INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY DUBAI

SALES AND DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT

STUDY OF SALES FORCE MANAGEMENT AND CHANNEL

MANAGEMENT

OF

SUBMITTED TO:
Dr. Amit Shankar
(PROFESSOR SALES & DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT)
SUBMITTED BY:
SECTION B
GROUP 10
Arunava Dhar 180201110
Ayush Rajput 180201111
Rumi Mukhi 180201136
Shourya Kasliwal 180201042
Swastik Mohapatra 180201147

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 Table of Contents
Introduction and company background ................................................................................ 3

Objective of the study .............................................................................................................. 4

Organizational structure ......................................................................................................... 5

POC Background ..................................................................................................................... 6

Study And Design Method ...................................................................................................... 7

Insights Of Sales And Distribution Structure ....................................................................... 8

Analysis And Problems.......................................................................................................... 13

Reccomendations.................................................................................................................... 15

Limitations Of The Project ................................................................................................... 17

References ............................................................................................................................... 17

Appendix ................................................................................................................................. 17

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 INTRODUCTION AND COMPANY BACKGROUND

Blue Rhine is one of UAE’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of signage, advertising and
LED solutions with headquarters in Dubai and warehousing units in the UAE, Saudi Arabia,
Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.

Established in 1996, the company, with its 20 strategically-located distribution centres across
the GCC, caters to the needs of a broad spectrum of businesses ranging from advertising and
event management to construction and fabrication. Over the years, as a major distributor,
Blue Rhine has garnered a unique reputation of being a go-to place for sign boards, printing
materials, acrylic sheets, adhesives, digital signages, aluminium composite panels, anodized
sheets, backdrop stands, synthetic papers, and LED materials.

By bringing innovative solutions and delivering high-quality products at reasonable prices,

Blue Rhine continues to stay at the forefront of signage supplies in the region.

The Blue Rhine management team offers decades of diverse experience and a history of
success. Combining business sense with technical knowledge, their executives guide their
talented employees to provide products and solutions that enable their customers to get the best
value for money.

Their sales and marketing team consists of technical and managerial graduates. All of their
product managers and sales managers are well trained by their directors and have significant
market experience to help their customers achieve the desired results using their products.
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 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective of our project is to select a salesperson of a reputed company in the UAE and
trace the sales route which is taken by the customers of the company with the chosen sales
person and take note of all his activities on the field. We searched and further shortlisted certain
companies and ultimately decided to carry forward our research with Blue Rhine. In this project
we will discuss in detail how sales of a typical Dubai based company works. Along with sales
we will also focus on how distribution channel and human resource management function.
For this purpose we choose Blue Rhine, in which we have a contact who is a marketing and
sales consultant. The project is based on our understanding of the Sales And Distribution
Management, the basic structure of sales and distribution. We will study how these things work
in a typical company. Also we will find if there are any loopholes in the process and if any, we
will try to give recommendations from our side.

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 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Blue Rhine’s management team bring decades of diverse experience which enables the
company personnel to business acumen to technological excellence. As a result the employees
provide the customers high levels of benefits and value. The sales and management team of the
company has always been trained according to company’s principles and the company follows
a line and staff structure which as a team help guide our clients achieve the desired results using
our products. Here’s an overview of the company’s sales organization structure:

The VP of Sales and Marketing is the most responsible post in this sales organization structure
while in the immediate responsibility is burdened with the General Manager. Now under GM
there are 4 different departments which works in parallel. These are:
• E-commerce and Marketing Research Manager: deals with the market research of
the company.
• Marketing and Sales Consultant: Gives and shares practical experience to achieve
the company’s sales quota in time and with efficiency.
• Business Development Manager: Develop the sales objective and bring in new
opportunities or threats and processes to counter them into light.
• Territory Sales Manager: Responsible for the direct sale of the products. In this
company there are 5 territory sale managers for the 5 GCC countries and there are
area sales managers under them.
• Area Sales Manager: Responsible for the sales objectives over the areas assigned to
them under a particular territory and they have their own sales team to achieve those
objectives.
• Sales Person: Responsible of the ground work of the sales in the company. There are
a total of 150 sales persons in this company who operates in all the 5 GCC countries.

