SALES MANAGEMENT

Sales management is the attainment of an organisation's sales goal in a n effective and efficient manner through planning, staffing, training, leading and controlling organisational resources.

The traits of a good sales team are as follows:

• Enthusiasm
• Persistence
• Self Confidence
• Initiative
• Commitment
• Street Smart

The sales force at HUL are prepared extensively to meet all these traits before setting them out to the actual industry. Once recruited, there is a mandatory training period of 1 year that the employee has to go through. During this period the employees are exposed to different situations and are provided with assistance to cope with the same. Periodic assessment are carried out and based on the performance, only those employees who are sought to be a fit to the position are certified and allotted suitable designations.

Dove welcomes all feedback of its customers through its websites to follow up. As a brand it has understood that providing the necessary customers satisfaction is as crucial as making profits and have been working with its heart and soul to achieve the same. It indulges in the minds of its customers a sense of trust and care.

A sales activity management process would involve the components depicted in the figure

Source: http://www.4cplus.com/images/sales-m2.jpg

HUL has been efficient and has managed to be the best at all the above shown components and thus is enjoying the leverages of being the market leader.

ANALYZING CONSUMER MARKETS

The consumer markets can be analysed based on the response stimulus model which is as follows:

Source: http://www.tutor2u.net/business/images/stimulus_response.gif

Along with these stimuli the customer also experiences some psychological processes before she actually decides to buy the product. These processes include the following:

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjj2a05abBrj-Km9k6d9P4IVLZbB54FULU_wn7hGfkT3Q1ff-IO4IlyjP03YtqjnbuNYJ7x0wOdMg4Ede7Kx8FajA8ef0XVfNU_4lg9wSxO5OzQuNWNpeEYL8M7P7zMVoZpCOL0yKT0A/s1600/Psychological+Factors.jpg

• Motivation: the customer needs to feel the urge to have a soft and moisturized skin. It is only then she will begin to look for related products. Dove will definitely stand out considering its composition which has one quarter moisturizing lotion.
• Perception: in all campaigns of Dove there is immense focus on the fact that the brand cares for its customers. This focus helps develop a positive perception towards the product in the minds of the people.
• Learning: the product promises not to leave any residue after wash which most other soaps fail to do because of its high ph. The customers who once use the product will experience this promise come true and this would help them learn about the gentleness of the product.
• Beliefs and attitudes (Memory): a customer who uses the Dove soap does not generally switch to any other product considering all the benefits she receives and the personal connect towards the brand that has been successful in keeping its customers happy and satisfied. 

ANALYZING BUSINESS MARKETS

B2B MARKETING APPROACH

Buying situations: The business buyer faces many decisions in making a purchase.

• Straight rebuy: in this approach the buyers call for stock on a routine basis. Dove soaps usually fall under this category as it is a daily use commodity.
• Modified rebuy: here the buyer wants to enforce a change in the product specifications, price, delivery requirements or other things. This situation is very unlikely to happen in the case of the Dove soap because the buyer has little say in the process. Also HUL works on the advance payment policy thus ensuring no flaws.
• New task: this is a buy where the buyer is buying the product for the first time. This situation could arise when a new retailer sets up a store and wants to import the Dove soap bars. In all likelihood of such cases there would be no worries because of the brand's trusted sales over the years

PARTICIPANTS IN THE BUSINESS BUYING PROCESS

As shown in the figure the distribution process of Dove products starts with the manufacturer and moves down to the retail stores, CSD and modern trade through C&F(cost and freight) and stockists. 

HOLISTIC OR SUSTAINABLE MARKETING

SOCIETAL MARKETING

Source: http://designopportunistic.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/screen-shot-2011-11-17-at-12-13-12-am.png 

Dove use this approach of marketing. In this they educate the women that the perfect body is a healthy body and influence their perceptions to change towards this direction. This would in turn help raise the self-esteem and confidence in the minds of women. It also focuses on human welfare in addition to brand profits and consumer demands.

