding of the buyer behavior that the marketing goals can be realized. The understanding of buyer behavior has mutual benefits to both the buyer and the marketer, making the marketer to be in a better position to efficiently satisfy the needs of the buyer and to establish loyalty among buyers with positive attitudes towards the products and services of the company.
M1 & M3
Emirates clearly understands the importance of its customers and is always on the move to influence them to buy more and more. Emirates sales team usually makes critical decisions concerning the strategic components of the promotional plan. They decide on the best tools to employ since no single promotional tool can perfectly deliver the desired outcomes. The guarantee of marketplace success is not embedded on any single promotional tool. Every tool has its strengths and weaknesses and the resources are also limited.
Emirates sales team consists of experienced marketers who are perfectly aware of the best experiential and theoretical practices which together help in selecting the best promotional mix options.
Hello tomorrow campaign is a pull strategy which relies mainly on the marketing communications for the creation of awareness and desire, thus pulling the buyers to purchase the company’s products and services. In personal selling, the Emirates sales team ensures that at every destination, a true spirit of tomorrow is clearly brought out with such messages as “where will tomorrow take you?” (Emirates.com 2012). This campaign ensures that the company’s products are pushed onto the customers as the company takes its customers closer to new people and friends, new experiences, and new styles.
The most commonly used promotional mix for Hello Tomorrow campaign is advertising. Here, the Emirates Sales team informs, persuades and reminds the customers on the company’s products and services, thereby promoting sales. The advert features in TV, radio, and print media as well as the online. Since the customers are of different cultures, social classes, economic, political, and religious backgrounds, languages, personalities, and perceptions, the company ensures that every advert is tailored based on the dictates of these variables.
The company also engages in other promotional mix like sales promotion, public relations and sponsorships which features the hello tomorrow campaign either directly or otherwise.
P4
Personal selling entails a two-way flow of information between the buyer and the seller, designed to influence the purchase decision of an individual or a group. It can be face-to-face communication, or can take place over the phone, interactive computer links, or through video teleconferencing between the buyers and the sellers. Highlighted hereunder are the various types of personal selling.
Order takers – an order taker is a salesperson who processes the routine orders or reorders for the products that were sold already by the company. Order takers’ main responsibility is to preserve the ongoing relationships with the existing customers thereby maintaining sales (Berkowitz et al. 2000). They respond to the already committed customers.
There are three types of order takers: inside order takers, delivery salespeople, and outside order takers (Jobber 2007).
Inside order takers are the retail sales assistants. The role of the sales assistant is purely transactional i.e. receiving the payment and passing over the goods. The customer/buyer has full freedom to select the products without the assistance or presence of the sales person. An example is a telemarketer.
Delivery salespeople are primarily concerned with the delivery of the products. They may also put some little efforts in persuading the customers to increase their order.
Outside order takers are the salespeople who primarily respond to the requests of the customers rather than actively seeking to persuade. They visit the customers but do not deliver the orders.
Order creators – these are salespeople who do not receive orders directly; instead, they talk to specifiers and not the buyers. An order creator is called a Missionary Salesperson, whose sales task is to educate and to build good will. Order creators do not close the sale, but, they persuade the customer to specify the seller’s products. Examples include Medical representatives who call doctors to make them prescribe medicines for the patients.
Order getters - these are the salespeople whose major task is to persuade the customers to make direct purchases or to put an order directly. They are the frontline Salespeople. Order getters are of different types as highlighted hereunder.
New business salespeople are those tasked with getting new customers. They identify and sell to prospects, thus winning new business.
Organizational salespeople are tasked with maintaining close and long lasting relationships with organizational customers. It involves team selling.
Consumer salespeople normally sell physical products and services to the customers.
Technical support salespeople provide sales support to the front- line salespeople. When a product is highly technical, a salesperson may be supported by the product specialist who can provide technical details of the product to the customer.