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 POC BACKGROUND

The point of contact for Blue Rhine was Mr. Abhishek Yadav who is at the position of
Marketing and Sales Consultant. In the organizational structure, he sits at the level 3. He
directly reports to the General Manager (Sales) of the company. The following are his duties
in his role:
1) Generating leads and turning them into opportunities for sales.
2) Contacting potential customers via telephone, email and face to face.
3) Arranging meetings with prospects in order to demonstrate products.
4) Identifying opportunities for new business within the market.

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 STUDY AND DESIGN METHOD

As mentioned in our Project Objective we designed this study and methods that we put forth is
strictly based on our understanding of this subject. Along with our understanding, we did a
Secondary Research and find some basic structure of sales, distribution and human resource
management. Our Point Of Contact was Mr.Abhisek Yadav. We designed a Questionnaire and
asked Mr.Yadav in detail about his views. We designed and positioned our study in such a
manner that we can extract deep insights into Blue Rhine. The interview was Telephonic in
nature as it was the most convenient option available with us because of Mr.Yadav’s
unavailability at the place. The conversation was 17 minutes long. You can get the link of the
conversation attached in the Appendix.

We divided our Questionnaire into two parts to get better insight. The first part was regarding
Sales and distribution and the second part was regarding the functioning of Human Resource
Management. In the First part, we asked questions and the topics we covered are mentioned
below:

• Regarding sales and distribution, we asked Sales Organization Structure at first. We

presented him with different Structures of the sales organization and his answers were
recorded. Then we questioned Sales forecasting method and Territory allocation. We
have to phrase the answer according to our study detail of which you will get after
studying the detailed project below.
• After that, we asked about sales quota and what are the factors influencing it. As a
consultant, he has deep knowledge about it and gave us deep insights.

Then we asked a question about Human Resource Management in the company. We asked
questions about Compensation structure, Recruitment and Induction process, Training method
and Salesforce evaluation method. Mr.Yadav had a deep insight into these topics and gave us
some important points. Unfortunately, Mr.Yadav did not have an answer to Motivation
techniques. We gave some hints but he was not able to phrase it, so we decided to drop it from
our project objectives.

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 INSIGHTS OF SALES AND DISTRIBUTION STRUCTURE

Sales Forecasting :
Sales forecasting is the process of estimating future sales. Accurate sales forecasts enable
companies to make informed business decisions and predict short-term and long-term
performance. Companies can base their forecasts on past sales data, industry-wide
comparisons, and economic trends. There are many methods for forecasting accurate sales. It
is easier for established companies to predict future sales based on years of past business data.
Newly founded companies have to base their forecasts on less-verified information, such as
market research and competitive intelligence to forecast their future business.
In Blue Rhine sales Forecasting is done by quarterly manner. They took data from previous
year quarter’s performance and forecast data accordingly. We will take an example to
understand it better. If Blue Rhine wants to forecast sales of First quarter(Q-1) of 2019, then at
first they will look at the Quarter Four(Q-4) sales of 2018 and what percentage it is increased
or decreased from the same quarter (Q-4) of 2017. For example if the sales of Q-4 of 2018 is
2% higher than that of 2017 than they will predict sales of Q-1 of 2019 will be 2% higher than
sales of Q-1 of 2018.
The company follows this procedure and company insides told us it was quite useful because
of its nature of easy to understand, sales persons are clear about their goals and managers also
have time and robust data to concentrate on.