They conduct many social activities to build a community. An example of this would be the sleepover workshop they conducted on eating disorders. Many such activities are brought forward to the society through social media as well.

THE HOLISTIC MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF DOVE

       Dove has managed to attain several advantages because of its holistic approach in marketing. A few of these include creation of goodwill, differentiation from its partners, professional image, creation of the perfect environment for support and so on. Its holistic approach includes

• personal care with beauty tips
• assistance with medication: the dove self-esteem funds, programs for aesthetics and well being)
• provision of companionship: the Dove website has a community of forums blogs where its consumers can discuss about anything of their choice.

 The dove also attempts to provide personal attention to its customers and tries to indulge in them a sense of feeling beautiful with its campaigns and workshops. 

BRANDING

POINTS OF PARITY

• Availability of different variants
• Availability of these variants at almost the same price or with negligible difference
• Availability of different sizes (there are 2 sizes)
• Focus on moisturizing the skin
• No harshness because of the low ph level

POINTS OF DIFFERENCE

• Low ph value
• One quarter moisturizing lotion composition
• Usage of ordinary women in their ads and campaigns
• One strong emotional proposition used (you are beautiful)
• Stress on the thought that it's not about glamour
• Promises not to leave any residues on the skin

The brand uses EMOTIONAL BRANDING to market its products. There is a deep sense of rationality and emotional components in their strategy.

BRANDING DYNAMICS 

STP

SEGMENTATION: it is the division of market into segments on the basis of similar wants and needs

TARGETING:

• The brand targets women of all ages (above 18), sizes and shapes.
• Upper middle and high income class.
• The main focus is on working women considering its high pricing and the lack of tie these women have to spend on beauty (the beauty bar provides women with the combined benefits of a soap and a moisturizer).

POSITIONING:

• Dove encourages women to develop a positive relationship with beauty which would help raise the self-esteem,, thus making them aware of their full potential.
• It positions itself as a brand that listens to its customers and as one that lays concern in the well being of the customers
• The soap is a personal care product and calls itself a moisturizing bar with one quarter moisturizing lotion in its composition. It is also known as the beauty bar.
•  The high moisturizing composition is the differentiating factor for the product. 
• Dove has positioned itself in a way that women all over the world are made to feel that they are beautiful and to bring about this revolution several campaign were conducted such as the dove campaign for real beauty, Dove movement for self esteem and the Dove real role models.
  
  

Services and services marketing

• The product falls under the Pure tangible good category of the service mix.

• The product might be considered to be a commodity that is high in experience qualities which means that the evaluation of the product can be done after purchase.

MANAGING SERVICE QUALITY 

                           HUL's principles in order to maintain its quality policy includes the following concerns:

• Major concern towards maintaining the safety of products that are delivered to the consumers : HUL maintains stringent mandatory quality standards and the compliance is verified by conducting periodic audits and self assessments. This is carried out so as to ensure that the company designs, manufactures and supplies only those products that are safe and of excellent quality. They also have in place comprehensive management procedures so as to reduce risks and protect its consumers and markets. The brand has provided appropriate training and resources to ensure the deliverance of quality and the performance is tested using both internal and external measures so as to measure and improve wherever possible.
• Every Unilever employee is aware of the fact that the quality and consumer safety is his/her responsibility: Unilever has demonstrated visible leadership in the market to meet this policy. HUL partners with stakeholders to provide leadership, build transparency and thus share best practices and the brand has managed to forge effective working relationships with its contract manufacturers and suppliers. 
• HUL places its consumers and customers at the heart of its business: The consumers and customers are made to actively engage themselves in the process so as to translate their requirements into purchasing the products and services of HUL, this adds on to creating consumer value 
• HUL believes that quality can be attained with shared responsibility: HUL actively promotes its Quality Policy and has a quality assurance organisation in place to ensure consistency and visibility of quality standards, processes and performance indicators across all Unilever businesses at all levels

