essay from other course (sales and selling management)

Introduction

Background

In the 1970s, Cosatto came to England where it has grown up into one of the world's leading Nursery Brands. Cosatto went on to design pushchairs, prams, highchairs, maternity goods, nursery equipment. In 2003, The Supercover Group purchased Cosatto having worked with the team for many years. We have not forgotten how Cosatto first begun, and the principles of the Brand has grown are value for money, quality and safety. Nowadays we add a generous helping of personality to our products so they make you smile, offer you practical solutions but will not break the bank!

Pre-call Preparation

Industry Trends and Relevant Technology

Currently, in the industry trends of baby cots, there are several technologies that are infused to the baby cots to attract more people to buy these baby cots. Some of it includes video monitoring, air circulation devices, automatic rocking of baby cots and convertible-to-beds baby cots.

Product Description

The product that we are intending to sell infuses several technologies and nursery products together so as to make it more value for money as costs could be saved on buying individual nursery products. The name of our product is “Sleep.Walk”.  The product is actually a multi function baby cot with 2 built in cots, one with automatic rocking sensor, a built-in cabinet, music player; milk warmer, luminous cot toy stand and the cots’ railing (Refer to appendix 1). There is actually two built in cots. The smaller cot is for babies who are newly born while the larger cot is for toddlers.

The motion sensor on the cot to monitor the movements of the infant before it activates the automatic rocking of the smaller cot. This ensures a better sleep for babies and a more undisturbed night for the parents. This is because rocking is one of the most natural ways of easing a child to sleep. The “Sleep.Walk.” incorporates a rocking mechanism which simulates the natural rocking motion of a baby in a mothers’ arms. The rocking can be used to help establish a child's regular sleeping pattern when used as part of a bedtime routine, and therefore parents too! The automatic rocking cot is detachable from the baby cot itself, so when the baby grows up to an older age, he or she is still able to use the cot.

The milk warmer would maintain the milk at optimal temperature suitable for baby immediate consumption.  This means that when a baby is hungry, the parent could feed the baby immediately without the need to spend time warming the milk.

Researchers have shown that music aids in the brain development of babies. Many parents would be keen to coax their babies to sleep with the help of music. Hence, a detachable music player which can be attached to either the walking aid or baby cot would be very handy.

Luminous plastic material of the cot toy stand and cot railing allows parents to see their baby without turning on main room lights and waking them up. Furthermore, it more feasible than using lighting as it helps to save electricity.

At one end of the cot, there is a compartment that is detachable and on this Detachable compartment is a foldable walking aid which saves storage space.  (Refer to appendix 1 for the products’ picture)

Finally, the cabinets make use of space that would normally waste, allowing for convenient access to blankets or to just stow away clutter.

Main Competitors

The main competitors are mainly, Tutti Bambini, Boori and Gro time. Tutti Bambini offers wardrobes, chairs, toys and beds mostly for infants. Boori specializes in nursery furniture, while Gro time offers nursery furniture and other relevant equipments.

Prospecting and Pre-approach

Firstly, our target customers are both in the form of business to business and business to consumers. For business to business we intend to sell it to specialty stores and departmental stores that offers baby cots or other nursery products. For business to consumer we intend to sell it to mostly new parents or parents-to-be.

There are several prospecting methods that we are using. Firstly is the use of endless chain. We chose this method because it saves time since it hit the right customer targets. It also allows the salesperson to gain trust much more easily and much more quickly. This is because recommendations are usually made to another person only when the person received good services from the sales person. When a person uses our product and find the function very useful or the product is very value for money, the person would definitely recommend it to her friends, relatives or other people. The endless chain of recommendations then continues when recommendation is made again and again.

Also, we will be using newspapers and baby magazine to prospect consumers such as pregnant women and especially first time fathers or mothers that reads these magazines or read newspaper for advice on maternity related information. Advertisement on our product could be placed on the magazines. This might attract the people that are reading these magazines to call in for more information on the product that is advertised and most likely the target market would be spot on as people usually only call in if they need the product and has enquiries on the product. Direct mail would also be used to prospect not only departmental stores but the also the customers through the customers’ records. Colourful and detailed pictures and information about the product could be mailed to the customers to attract their attention on the new product. Departmental store that receive this mail might also be attracted to the product and analyse if the product is feasible for sale in their stores that might help them in earning revenue. Then, the departmental store will then make a decision if they want to hold this product in their store.

For consumers, the information that we will obtain before the approach of consumer prospects is age and marital status, the characteristics of our target market are easily identifiable with these information collected. For companies, the information that we will obtain is the company’s target customers, products, store traffic, reputation, sales volume and purchase volume. Only with this information, then we can find out the feasibility of these companies being able to sell our product to their customers.