Merchandisers normally provide support in wholesale and retail selling situations. They give advice on displays, check stock levels, and implement sales promotions.
Business to Business (B2B) Selling – Here, a transaction is made between businesses and not the final consumer. It includes manufacturer-wholesaler, wholesaler-retailer, or manufacturer-retailer sales. The sales volume is normally large.
Business to Consumer (B2C) Selling – this is the sale of products and services to the final consumer or the end user. The sales volume is usually small.
Emirates Airlines can use quite a number of the personal selling types described above. It can use order takers in processing the routine orders and maintaining the existing customers, especially in car hire services, accommodation, and air ticket sales.
The company can use order getters when exploring new markets. Here, new business salespeople can be used to identify and sell to prospects. Organizational salespeople can also be used to identify and maintain close relationships with the organizational customers. The company can also use technical support salespeople especially in providing technical information about the hired cars. Merchandisers can, as well, be used to give advice to the customers and implement sales promotions. The company mostly deals directly with the consumers, thus applies business-to-consumer selling in most of its transactions. Business-to-business selling is also applicable in some cases.
P5
The principles of personal selling described above are mainly to close a specific sale. They are transaction oriented. However, Emirates airlines needs to build relationship marketing. A customer centered approach is very important for the company as it helps in ensuring long-term relationships. The company should move away from transactional selling to a more collaborative co-operative approach in both (B2B) as well as (B2C) selling. The company has a global customer base and the customers prefer the sale and delivery of coordinated sets of products and services to as many locations as possible, and to quickly solve the problems at different locations.
P6
Personal selling is a process that is carried out in various steps. The success of the sales process depends on how well the salesperson engages in these stages. The stages include: prospecting; preparation, objective setting, the opening, personal presentation, need identification, and stimulation; presentation and demonstration; pre-empting objections; negotiation, interpreting buying signals, and closing techniques; and post sale follow-up.
The first stage is prospecting. Prospects are the potential customers. Prospecting is concerned with finding prospects or the new potential customers. Prospects should be assessed to find out whether they are qualified and there is business potential. This includes planning a sales approach, determining the products and services that meet the needs of the customers, and ranking the prospects.
The second stage is about making the first contact. This includes the preparations involved before meeting the clients. The salesperson must clearly set the objectives for the presentation or sales call and ensure that there is adequate preparation in terms of time and the desirable outcomes. The opening process takes place within the first few minutes. Here, the salesperson clearly states the purpose of the call and ensures that time is maximized. He/she must also demonstrate to the prospect that time is not wasted.
The third stage is the sales presentation or the sales call. The salesperson must ensure that the product has strong positive impression on the prospect’s first sight. To achieve this, he/she must be enthusiastic about the product or service, focusing on its real benefits to the specific needs of the client, and not just listing the features. The client should also be engaged through questions.
The fourth stage is about handling objections. Clients normally put obstacles on the paths of the salespeople. Some of the obstacles may be too difficult to handle or the client may not be interested at all. The salesperson must therefore try to anticipate the objections before they actually arise; ask the reasons for the objections, use the objections as opportunities to provide more information, and convert the objections into reasons for buying.
The fifth stage is about closing the sale. Here, the salesperson asks the client to place an order. There can be reexamination of the agreement terms, negotiations, and putting forward the special reasons to close, which might make the client lose if he/she does not place the order. Finally, the salesperson makes a follow-up after the sales to ensure that the customer is satisfied and the business can be repeated.
In the case of Emirates, the company’s salespeople can follow the procedure herein in a B2C market. A B2B market would require a more complex setting as the company needs to follow the above procedure and convince the potential clients that they would still make some profit from the arrangement. This, in most cases, cannot be achieved by a single salesperson, but rather a sales team.
P7
Emirates Group is one of the fastest growing companies in the airline industry. Its competitors have accused it of using low-cost labor and receiving fuel subsidies from the government. While the accusations are true, the company has used this as a strategy to minimize costs and offer cheaper services.