DISTRIBUTION

Marketing channels and Value networks

• Dove uses the Pull strategy to persuade its customers (advertising, campaigns)
• The target market of the product involves individuals of the upper middle and upper class and according to the strategy of demand chain planning the products are made available for sales to the customers in over 1 million stores.
•  The distribution channel functions and flows however is as folows

• As shown in the figure the distribution process of Dove products starts with the manufacturer and moves down to the retail stores, CSD and modern trade through C&F(cost and freight) and stockists. 
  • The Assistant Sales Manager (ASM), Activation manager (AM) and Territory Sales incharge (TSI) co-ordinates the sales process. 
  • The stockists have who is known as a re stockist salesman (RSSM) to manage operations between the stockist and the retailers
  • As it can be observed HUL follows a four-level channel.
• It falls under the Vertical marketing systems (Administered VMS)
• The associated risk of conflicts are also minimized as the stockists are decided by the company and administered as per requirement and there is no space for the retailers to charge extra.

Service sector channels

               The brand has managed to grab the prospective customers with its

• Advertisements on the television 
• Interactive billboard campaigns allowing the audience to vote for their preference of choice
• The 'Real Beauty Campaign' that helped secure a sense of connectivity with its target customers.

Analyzing customer wants and needs: Service outputs

• Lot size: any amount
• Waiting and delivery time: NIL
• Spatial convenience: Availability at across 1 million stores proves the extreme spatial convinience
• Product variety: A wide range of variants available
• Service backup : NA

Managing, Retailing, Wholesaling and Logistics

Major types of store retailers

• Department stores
• Supermarkets
• Convenience stores
• Kiosks
• Chemists
• Superstore

Level of service offering: Self selection

Marketing decisions:

1. Target market:  Working women of the upper class and upper middle class form the target customers. Under this category they aim at women age in the range of 17 to 50, of all sizes shapes and colors. Since it is positioning itself as a premium brand, the target market would include all stores situated in urban areas.
2. Channels: Multiple channel marketing is followed where in the customers have a choice of picking up their products from the stores or order online.
3.  Product Assortment: Dove as a brand as a fairly large breadth and depth. Under the family of personal care the brand offers skin care, hair care, deodorants and such. The depth under the subcategory of soaps include its 3 variants.
4. Communications at retail stores are done by in store sales persons who puts across the values of the product into the minds of the customers. Also when a new product is launched they have initial introductory offers or free samples made available to the customer. In case of complementary products, they are packed together and made available at a price lower than the price it would cost a customer when bought separately.
5. Location: the product is available in central business districts, regional shopping centers, community shopping centers, shopping strips and stand alone stores.

Marketing logistics:

 HUL has now tried to provide complete back-end support to the distributors by tying up with a third party logistics. The executive director feels that the outsourcing is necessary as it provides them a chance to be more customer focused and work on the market growth. (Source: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2008-07-29/news/27698118_1_distributors-hul-retail-segment)

PROMOTIONS

INTEGRATED MARKETING CHANNELS

Marketing communication mix:

• Advertising: The brand had a campaign for real beauty and this was initiated by the brand manager Kerstin Dunleavy. They launched this campaign so as to acquire a better market position. In this campaign the brand portrayed images of women of all ages, sizes and shapes. This was embossed on a large number of billboards, hoarding, there were tvcs etc. They started this with a mission of creating a difference in the minds of all the women who feel that they were not beautiful. They started a poll for the people which questioned them about their perception of what they feel is the real beauty. This they did by putting up the questions on the billboards and hoardings and such. The people had to leave a reply on the questions. Besides this the brand has advertised itself on other platforms such as the television and the internet. One such advertisements came with the tagline of "is it love? No it's Dove"

• Sales promotion: Dove did a lot of sales promotion for its campaign. A few promotional strategies included giving out free Real Beauty T-shirts to all those customers who made a bill of more than INR499. They also gave out free samples before launching their products into the market. They provided the the customers to join "your love"  which allowed them to have access to view the special offers and innovations. They were also entitled to receiving expert advice and beauty care tips. They had a toll free number for the customer support.