The Approach

When we approached our prospect, we start with a mixture of two different approaches, the product approach and offering a benefit. “Our company has come out with a new product “Sleep.Walk”, discovered by a group of talented researchers”. Then, we continue by saying “With the purchase of our “Sleep.Walk”, a fusion of different products, you can save cost. This approach would firstly attract the attention of the prospect when they find out that there is a new product that they might have never come across before in the market and with the name mentioned to them, they might be even more curious to find out what the product is about. Then, after mentioning the cost saving abilities of the product, the prospect would be even more curious and excited and would be very keen to find out what is the product and how it would help them save costs and the multi-functions that is infused in this particular product.

 

Problem Recognition

After the approach, we will then attempt to find out the customers’ need.  To make sure that the customer’s needs are related to our product, we would start by asking “Are you looking for baby furniture?”, before any further questions on the customers understanding is asked. This is to make sure that the need of the customer is looking for is related to our product, and not other maternity goods. If the customer replies with a yes, continue with the information flow, by asking “What type of furniture are you looking for?” This is to make sure that the customer is looking for a baby cot or other related products. If this misunderstanding is not cleared, time might be wasted in promoting goods that the customer is not intending to get. If the customer replies that he need a baby cot or other related furniture, we then would check the customer understanding by asking for the customer’s rough budget. “Would a multi-function baby cot at S$1200 be within your budget?” Then, confirm the problem and clear up any misunderstanding by confirming with the customer by summarizing. “I would like to summarise that you would want a multi-functioned baby cot, priced between S$1000 to S$1200, have I made any errors in interpretation? The customer most likely would see the product at around 1000 dollars so when summarising the price range, the higher range must be above the price of the product and the price of the product must be close to the lower range.

Sales Presentation

Since “Sleep.Walk.” is a new product with special features, we will be using product demonstration and comparison technique to promote it to our potential customers.

Product Demonstration

During the presentation, we will be showing all the special features of “Sleep.Walk” and how to operate them in front of the customers. More time would be spent to emphasis more on features that matches the customer needs, For example, we would emphasis on the detachable music player that could be placed both on the cot and the walking aid. Questions would also be asked to ensure the customer understand each features and benefit. Furthermore, customers are also encouraged to try the cot themselves so as to allow them to have a hands on experience on how user friendly the cot is.

Flyers showing product picture with highlighted key features, product and company profile, awards, test reports and testimonials, contact number and ordering mode would be given to the customer. This information in the flyers aid in ensuring the reliability of our product to the customer and hence, might help in increasing sales. For example, test reports ensure that the product is safe for usage and positive testimonials show good response of the product.

Comparison Technique

Since it is a new product, we can emphasis more on key features and benefits of the product that are absence in competitor’s products, thus stating that it’s the customer loss of benefit if the competitor product is to be purchased.

Handling Objection

Prospect’s doubt

“Since it is so big, won’t it be very difficult to move?”

We can demonstrate how to dismantle and assemble the product to ensure easy transport and storage of product after use. Technical report can also be shown to the customer to ensure that the material is made of pine wood which is light and durable. Hence, this make “Sleep.Walk.” users friendly and moveable.

Price Situation

“The price is over my budget.”

We can break the difference into small increments.

For example, the cot cost $200 more than the normal baby cot. But, since it is more users friendly and can reduce time wastage in the need to buy baby walking aid or milk warming compartment separately, it is worth price. Furthermore, you might also sleep at least 2hour longer per night with “Sleep.Walk.” features. Thus, with it 4 years usage, you will only need to spend $0.15 extra for all the added features and 2 more hour of your sleep.

Sales closing & Follow up

Sales closing method

After identifying the closing signals by customer, a summarisation close would be used. We would summarise all the major benefits in which the prospect has indicated interest and re-emphasise points made earlier. Furthermore, we would also try to provide positive picture of the sales proposal.

Example:

“Sleep.Walk. is convenient and value for money multi-function baby cot which can be used for a wider age range for your child. Not only your child could enjoy a better night sleep, you can also have more an undisturbed sleep with our automated rocking function when your child fidgets. Furthermore, with the presence of milk warming compartment available at the cot end, your child would be fed without any delay without the time wastage in the need to warm the milk.

Finally, the four years warranty would assure that you would not need to worry about any defects in our product.

Should we go ahead with the purchase?”

Sales Follow-up

In order to maintain long lasting relationship with customers, we decide to have sales follow-up for our product. We have come up with an activity plan which is to make sure that the customer receives the maximum satisfaction from the purchase and to follow through on assurances and promises made during the sales presentation.

Therefore, we would deliver more than we promised by giving free cute stickers and milk bottle upon delivery.  We would also try to ensure that our promise on timely delivery, proper installation and detailed training on how to operate and maintain the product and to teach on the warranty registration are to be carried out without fail. All this are to guarantee customer satisfaction and hence, help in build rapport with them.