Executive Summary
This report is focused on building an effective sales model for Austvending vending machine company that has business operations in Australia and New Zealand. The company has ten years of experience in providing cost effective, specialized, innovative, and customized business solutions and services to meet the needs and expectations of the market using vending machines.
The company takes responsibility for the most difficult parts by delivering the services and taking the machines closer to the customers to enable them to optimize the profits earned from the delivered of services using the electronic vending machines.
Service delivery relies on the use of web based applications which use a service distribution model defined by a sales team structure which is composed of a hierarchical reporting relationships framework. The structure has the national sales director at the top of the management hierarchy and line managers composed of regional sales managers, sales managers, and sales representatives at the lower levels.
The managers are geographically distributed based on the business activities and characteristics of the market segments and the state the company’s operations are found.
To ensure effective business service delivery, the company has a well-defined organizational structure which shows the roles and responsibilities of each member in the sales team which is composed of the national sales manager who devices and regulates the company’s national strategy, the regional sales manager who is responsible for defining and creating the job description of company employees, and the sales manager who drives the performance of the organization.
To provide efficient service delivery to the customers, the sales representative of the company take that responsibility to ensure the services meet the needs of the customers, who are the most critical stakeholders of the company. Appropriate remunerations, commissions, bonuses, and incentives are provided to the each manager for motivational purposes
Background of Austvending
Austvending is a vending machine company that is mainly based in Australia and New Zealand. The corporation enjoys an experience of over 10 years having started its business in the year 1996. It’s main mission is to provide the best vending machine equipments, which help in establishing vending businesses (Monley 133).
The company also provides supportive services that help vending businesses to be more profitable and efficient. It mainly targets people with the desire to have financial independence in terms of investment opportunities, and a stable income source.
Austvending provides its clients with a personalized business structure that is best suited for that particular client. Its business model exists almost in all towns in Australia (Zoltners, Sinha & Lorimer 2004, p.4).
Each client can operate several machines, which are usually put in commercial businesses. The company usually performs a thorough research when deciding where to put the vending machines for the customers (Berry 60). This ensures that the clients get profits.
They also ensure that the machines are located close to each other so that they become cost effective to operate. According to the company, the success of the business comes from great profits that are obtained as a result of the sales of stock from the machines.
The company ensures that the income for its clients is secured by taking upon themselves the most difficult part of this business, which is ensuring there is a location agreement for each of the machine. The company states that its vending machine is one of highly money-making businesses. This is because the business gives the clients large profit margins. The machines are also mechanically operated and are user friendly.
Some of the vending packages that the company offers to its customers include electronic vending, which is used to sell products such as soft drinks, hot and cold beverages among other drinks.. Another vending packages from the company include novelty vending, which is used to dispense products such as pinball and other children’s fun products.
Austvending innovative approach to business and its presence in many cities has made the company to be the best choice not only for entrepreneurs to get an extra source of capital, but also enables people to obtain various products easily. This aspect has also enabled the corporation to emerge as the top company in supplying the vending machines not only in the two countries where its business is based, but across the global market.
Introduction
This report will be focused on building a sales team structure that reflects appropriate staff numbers, their geographic location, their roles and remuneration packages, Web-Based Structure, and distribution model for Austvending company.
The report will be started with sales team structure chart that shows the positions ,location, and roles of sale team member. This report will investigate current sales salaries in the vending machine industry and remuneration packages will be advised to be used for the sales team in Austvending company (Schwartz 2006, p.2).
Sales team structure
This is the chart for the sales team member, which starts with the national sales director of the company who is the head of the sales team members, following by the regional sales managers whom are located in each state of Australia. Following by the sales managers whom are responsible for guiding, coaching, and disrupting the sales representatives.
Distribution
The distribution of the sales team members are depending on the size of the state and business activaties in the states. Therefore, the following timetable will show the number of sale team members that is needed in each state.
The capital cities in each state, and where the central location of the company:
- Sydney (New South Wales)
- Brisbane (Queensland)
- Adelaide (South Australia)
- Darwin (the Northern Territory)
- Hobart (Tasmania)
- Melbourne (Victoria)
- Perth (Western Australia)
The sales representatives will be sent in different areas in each state. So, they can reach more custom. The sales managers are in charge of organizing and selecting the suitable sales representatives for the target areas,
The required number representatives of in each state are depending on the size, commercial building, and public institutions. The following timetable shows that the number and the area of sales representatives in different areas.
Duties and responsibility of the sales
National sales managers
National sales manager devices and regulates national sales strategy of a company and collaborates with regional sales manager in meeting targeted revenues and expenses.
Duties and responsibilities:
- Entail developing and reporting the performance of a budget, researching on marketing intelligence such as competitors and sales strategies.
- National sales manager handles major organizational deals and customers, collaborates with other managers in implementing national sales levels and overlooks the performance of sales and expenses thus offering guidance where appropriate.
- National sales manager oversees and reports on the performance of dealers and distributors, recruits, trains and encourages sales staff (Bose 445).
Regional sales manager
Regional sales manager plays a significant role in a job description by ensuring that the manner in which an organization creates a job description will attract qualified candidates to apply. Regional sales manager performs varying duties such as attaining objectives of regional sales human resource (Ingram 2012, p.3).
Duties and responsibilities
- Meeting regional sales operation goals, which entail gathering information and recommendations for strategic plans
- Reviewing, maintain action plans, sustaining customer services,
- Regional sales manager should meet the objectives of regional sales financial.
- Creating sales objectives including formulating sales plan and quota to meet national plans. Retaining customer base, recommend best lines for products, implement best trade promotional strategies, keeps updating job knowledge and ensures fulfillment of both sales and organizational missions (Schwartz 1).