• Events and experiences: The events and experiences of the brand contained the charateristics of being highly relevant and also engaging its customers. Along with the 'Real Beauty Campaign' they also conducted the 'ad makeover' campaign. It was basically started to displace all the ads that left a negative impact on the minds of the people. The ad aimed at making women feel good about themselves. This started the campaign on Facebook and followed the crowdsourcing policy by letting the women themselves decide the messages that would make most women feel good.

• Public relations and publicity: One of major aspects contributing to the success of the 'Real Beauty Campaign' was the effective use of PR. PR affected the customers cognitive thinking towards the whole concept of Beauty which in turn lead them to respond positively. Usually, the News section of Dove had in it the press releases and were published in many magazines and newspapers. The "Dove in the News" section contains a number of press releases that were published in various newspapers and magazines.

• Direct marketing: The brand provided a toll free number to enable the customer services. Besides the 'Your Dove' was conceptualized to make the customers feel a little special and this they managed to do by providing them information about the special offers, product innovations and providing expert advice and beauty care tips so that the customers can by themselves be aware of how to best take care of their skin.

• Interactive marketing: Both the 'Real Beauty'  and the 'Ad makeover' campaigns provided a platform for the customers to respond with their perception.

• Word of mouth marketing: When dove first entered the Indian markets it launched its beauty bar at a premium price which most consumers refused to accept. Thus the only customers were those who had traveled a lot and knew about the product benefits. These people could be the first sources for the word-of-mouth marketing. Later on the campaign activities conducted by the brand lead to more and more people talk about the campaigns and the brand.

THE DOVE CAMPAIGN FOR REAL BEAUTY

• Launched in 2004
• It was an initiation taken to stress on the wider definition of beauty
• Efforts were to taken to engrave in the thoughts of people that beauty is a measure of confidence and not that of anxiety
• Hoardings were put up and people could participate in the polls
• Many workshops were conducted 
• The Dove Self-esteem fund was a part of the campaign which helped women increase their self-esteem by making them realize that they are beautiful.

• There were several workshops conducted with the vision of making women realize that they are beautiful. One of this was the Dove real beauty sketches workshop. People came in and described themselves and an artist sketched their portrait with just the description. The sketch was redone with the description the friends of the same person gave. By doing so it was seen that most women do not realize how beautiful they are and this workshop helped build a sense of confidence about their beauty in their minds.

Main Channels of Communication:

The Website

You Tube

Commercials on the television

Social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter)

Billboards and hoardings

PRICING

PRICING

•  Dove has adopted the competitive based pricing.
• It has a large number of variants in the product type and all its variants are priced around a similar range.
• Considering the huge market share of HUL it can be identified that Dove has based its pricing with the objective of attaining Maximum Market Share, but not through Market penetration strategy.
  
  
  
              Source: http://www.digitalimpulse.in/insights/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/market-share-soap.jpg

Source: http://www.share-pdf.com/1cf820e387b64851afc90a013b3c117c/final%20mrp%20anuj%20for%2016-01-13_images/final%20mrp%20anuj%20for%2016-01-1317x1.jpg

• It also follows the high value strategy as it aims at position itself as a premium brand.
• It also exhibited the Maximum market skimming objective.

The competitive price comparison is as follows

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/Mitraeft/10-stepmarketingplandovemitraeftekhar-6960082

The demand curve:

• Initially the target customers which included the upper class and they still did not find it worthy to spend so much and buy a soap. They then lowered the price to attract the upper middle class sector as well and were successful in their mission

Analyzing competitors costs prices and offers.

• The soap was priced at a slightly higher price than most of its competitors 
• However they managed to pull off with the sales with the added value of providing the consumers the combined benefits of a soap and a moisturizer which most other soaps did not.

Pricing method

• The pricing of dove soap followed a perceived value pricing satisfying the consumers with image, performance and softer attributes such as trustworthiness and esteem.

Final pricing 

• Dove is a brand with average relative quality but because of their high expenditure on advertising and the 'Real Beauty campaign' campaign allowed them to charge a premium price.

