Driskill Manufacturing Company: Maintenance Equipment Manufacturer – Use of Sales Quotas

Jack Dixon, sales manager, and Henry Granger, director of marketing research, of the Driskill Manufacturing Company, were in complete dis­agreement about the current method of preparing sales quotas. The Driskill Manufacturing Company marketed a line of maintenance equipment used all over the country, in a variety of businesses, and had attained considerable prestige in

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Allied Board and Carton Company: Manufacturers of Containers – Difficulties with Sales Targets

The Allied Board and Carton Company manufactured and distributed cardboard boxes, cartons, and other packaging materials. The sales force of twenty-five persons, assigned to territories thoughout the United States, made calls directly on purchasing agents of manufacturers of industrial and consumer products. During the previous eighteen months, operating losses had been experienced, and a

Goodtime Equipment Company: Manufacturer of Playground Equipment – Complaints About a Quota System and Proposal for a New Bonus System Based upon Quotas

The Goodtime Equipment Company, Minneapolis, was a medium-sized manufacturer of playground equipment. The company produced an exten­sive product line and marketed its products nationwide. The field sales force numbered thirty-five persons, who were paid on a salary basis. In addition to the salary plan, Goodtime Equipment Co. had a bonus program for its sales

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McBride Electric Corporation: Manufacturer of Electric Equipment Accessories – Need for Revision of Sales Territories

McBride Electric Corporation, headquartered in Detroit, was a large pro­ducer of electrical equipment and accessories. Established in 1910, McBride grew steadily and became one of the major U.S. suppliers of electrical products. McBride sold some of its products direct to a few large accounts, but most of the product line was sold through a

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Magnet Covet Barium Corporation: Producer of Oil Drilling Mud – Sales Region Ceases to Contribute Adequately to Profit

Magnet Covet Barium Corporation (Magcobar), a producer of oil drilling mud, was having trouble with the performance of its Midwest region. The products sold by Magcobar were used by oil producers to aid in drilling oil wells. The line consisted of over twenty-five mud products. On its role of customers were such big corporations

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Arlington Paper Mills: Manufacturer of Paper Products – Decision to Discontinue Sales to Accounts with Unacceptable Profit Margins

John W. Ireland, sales manager for the Baby Products Division of Arlington Paper Mills, manufacturer of baby diapers and other baby products, faced a decision on what to do with a number of baby-diaper accounts that had fallen below the “acceptable” profit margin. Since most of the accounts in question returned some profit, he

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Alderson Products, Inc.: Packaging Equipment Manufacturer – Control of the Sales Effort

Alderson Products, Inc., a $15 million company, had recently become a wholly owned subsidiary of National Beverage Corp. of Baltimore, Maryland. National had purchased 100 percent of Alderson stock. The acquisition brought with it a number of problems common to such ven­tures, with the most pressing problems centering around the control of the sales

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Hair-N-Shine: Forecasting for a new product

Vishit Jain took over as the national sales manager of S&S India at the start of the new year. S&S plans to launch a brand extension of its “Hair-N- Shine” shampoo in India in a tube form. A successful product in other Asian countries, such as Singapore, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand, it contributes 9

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The Customer-Oriented Marketing Channel

Companies all over the globe are becoming more and more customer cen­tric by providing customers with the products they desire when and where they desire them. Companies are focusing on customers – existing and potential and adopting strategies to attract and retain them by using an appropriate combination of product, pricing, promotion, distribution, and

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Sales Channel Members

The number of channel partners required for optimum market cover­age depends on factors like market potential, market share, frequency of product purchase, technical knowledge required to sell the product and competition. The key members of a marketing channel are marketers, intermediaries, and end users. The term ‘marketer’ refers to the producer of the product

Sales Channel Functions

Channel members execute different marketing and selling functions to increase the sales of the company in a designated area. Channel mem­bers perform many functions, including creating utility and facilitating exchange efficiencies. Channel functions play an important role in decid­ing the channel structure. As the product moves through various stages in the marketing channel, different

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Designing Marketing Channels

Design of the marketing channel is critical for the success of a business. The important factors affecting the designing of a marketing channel are strategic objectives, product portfolio, target market, technological advancements, competition, channel structure, channel intensity, the type of intermediaries required at different levels and the costs involved in selecting a particular channel.

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Selecting Sales Channel Partners

After designing the marketing channel, company can select the channel partners that meet its requirements. Some factors for selecting channel partners are sales potential, product portfolio, industry experience, finan­cial strength, market reputation, location, and the size of the channel member. Sales Potential. Sales potential of the channel member is a major factor in selecting

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Sales Channel Intensity

Channel intensity denotes the number of intermediaries existing in a distri­bution or marketing channel. The degree of market coverage, product port­folio, and marketing strategy are important factors in deciding the channel policy and determining the number of intermediaries to be used. Compa­nies usually go for intensive, exclusive, or selective distribution depending on its marketing

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Sales Channel Management for Rural Markets

C.K. Prahalad in his book “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid,” described the profits that can be generated by selling products to “Bottom of the Pyramid” customers.[1] Rural markets constitute an important part of the emerging economies like India with majority of the population liv­ing in villages. Rural markets have attained lot

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Costs and Margins in the Marketing Sales Channel

Marketing channels ensure smooth movement of products from the com­pany to the customers. This movement of products can be forward, back­ward or two-directional. Different activities performed by the channel members are possession of goods, ownership (transfer of title), inventory management, promotion, negotiation, financing, risk bearing, ordering, payment and physical distribution. Different channel members perform

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Setting Up Cooperative Programs

To implement its overall marketing strategy, the manufacturer needs the cooperation of its distributive outlets. In consumer-goods markets, for instance, retailers must have adequate stocks of a product on hand prior to the launching of national consumer advertising campaigns. Retailers must provide support through tie-in displays and local advertising. Manufacturers of industrial goods look

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Role of Manufacturer’s Sales Force

Channel partners regard the manufacturer’s salespeople not only as sales representatives for the product line, but also as instruments through which the manufacturer’s business philosophy is implemented. Their opinions of the company and its products are influenced by the conduct of its sales personnel. Salespeople need not be public relations experts, but they need

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Objectives and Methods of Manufacturer-Channel Partners’ Cooperation

The manufacturer and its channel partners share a common objective—to sell the manufacturer’s products at a profit. To achieve this objective, man­ufacturers set more specific objectives. These objectives, of course, differ with the marketing circumstances, even though many variations of specific objectives fit into definite categories. Manufacturers undertake cooperative programs (1) to build distributive

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Distributive Network Changes and Maintaining Relations

The evolution of new types of distributive outlets has been a recurring phenomenon. Over the years, many new marketing institutions have appeared and grown in importance—online retailers, department stores, corporate chains, cooperative and voluntary chains, producers’ and con­sumers’ cooperatives, supermarkets, and discount department stores, to name but a few. Older, better established types of

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