Background
Selling is an integral part of an organisation’s-marketing plan; for an organisation to attain its objective, sales team must be effective in their tasks.
Selling is the last stage in a marketing strategy that involves physical exchange of goods and service; it is the point that a company realizes a sale. Marketing-related factors aims at improving sales in an organisation, however a number of non-sales factors affect sales negatively or positively. They reinforce or weaken marketing strategies; these factors are either internal or external to a business.
Consumers make decision to buy a certain commodity from a particular company after considering a number of factors both marketing-related factors and non-sales factors. On the other hand, firms implement some practices that target improvement of their operations, these decisions may have an influence on consumer behaviour negatively or positively (Raymond, 2003). This paper discusses how non-sales business functions affect the sales in an organisation; the paper will focus on Ford Motor Company as a sample company.
Financial objectives and their effects on sales
The main function of a firm is to earn profits; Ford aims to be the world leader in the automobile industry, a position held by Toyota Motor Corporation. Human nature likes to associate with success; people are more willing to trade with a company that financial reports are performing better, than those whose financial standing is questionable.
People think that institutions with sound financial standing are likely to offer quality commodities thus they buy from them. For example in 2008, after Toyota surpassed General Motors to be the world largest automobile producer, the sales of the company increased drastically. Though the increase can be largely attributed to marketing campaigns, there are some elements that the financial standing of the company had influenced the increase.
Human resource management
Human resources management is one role of managers; it is concerned with people at work and their relationship with their employer. Well-managed human resources results into an orchestrate team; objectives of managing human resources does not involve sales objectives however it affects sales indirectly.
A company’s human resources department is responsible for looking at its staff’s welfare. The department is responsible for planning, deploying, employing, training, retaining, and dismissal of employee. Companies whose human resources department are robust and respect the rights of employee enjoy a marginal favour from customers. What employees say about their employer when off duty, what that society think when they see a certain company employees goes a long way in determining whether they will buy from the company or not.
For example if an employee at Ford gets an accident and is cut his legs by a machine in course of duty, then the company decides to dismiss such an employee without proper compensation, people who know the employee and where he used to work are likely not to buy from the company. Such an act affects the perception that consumers have for the company negatively thus affecting sales.
Adherence of local and legal rights
When a company adhere to its county of incorporation rights and legal requirements, then it is unlikely to have numerous courts cases; people are likely associate with such a company since they feel that it respects the laws of the country. The idea to be compliant with their countries legal requirement is not attributed to sales but have an influence indirectly.
Some international legislation influence the way that a business is done; a company that adheres to such legislations is likely to attract more consumers.
Name of the company
A company’s name has a psychological effect on consumers, there are name that can attract consumers while others keep them off. In businesses, consumers are likely to buy from those companies whose names seem to reflect benefit to customers. In online advertisements, consumers are likely make a guess of a leading statement that will guide them to a site where they can buy their products. If the name of a company reflects what they do then consumers lending to an increased sales can access them easily.
For example when developing website for a profit making business; the word “.biz” can play a vital role in recognizing the site thus increasing sales of such a company. Ford is a strong brand name; however, the company has a name that reflects the kind of business it does, Ford Motor Company, a person looking for a car over the internet can easily access the company.
Non-sales functions and the organization’s strategic objectives
In course of business, new ways of doing business are emerge; a company can be adopting such strategies for its own benefit but it can lead to an increase sales.
For example consumers are becoming more concerned about environmental conservation, when a company automates; people are likely to see the company as environmental friendly, thus they hold a positive perception towards such a company.
In Ford, the company has embarked on EMV (Electric motor vehicles) in its efforts to conserve the environment; in turn, this has led to an increase in sales as consumers see the move to be in line with their environmental conservation needs.
Marketing and non-marketing strategies aim at fulfilling a firm’s objective, mission, and vision; they reinforce each other at different levels for the general good of an organisation. Financial goals are only realised when a sale has been made, thus every business strategy should have direct or indirect link with sales goals and objectives (Jobber & Lancaster, 2009).
References
Jobber, D., & Lancaster, G.(2009). Selling and Sales Management. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Raymond, M. (2003). Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process. Stanford: Stanford University Press.