Territory Allocation
Territory Allocation has two words Territory and Allocation. We will understand it better by
understanding the meaning of these two terms. A sales territory is the Customer group or
Geographical area. A territory is where a salesperson has to sell it’s product and is the base
where he has to complete his target. Territories can be defined on the basis of Geography,
history, sales potential or combination of all. Next word is Allocation. Allocating a proper sales
territory to a sales person is the work of decision makers. Allocation can be based on potential
of a salesperson, territory is old or new, population of the territory etc.

The allocation of sales territories must be given serious thought by the sales manager as it is
one of the important tools of control. It does not pose a problem for the small organisations
because their market is limited.
For big organisations operating in national and even international market for their goods and
services, it poses a big challenge to the sales management. The main object of allocation of
sales territories can be summarized as follows:

1. To hold the salesman responsible for sales and services,

2. Supervise and control over the sales force,

3. To compete in the competitive market easily, and

4. To save time and expenses.

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Territory can be allocated by two methods i.e. Build-up method and Breakdown method. In
Blue Rhine the company loosely follows the Breakdown method. Break down approach states
that first forecast sales for your company than divide total forecasted sales into different control
units. Control units are reference points referring to which territories divides. For example,
Control units can be pin codes, different cities etc. So the Breakdown method follows as:

1.Estimate company sales potential for total market.

2.Forecasr sales potential for each control unit.

3.Estimate sales volume from each sales person.

4.make tentative territories.

5.develop final territory.

Blue Rhine’s territory allocation can be seen as par to this approach. Below is the territory
allocation strategy use by Blue Rhine:

1.Forcast this year’s sales. (As we studied on Sales Forecasting)

2.Allocate Sales territory to salesperson according to their effectiveness.

3. New territories are allocated to experienced salesperson and Old territories to less
experienced salesperson

4. Develop final territory.

Also the company follows Lead generation approach. Company if a new lead generate
in between a quarter, send it’s experienced salesperson to cater that place.

Sales Quota

Sales quota is a target sales reps are set for a specific period (month, quarter, year). A Sales
quotas can be set in dollar figures or in the number of goods or services sold. And if you are
managing a sales team, you most likely want to reach you sales quota, right? In B2B sales, this
is what matters most. Sales people are measured on it. And sales managers are measured on it.
This is why sales managers spend a lot of time setting realistic goals for their reps. And it’s
why sales reps are under a lot of pressure to hit their sales quota at the end of each month.
Typically, reaching your sales goals is a sign that your sales team is performing at its best, your
leads are of high quality and your future growth is predictable. And who doesn’t want that?
However, the reality is that 67% of all sales people miss their quota, The Tas Group claims.
And there’s more: 23% of companies surveyed don’t know if their teams achieve sales
quota or not!
Sales quota can be allotted using different methods. In Blue Rhine Sales Volume Quota is used.
In Sales Volume Quota you doesn’t have to care for company’s profit margins or company
making a loss or profit by the sales. In this process we will get a sales target and you will get a
time period for achieving it. To successfully complete this you have to achieve the sales quota
in the stipulated time.
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In Blue Rhine sales target allocated to managers. For a typical sales manager the sales target is
4,00,000 aed per month. Further the manager divide it’s sales among sales person by the virtue
of their efficiency. Many time it is directly divided among sales persons under a sales manager.
For example if 50 salesperson are there under a manager than 8000 aed is the target for each
salesperson.

Compensation Structure

Now once territory being allocated and sales quota has been decided comes the one of the most
Motivating factors for a salesperson i.e Compensation. Compensation is the reward usually in
terms money offered to a person in return of their work done. Creating an effective
compensation program requires a thorough understanding of an organization's jobs — in
particular, the relationships between job functions, titles and families. This lays the foundation
for the development and support of a sound pay-for-performance system that has accurate and
current job information. Blue Rhine’s compensation is primarily dependent upon Incentives.
Blue Rhine delivers it’s compensation in below four three steps :

1.Incentives are provided based on Monthly performance.

2.One salesperson is eligible for compensation if he/she achieves 80% of his/her sales target.