The company’s high quality and low cost strategy ensures that it offers relatively high quality services at 25% to 50% cheaper than its European rivals. Its strong marketing strategy has created a very strong brand awareness which has made Emirates the top global brand. The company is the top sponsor of sports clubs both in the UAE and around the world. The company’s size gives it a major advantage compared to its peers. Its bulk selling capacity, as offered by the A380s, makes it difficult for the competitors like BA, Gulf Air, and Etihad to compete with it on certain routes.
As a sales strategy, the low cost – high quality strategy can perfectly work at Emirates. However, the company needs to regularly renew and improve the services and adjust the prices as necessary. Diversifying the market and managing the vast needs of the clients effectively is another strategy that can perfectly work for Emirates.
With the rising costs of fuel, the company needs to review its strategy as necessary to avoid loses. Besides, the emergence of other low cost carriers such as Air Arabia and Jazeera Airways calls for the revision of the company’s low cost strategy.
P8
The company’s marketing strategy is one of the greatest reasons for its success. For perfect execution of the sales and marketing tasks, it is imperative that the company recruits the best and most suitable personnel in terms of knowledge and experience. To perfectly achieve this, the recruitment and selection strategy should ensure that the company finds the right people, for the right jobs, at the right times, and retaining them.
When recruiting the sales people, there should be criteria of suitability. The recruitment should be based on systematic planning and preparation and not luck. This necessitates job description i.e. knowing the job and the requirements for someone to perfectly perform it. Job description includes the specific tasks and the skills and attributes for such tasks. Next, it’s important to highlight the specification of the person needed for such job. The personal specification must fit the job description. The knowledge, skills, qualifications, personal characteristics, and experience required should be spelt out clearly. The minimum requirements and the desirable outcomes should also be stated. The company could develop standard application forms to guide the applicants or ask the applicants to write application letters, accompanied by the CVs. The candidates should then be shortlisted for interviews. The interview should be used as the means to assess the suitability of the candidates. It helps in assessing the personal characteristics, interpersonal and communication skills, and the practical intelligence of the candidate. Tests can also be used as a selection tool. The objectives of such tests should be in line with the job specifications. The referees may be contacted, if necessary, and final decision reached.
P9
Salespeople, just like other employees, need to be motivated so that their performance can be improved. The motivation can be in form of incentives as suggested by the incentives theory of motivation. The rewards may be monetary or other benefits. Good remuneration encourages the salespeople to achieve exemplary results. Good leadership also has great impacts on motivation. Good leaders create perfect environments for shaping and energizing individuals to achieve great results. Training is also important in enhancing the performance of the salespeople.
P10
At Emirates, Sales budget is used as a key technique in controlling and coordinating the sales output. The marketing expenses are adjusted based on the sales projection. By clearly stating the sales objectives, the company sets the performance targets and the standards necessary for achievement of the objectives.
P11
As earlier stated, the company engages in the sale of air tickets, accommodation, and international car hire. Considering the air tickets department, online booking and sales can be embraced to maximize the efficiency.
Works Cited
Bakosh, R.J. How to motivate your sales force to great performance, 2007. Web. 20 June 2012. http://www.accenture.com/us-en/outlook/pages/outlook-journal-2007-motivate-sales-force.aspx
Berkowitz, E., et al. Marketing. 6th edition. Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 2000. Web. 19 June 2012. http://www.utdallas.edu/~nkumar/CHPT21.PDF
Emirates launches new global brand platform – “Hello Tomorrow”. Emirates News, 2 April, 2012. Web. 14 June 2012. http://www.emirates.com/us/english/about/news/news_detail.aspx?article=839087
Emirates. Hello Tomorrow. Emirates. Com, 2012. Web. 17 June 2012. http://www.emirates.com/ke/English/index.aspx?cid=GoogleSEM08KE16038&pkw=yes
Jobber, D. Personal Selling and sales management. Principles and Practices of Marketing, 5th edition. 2007.