PRODUCT

PRODUCT LEVELS

PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION

• The dove soap is a tangible and non durable product.
• It falls under the category of convenience goods and is often frequently purchased.
• It is also a shopping product competing with the other soap bars in terms of style, price and quality.

PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION

                                        FORM

• Logo signifies softness gentleness and sophistication
• It is a soap bar
• It is white in color
• Oval shaped
• Unscented

FEATURES

• Beauty bar (moisturizing bar)
• Hypo-allergenic
• Mild- low ph value
• One quarter moisturizing lotion

CUSTOMIZATION

• Market offerings: Wide variety of soap bars to choose from according to the requirement.
• Message: Beauty is a state of mind.
• Media: The real beauty campaigns help attain a farther reach among the target audience because of its focus on women of all shapes, ages, sizes and colors. 

PERFORMANCE QUALITY

• Highly positive satisfaction expressed by people with dry skin
•  Positive response from working women (with less time to afford) who get the combined benefits of a cleaning agent and a moisturizer in one beauty bar.

THE PRODUCT HIERARCHY OF HUL

• Requirement: Beauty care product to remove dirt 
• Product family: personal care
• Product class:  all soaps and body washes, face washes, shampoos.
• Product line: -> Soap, body wash, face wash.
• Product type: LUX, Lifebuoy, DOVE
• Item: Dove soaps of HUL act as a deep moisturizer with a very low ph value and calls itself as a moisturizing bar and not a soap which marks the point of differentiation.

PRODUCT SYSTEMS AND MIXES

THE MARKETING MIX

Product 

•       Dove offers a bathing soap bar which has the combined benefits of a moisturizer and skin softener which marks the point of differentiation.
•       It offers a soap with the lowest ph value.      
•      The product was launched to basically target working women not essentially models
•      The brand has also managed to achieve strong connects with its customers 

 Promotion

•      The product was introduced to the market in 1995, from then until 2007, the brand used to promote the product based on a theme where the 'perfect' women were portrayed as role models. 
•       The brand then started it 'Real Beauty' campaign where the focus switched from the youth to women of all ages, sizes and shapes. In this they used a tagline which said, 'beauty is a state of mind' so as to build confidence.
  

Place

•      The brand was owned by HUL
•       It was distributed through a network of around one million retail outlets across 2500 distributors.
•      The product was available in general stores, supermarkets, chemists and wholesale dealers.

Price

•       Initially the product was launched at a high price of INR 40 aiming at the upper middle and high class consumers
•      The target audience did not find it worthy.
•       However the brand did not want to drastically reduce the price as it wanted to be positioned as a premium brand.
•       To overcome the problem they invested more on live campaigns and advertising. This helped create a more strong customer base.

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE AND INDUSTRY LIFE CYCLE

LIFE CYCLE OF DOVE SOAP

INTRODUCTION

             Dove is a personal care brand owned by HUL having a wide range of products (soaps, body wash, deodrants, lotions, hair care etc.) When the dove soap was introduced in the Indian market it was priced at a slightly higher range and this they did so as to maintain the 'premium' tag of the brand. However, initially the sales were not up to the mark considering the highly marked prices. Dove then came up with their ad campaign's to promote the products and attract customers.

GROWTH
       
             The Dove's 'Real Beauty' Campaign: This was launched after viewing the results of a survey which showed that only 2% of the women considered themselves to be beautiful. During this they put up billboards with portraits of regular women and allowed the viewers to vote on how they perceived the portrayed model as (see picture attached below), and with its report aimed at creating a whole new definition of the word 'beauty'. Their mission was primarily focused on spreading an awareness that beauty is a source of confidence.
           As a result they received a very positive response from the population and also a very significant media coverage. With this response they then decided to broaden the media exposure by releasing print advertisements, television ads and much more.