3 Incentive ranges from 2-3% of sales target.

2-3% incentive where order size is very large really motivating for salesperson to work more,
give their best. This process is Mutual beneficial, at one hand company getting best from its
employees whereas employees in return getting incentives.

Salesforce Evaluation
In Blue Rhine, the process of Salesforce evaluation is based on the individual performance of
an employee. The Salesforce evaluation process follows a hierarchical structure, that is,
employees at each level are supposed to report to their senior, and this process is carried up to
the Vice President level. The Salesforce evaluation process begins at the sales personnel level
who reports to the manager and the manager reports further to the Vice president of the
company. The Salesforce evaluation is unidirectional in the company, that is, employees at any
level are evaluated only by their seniors, hence, the company follows 90 degree evaluation
method.

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Sales Force Management
At Blue Rhine, the Sales Force Management is required for the following functions:
• RECRUITMENT- The process by which company build up a pool of candidate for
the hiring process.
• SELECTION- The process by which company choose the right candidate to be
hired in the company.
• TRAINING- The process by which a company trains its sales personnel.
• MOTIVATION - It is related to the various benefits and incentives the company
offers to the sales personnel for motivating them to perform their best.
• PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL- It is the process which the company employs in
order to evaluate how an employee has performed over the last year and whether
their performance is satisfactory or it needs improvement.
• COMPENSATION- It is the decision which the company has to take regarding the
appropriate compensation for any particular salesperson.

Reporting
Reporting is the process of recording the performances of any employee in the company.
Employees of the company usually report uni-directionally to their immediate senior and this
process is carried on till the Vice President level. Following are some of the metrics which gets
reported at the salesperson level:
• Number of deals in the pipeline
• Deal size
• Conversion rate

Recruitment
Successful recruitment is a direct reflection of the validity and professionalism of your
business. Employing the right people for your business is the most important part of your
organization. It is essential to have a good recruitment process to attract the right kind of
employees for your business needs. Your recruitment process should be cost effective as well
as time effective. A good recruitment process can minimize the time involved in the searching,
interviewing, hiring and training. It can streamline these processes and make your search for
viable candidates much more efficient. It is very important to build a positive image to your
customers, peers, and competitors.
In Blue Rhine, Recruitment procedure is different for Managerial level and for salesperson
level. In managerial level following criteria are necessary:
1.Experience in the industry for at least 3 years.
2.Good communication skill.
For Managerial level recruitment interview is done in two phases. First phase interview is with
strategy head and second phase interview is with the CEO. As mentioned by Mr. Abhishek
Yadav, confident eye contact was a major factor in the time of his recruitment.
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For salesperson level recruitment other criteria needed. Salespeople should be energetic, should
be active, vocal, smart. Blue Rhine is looking upon following criteria while recruiting:
1.Prior experience in sales
2. English-speaking ability
3. Knowledge of the city
A salesperson equipped with Prior experience in this field, Good English speaking ability and
has a knowledge of different territories is an asset for any company and it is also applied for
Blue Rhine.

Training
Training presents a prime opportunity to expand the knowledge base of all employees, but
many employers in the current climate find development opportunities expensive. Employees
attending training sessions also miss out on work time which may delay the completion of
projects. However, despite these potential drawbacks, training and development provide both
the individual and organizations as a whole with benefits that make the cost and time a
worthwhile investment. The return on investment from training and development of employees
is really a no brainer. Benefits from training as an individual level and holistic development for
a company is uncountable but here are some benefits which are most prominent. The benefit
of training includes improved employee performance, improved employee satisfaction and
morale, addressing weaknesses, consistency, increase productivity, reduce employee turnover,
enhance company reputation and profile and increase innovativeness.
In Blue Rhine training has been done in both off the job and on the job. First, we will talk about
on the job training process. It is done primarily in three basic steps. These steps are as follows:
1.Real life training experience with customers.
2.Coaching about how to handle customers
3. Meeting with new customers frequently.
In Blue Rhine, they primarily focus on the customer-based training process. As customers are
generally companies with large budgets, meeting customers can be effective for a salesperson.
They can have market insight and can gain experience in handling these kinds of customers.
Also off the job training is also done by Blue Rhine. The process is simple and as follows :
1. Lectures from managers and CEO
2. Attending conferences to build the customer base.
As Blue Rhine primarily focused on the job training, it has done little off the job training
process. Getting knowledge from managers and occasionally interaction with the CEO is the
primary off the job training process.

