Sales and Distribution Management — Summer 2023

What is sales management? Discuss the importance of sales management.

Discuss the role of distribution management in the marketing mix.

Discuss the discrepancies that channel members take care of and how do they do it?

What are sales quotas? Why it is important for a sales manager to set quotas for salespeople?

What are the different sales presentation method? How are they matched to different sales situations?

Explain methods used by companies for setting sales quotas.

Discuss different methods used for handling and overcoming objections during the personal selling process.

Define Retailing. What are the functions of a retailer?

Explain the factors to be considered in formulating channel policies.

Discuss different types of compensation plan for compensating salespeople.

Describe the steps involved in evaluating and controlling salesforce performance. Page 1 of

CASE STUDY: Sonton Pharmaceuticals, a leading pharmaceutical company in India closed the financial year 2016-17 with sales of `1.3 billion along with a growth of 6 percent over the growth in financial year 2015-16. The company achieved 94 percent of its sales target for the financial year 2016-17 with a profitability of 7 percent. The company was reporting declining profits in the last 3 years with an increasing operational costs. Also, the growth of the company was less than the other leading pharmaceutical companies in India. Company was having a product portfolio of 21 products with a sales force of 612 medical representatives. In March 2017, Sonton Pharmaceuticals reported an attrition rate of 26 percent among its sales personnel. It is losing its sales staff to business process outsourcing (BPO) companies. Compared to the tough task of selling, working in BPOs is comfortable and cushy. Besides, salaries and benefits in BPOs almost equal to that in pharmaceutical companies. The attrition trend in many pharmaceutical companies is the same as they struggle to find good English speaking sales people in metros. This sales force attrition had increased the costs of training for the company and has also affected customer relationships in the market.

As an HR consultant, what suggestions would you give to the company to handle the problems mentioned in the case.

Discuss importance of retaining salespeople in the light of the case.

What can Sonton pharmaceuticals do to decrease the attrition rates?

“If you pay a salesperson enough, you will have a well-motivated salesperson.” Comment Page 2 of