MATURITY
  
               The brand is now in the maturity stage and has been here for a very long time now. It is also considered among the top personal care brands. The continuing innovations, the campaigns and the large number of satisfied and loyal customers have helped the brand remain at this stage for so long and if Dove continues to maintain its relationships with existing customers and carry out events so as to gain new customers, it would not be wrong to say that the brand will continue to be safe in terms of its market share.

source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAYDDN0yvuIMPbDU9WEIxgMN3K6NStc8Ogg6mAiSdRB5zLZaUGRNwD57rxgZN_4qnYIO8t15wYLMRDfOZE5r9bmjqfEV4ks0oGDHTxttjm_g3Br-uiVfPMRKvySit7BfBTYxc87PlDCqo/s1600/Dove+Product+Lifecycle.png

COMPETITORS AND INDUSTRY

COMPETITORS

INTERNAL COMPETITORS

• LUX
• LIFEBUOY
• REXONA

EXTERNAL COMPETITORS

• CAMAY
• NIVEA
• PEARS

THE INDIAN SOAP INDUSTRY

SOURCE: http://www.indianmirror.com/indian-industries/soap.html

CURRENT POSITIONING

• Premium- Lux, Dove
• Economy- Nirma Bath, Lifebuoy
• Popular- Nirma, Cinthol

SOURCE: http://www.naukrihub.com/india/fmcg/overview/soaps/#sthash.uNdPk1KF.dpuf

Consumer Decision Process

CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS

CUSTOMER VALUE AND BENEFITS

CUSTOMER PERCEIVED VALUE

TOTAL CUSTOMER BENEFITS

              The total customer benefits is the sum total of the other benefits which include the following.

Product benefits

              The dove soap  is seen as a refreshing alternative for the regular soap bars. The 1/4th moisturizing lotion composition of the beauty bar enables the consumer to have a moisturized skin without having to use an alternative. Composed mainly to leave the consumer with a clean, soft and smooth skin, this bar has succeeded in being able to achieve its goals with no question raising up as a result of dry skin. It imbibes in women the fact that beauty is not just about how you look but also about how you feel. 

Variety

             1. Sensitive
             2. Gentle exfoliating

             3. Fresh energizing
             4. Fresh moisturize

             5. White/Pink beauty bars

Image benefits

     










    

                   
                               Dove has built strong connects with its customers by producing advertisements with real women rather than celebrities. This helps gain the brand a sense of true connectivity from the customer end who find it easier to connect with the product. Also the tagline "beauty is a state of mind" helps develop a sense of confidence in the minds of the customers.

TOTAL CUSTOMER COST

              This cost is the sum total of all the other costs which include the following.

Monetary cost

             The basic price of this beauty bar would lie in the range of INR30 to INR50 which is slightly higher when compared to the other soaps. However, the target customers segment include working women, and this fact would make it feasible for Dove to price this product in the above given range.

Time cost

            The product is available nationwide in all the general stores, super-markets, drugstores et al and the customers can buy this product at their nearest stores which would not consume much time.

Energy cost

            The product is a daily requirement of the household and thus is usually bought along with the other groceries and essentials. This proves that no extra energy is needed to attain this.

Psychological cost

            Differentiation of the product with its moisturizing ability without an alternative makes the customer feel worthy about spending the designated amount.

INTRODUCTION

DOVE SOAP

The Dove soap was launched globally in the year 1957. However, its launch in India happened only during the 1990s. 

1. Who buys this product?

             The upper middle class and higher income families
             Working women
             Women aged above 18
             Women who uses beauty products
             

2.What problem will this product solve?

                
                  Prevents dullness and makes the skin glow

              Moisturizes the skin 

3. Which attributes are important and why?

             25% moisturizing lotion: enhances smoothness and glow

             Chemically synthesized Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate: cleaning without drying

             Stearic acid: sensitizer for allergic people

4. If this decision is the first time, how will it go? if not, how will it go?

             As a soap, dove was not the first entrant. However, it stands out from the other soap with factors such as its deep cleansing ability, moisturizing effect all of which leaves the skin clean, soft and smooth.

5. How was the deliberation in your head?             

            The Dove soap, though not the only manufactures of soap was unique and had in it an essence that was a driving force for most consumers and thus I chose this as my marketing diary product.