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 ANALYSIS AND PROBLEMS

After analyzing the sales and distribution systems and processes at Blue Rhine, we have found
the following areas where the problem lies and needs immediate attention from the upper
management. Following are the problem statements that we found worth critiquing:

• No in-house training about customer and client relationship.

• 90-degree performance appraisal process.
• Problems while collecting the payment after closing the deal.

No in-house training about customer and client relationship

There is currently no in-house training given to the salesman. They are directly sent to the
customers and sometimes receive On the Job Training. The sales consultant Mr. Abhishek said
that If you do not understand the importance of adequate employee training, it can have serious
consequences for the performance of your company, the morale of your team, your financial
turnover and your ability to attract and retain good employees.

If you are trying to attract a particular millennial workforce, the most exciting opportunities
you can promote are solid development and career progression. As a result, neglecting your
responsibility to train and invest in your employees could discourage the best candidates.
Training is vital to business success. Depending on your business, the type of training
opportunities available will vary, but there are many general benefits offered by all workplace
education opportunities. Following are the effects of a lack of training in the workplace:
➢ Unhappy, Unsatisfied Employees: Inadequately trained employees are likely to
experience poor job performance and increased levels of work-related stress. If your
employees are feeling unhappy and undervalued, the chances of them searching
elsewhere for progression and development opportunities will increase.

➢ Reduced Productivity: With constant updates in technology and an increase in global

trading, the levels of competition between businesses is ever increasing. This means
that it’s even more important that your workforce is adequately trained with the
education and skill levels needed to work safely and productively. Poorly trained
employees are likely to feel undervalued, which will reduce workplace productivity,
loyalty and engagement. If all your employees are making the same careless mistakes
and performing poorly, it’s time to assess the type and standard of training you provide.
By giving your employees the necessary skills the first time, you will reduce the time,
money and resources needed to rectify mistakes. Once you invest in your employees’
training, you’ll see productivity and profits soar.

➢ Increased Staff Turnover: As well as increased workplace stress, poorly trained

employees are likely to feel unappreciated in their jobs. As a result, they will either

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 leave in search of better opportunities or you will be forced to fire them for
underperforming. While this might not seem like a big problem, high staff turnover is
expensive and finding a new hire can cost you around 30% of the job’s total salary.
However, if you demonstrate you are an employer who is invested in the development
and success of your employees, you are likely to see an increase in company loyalty
and staff morale.

90-degree performance appraisal process

The method of appraisal performance at Blue Rhine Industries in 90 degrees performance

appraisal. It is the most basic form of appraisal where the evaluator gives his evaluation to
his subordinates and there is no self-evaluation by the employee. This method has the
following disadvantages at Blue Rhine which needs to be corrected immediately:

➢ Limited perspective: Traditional performance evaluation tools only involve the

opinion of the manager about the performance of his subordinate. If the manager
oversees several direct reports and also subordinates them to your own line manager,
you probably have little time to observe your employee in action and see how he
overcomes the problems and obstacles encountered in achieving his goals, as well as
his efficiency. to communicate with others. Many companies alleviate this disadvantage
by using peer evaluation tools that take into account the employee's working
relationships with clients, colleagues, suppliers, subordinates and supervisors. By
gathering information from these other frequent contacts with employees, the scope of
the evaluation expands, allowing a more objective assessment of performance.

