Eureka Forbes Ltd.: Managing The Selling Effort

Eureka Forbes Ltd. Managing the selling effort Group B3 Shivam Jain 11P107 Ankit Mangla 11P123 Anurag Saxena 11P127 Hemant Sahajpal 11P141 Rahul Pinnamenani 11P156

EFL’s sales approach • Unique direct sales approach (supplied by Electrolux) • More than 24 million cold calls, 2.4 million product demos & more than 5,00,000 EuroCleans and Aquaguards sold by field sales force annually • Corporate vision – Embrace the customer as “friend for life” • EuroChamps – Early 20s, from lower middle class homes, extroverted, outgoing, enthusiastic, high achievement drive, well spoken • Ads aimed at disposing prospects to “welcome EuroChamps when they came knocking” Demo Customer objection handling

Extensive presentation

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Issues • • • •

• • • • •

Declining sales volumes Falling sales closure rates Highest sales rep attrition rate EuroChamps gave demos mechanically, ignoring customer cues Demo equipment damaged/not clean Negligent response to customer objections Poor performance across many territories No time to coach/mentor sales force, managers too busy managing quotas and sales volumes High pressure job – physically, psychologically

“Bettering the Best” • Previously: EuroChamps were rewarded merely on the basis of sales volume • New System:

– Points for successful completion of various stages of selling process, compensation based on points – Daily targets also set, a chance for being recognized 10 times a day by superior

• Aimed at:

– Improving sales productivity and overall quality of sales – Making EuroChamps feel good about themselves – Improving morale and spirit of the sales team – Providing a diagnostic tool for HCRCs

Really better than the Best? 1. Feel-good factor by achieving smaller targets, boosts morale and spirit

2. Better clarity about different selling processes 3. Helps build better customer relationships 4. Leads to better customer engagement, satisfaction 1. Tedious paper work, new computerized system, add to it validating and tallying points for every EuroChamp 2. Might end up rewarding non-performers (no sales) 3. Incentives too small to motivate 4. Could shift focus to merely accumulating points

5. Risk of inflating figures

Suggestions • EuroChamp will be in a dilemma whether to maximize points/convert sale. A successful sale should carry significantly higher points to differentiate sellers from pretenders • Create and communicate clear organization-wide ethical code of conduct taking a clear stance against misquoting figures, reinforce the same constantly through training • Penalize any instances of fabricated data heavily to set an example (random field checks) • Managers should spend more time and efforts on training Champs and closely monitor those working under them. Better training and field learning gained from managers can help them learn better how to close a deal, better relations can help reduce attrition rate