Marketing: Sales Function Problem Solution Essay

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

In order to stimulate buyer’s response towards making a purchase, proper manipulation of the marketing mix is required. The following represents the four elements of marketing mix: product, price, promotion, and place (Kotler, 2003). The sales concept in marketing is essential in the process of availing a product to customers.

When a company makes sales it means that its marketing mix is well organized. A good sales strategy requires appropriate combination of the marketing tools. First, the product must have the right features that appeal to customers. Second, the product should be priced in an affordable manner so that consumers can consume it in large numbers.

Third, customers need to be informed of the existence of the product through promotional efforts. Lastly, the product must be made available to the targeted group.

Sales function also involves the understanding of consumer behavior. Consumer behavior is a study of how consumers make decisions to spend on the resources that they have. These resources include time, money, and the efforts involved in the buying process. A consumer’s buying behavior is driven by social, cultural, psychological, and personal factors (Perner, 2008).

Understanding the behaviors of consumers enables all the stakeholders in the market including consumers, marketers, and scholars of human behavior to gain an insight on certain consumption related ways. Therefore, marketers can be able to make the right strategic decisions so as to improve on their organizational performance.

As the owner/chef of Personal Touch Catering, selling concept is a major concern in relation to meeting the company’s objective. The business has been experiencing difficulties in satisfying the customers’ needs because of poor selling strategy. In coming up with a marketing plan, sales is important because this is a catering company that is involved in food preparation; an ever demanding service.

It would be therefore important to consider the incentive pay plan that can motivate employees who are directly connected to customers during catering. In catering, sales is realized through the food product sold or prepared and thus having appropriate strategy of increasing sales would imply that marketing plans can meet the company’s goals.

In setting up sales plans, the marketing mix is to be fully represented in the catering field. The selling effort would include holding promotional activities and insistent advertising.

Making sales will be a greater concern and the company might consider the following factors before setting affordable prices for services offered: selecting the price objective in order to increase sales growth, determining the demand in relation to responses and testimonies, estimating the cost involved in catering field, analyzing the competitor’s prices, costs, and offers, and more importantly selecting the pricing method or strategy (Kotler, 2003).

Because of poor sales identified, Personal Touch Catering can consider adopting a promotional pricing strategy. Promotional pricing is based on offering products and services at a discounted price in order to penetrate the market. Besides, the company can launch new and improved services to its customers to cater for consumer requirements and outshine competitors. Moreover, marketing and sales process can be developed through improvement of number of orders or contacts of customers and suppliers.

Other sales efforts include setting up sales commission program so that employees are motivated to engage in selling process. Customers are to be informed of any upcoming sales promotion in order to maintain them. Again, it would be appropriate to offer free improved catering services to customers because such strategy might lead to customer loyalty hence increased sales (Macintosh, 2010).

Having considered the sales efforts, there is need to understand the behaviors of various consumers in different market segments in order to set prices that are inline with the desired quality of the product.

Since the company has the capacity to carry out market research, the management should opt to gather information relevant to the consumer perception and try also to educate consumers on various products and services, hence segmenting the market. Other psychological influences such as motives, attitude, personality and self concept, and lifestyle are to be considered in order to set prices that are favorable.

References

Kotler, P. (2003). Marketing Management. (11th Ed). New York: Prentice Hall.

Macintosh, M.H. (2010). Marketing Concepts. “Five tips for integrating marketing and sales”. Web.

Perner, L. (2008). Consumer Behavior: The Psychology of marketing. Web.

More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2018, May 14). Marketing: Sales Function. https://ivypanda.com/essays/marketing-sales-function/

Work Cited

"Marketing: Sales Function." IvyPanda, 14 May 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/marketing-sales-function/.

References

IvyPanda. (2018) 'Marketing: Sales Function'. 14 May.

References

IvyPanda. 2018. "Marketing: Sales Function." May 14, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/marketing-sales-function/.

1. IvyPanda. "Marketing: Sales Function." May 14, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/marketing-sales-function/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "Marketing: Sales Function." May 14, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/marketing-sales-function/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
Privacy Settings

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Basic site functions
  • Ensuring secure, safe transactions
  • Secure account login
  • Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
  • Remembering privacy and security settings
  • Analyzing site traffic and usage
  • Personalized search, content, and recommendations
  • Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Required Cookies & Technologies
Always active

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Site Customization

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

  • Remembering general and regional preferences
  • Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy.

Personalized Advertising

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

1 / 1