Sales manager
Sales manager is significant in the performance of an organization. This is because the manager has the powers of attaining sales target, which creates organizational revenue.
Duties and responsibilities
- Planning and budgeting well to meet sales target of an organization.
- Implementing realistic and achievable targets for sales executives and sales representatives.
- For the sales manager to ensure good performance from sales team, he or she should delegate responsibilities depending on the interest of a salesperson.
- Sales managers generates strategies and techniques that can enhance achievement of sales target, identifies prospective customers and generate organizational leads.
- Motivating sales team, enhance teamwork among the group and introduce lucrative schemes.
- encouraging performers while help non-performers improve. Consequently, the sales manager makes significant decisions for the team, maintain and improving the relationship with clients, and maintain essential information for future reference (Zoltners, Prabhakant and Sally 213).
- Providing a training program for the sales representatives to have a good knowledge about the company’s machines.
- Recruiting, counseling, planning, appraising and coaching sales representatives
Sales representative
The substantial aim of a sales representative is to ensure efficient services to customers by selling them products that meet their needs.
Responsible and duties for sales representatives
- Maintaining applicable accounts, obtaining orders, regulate presentation of sales contents, concentration on sales efforts, submit requested orders, update management team, and support both professional and technical knowledge for the company (Miller 87).
- Visiting commercial buildings and government installations to get more customers for the company.
- Answering the inquiries that received from customers through the company’s website.
Remuneration
The remuneration packages of the company are based on fixed salaries and variable compensation consisting of commissions, incentives and bonus. The salaries are depending on the position of the sales team member in the company.
Sales representative compensation is constructed using their quota and on target earnings (OTE). The OTE is a combination of base salary and variable compensation. The variable component is the commission that is earned through sales. Austvending uses an approximate 50/50 ratio between salary and OTE.
Austvending Regional Sales Manager Remuneration
Base Salary 100K
On Target Earning 200K
Variable Compensation: On Target Earning – Base Salary = 100K
Quota: 1,000,000
Commission Rate: Variable/Quota = 10%
Total Gross Pay = Total Sales x Commission Rate
Commission
The commissions are depending on the employees performance (Bose 2002, p.34).
Once the sales representative has achieved their sales quota, they become eligible for accelerated commission rate.
This is used to stop sales representatives saving deals for future years. After reaching 110% of their quota, the representative is eligible for an accelerated commission rate of 11%. After reaching 120% of their quota, the representative is eligible for an accelerated commission rate of 12% and son on.
Bonus
The bonus largely depends on the percentage of sales quota and whether the annual target has been reached. If the company meets its target quota the bonus will be paid to the sales team members. Bonuses for hitting targets are 120%. These are equivalent to a straight cash bonus of X dollars paid annually over the Christmas period.
Incentives
Incentives awarded to employees are grouped into 4 categories. These incentives are renumerated through cash bonuses.
The ability to
- Win over the market share;
- Retain existing customers
- Expand product mix – DVD’s, kids toys, bathroom products, lottery tickets
- Growing contract length/ deal profitability
- Increasing sales through X opportunites
Web-Based Structure
Method and System for facilitating Austvending’s Web-Based Structure via a centralized Web Structure.
AustVending Web-Based Structure consists of a centralized Website (Austvending.com.au) which is includes information of the company. This is divided into pages of ‘The Vending Lifestyle’, ‘Austvending Business Model’, Vending Packages’, ‘Austvending in Your Area’ and ‘Online Store’. These need to be maintained and updated to stores (Miller 2009, p.4).
The Website provides a centralized navigation system. It provides a web-based application comprising:
- Team communication network (amongst staff)
- Purchase processing requests (food and drink products and $1 and $2 coin mechanisms).
- Tracking customer issues (e.g. shift of responsibility of making a first decision on a funding request from a first user to a second user)
- Funding requests
- Online enquiries (filling in customer details)
- Security (e.g. identifying a user requesting access via a password
Distribution model
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Austvending vending machine company uses an effective distribution model using web based applications to take its services to customers by providing vendor machines for their business pursuits. The company enjoys a significant presence in the market because it possesses the expertise and experience gained for the ten years it has been in the market.
The management of the company exploits opportunities by identifying changing customer needs, expectations, and behavior and aligning the provision of its services according to the changing needs, expectations, and behavior of the customers to sustain its position in the market and create large profits.
Because company executives understand the value of the customer in contributing to the growth and sustainability of company profits, the management has modeled delivery of the company’s services to the customers based on well-defined organizational structure for assigning responsibilities to the top level manager and lower level line managers.
Some of the clever tricks the company employs to win and lock in the customers, is by doing the most difficult tasks while the customer only does the easier tasks to make huge profits from the services offered by the company. Towards achieving that strategy, the company ensures that each manager is assigned roles and responsibilities critical to the success of the operations of the company.
The top level executive who is the national sales manager drives the company by formulating, devising, and regulating the company’s national strategy. The overall mission is to offer the best vending machine equipment for entrepreneurs wanting to start the vending business.
References
Bose, D C 2002, Principles of Management and Administration, Prentice-Hall of India, New Delhi.
Ingram, T N 2012, Sales Management: Analysis and Decision Making. Armonk, Sharpe, New York.
Miller, W 2009, Proactive Sales Management: How to Lead, Motivate, and Stay Ahead of the Game. Web.
Schwartz, M 2006, Fundamentals of Sales Management for the Newly Appointed Sales Manager. New York: AMACOM. Web.
Zoltners, A A, Sinha, P & Lorimer, S E 2004, Sales Force Designfor Strategic Advantage. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Web.