➢ Subject to the evaluator's bias: Managers bring their own prejudices and subjective
notions to the evaluation process. The bias can also skew the results of more objective
evaluation programs based on peer review, which causes employees to lose confidence
in the system and no longer view them as credible performance measures. Employees
must consider these systems to be fair and just to make the process work properly.

Problems while collecting the payment after closing the deal

At Blue Rhine the problem is that the salesperson is not able to persuade customers to make
the payment right at the time of order completion. They also aren’t able to decide with the
customers regarding which method of settlement they will do. They have 3 Options:

➢ 30-days Post Dated Cheque.

➢ 100% Cash.
➢ Letter of Credit.
The policy at Blue Rhine industries is that the first two orders will be billed in full cash and
rest of them at 30-days Post Dated Cheque. So, setting this term with customer is an issue itself.
Apart from deciding on the terms of the payments, there are delays from the side of the
customers and they do request to not to cash the cheque currently as the balance is insufficient
to honour it.

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 RECCOMENDATIONS

After analyzing the problems faced by Blue Rhine Industries, we have the following recommendations
to be made:

• Proper in-house training about customer relationship.

• 180-degree performance appraisal system to improve efficiency.
• Upfront deposition and staged payment method introduction.

Proper in-house training about customer relationship

The solution to the lack of product knowledge being faced by the salesman is that there should be a
proper in-house training for the salesman about the product specifications as well as the customer
relationship. The in-house training can help Blue Rhine Industries in the following manner:
• Increased employee effectiveness: An effective training program can enable company
employees to work effectively. With training, people gain confidence and this confidence is
reflected in results and results

• Reduced Supervision: An employee must be supervised while working. When the employee
has received sufficient training, the number of supervisory tasks required is reduced in the
same way as the errors. This reduces the supervisor's workload.

• Helps new employees of the organization: training always benefits employees, both old and
new. In the case of new employees, training helps them a lot. New employees may not be
aware of how the organization works, and training helps them to acquire knowledge and
better understand how the company operates.

• Improve the relationship between management and staff: Relationships between

management and staff are essential to any organization. When companies introduce training
programs and prepare employees for future jobs and promotions, they send the unions the
message that they are interested in the well-being of employees. As a result, unions are also
adopting a positive attitude and the relationship between management and workers is
improving.

180-degree performance appraisal system to improve efficiency

The current 90-degrees performance appraisal system seems to not work very effectively for Blue
Rhine Industry and for that purpose we would like to recommend them 180-Degress performance
appraisal system in order to make use of its following benefits:

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 • It helps to have a better analysis and a better feedback.
• It helps develop a better and cooperative team.
• It helps reduce the barriers to evaluation, such as prejudices, bias and discrimination
• It promotes transparency and the feeling of treated justly.

Upfront deposition and staged payment method introduction

The solution to the delayed payment is that Blue Rhine needs to ask the customer an Upfront
Deposit while taking the order. This is the best way to avoid the delayed payments. Also at the
time of taking orders, there should be clear mention in the contract regarding the staged
payments, its amount and intervals.

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 LIMITATIONS OF THE PROJECT

• Certain aspects such as Motivation is not covered in this project because

unavailability of proper answer.
• Due to time restriction the interview was limited to only one person.
• We have to phrase some results such as territory allocation according to our
understanding. Otherwise the survey might get broad answers of particular studies
instead of exclusive answers.
• Our project was purely based on our understanding and we lacked expert's view due
to time constraint.

REFERENCES

● https://trackmaven.com/marketing-dictionary/sales-forecasting/
● https://accountlearning.com/sales-territory-meaning-objectives-factors-determining-
allocation/
● https://www.superoffice.com/blog/sales-quota/
● http://www.icmrindia.org/courseware/Sales%20and%20Distribution%20Management
1/SDMC12.htm
● https://bluerhine.com/
● https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-do-companies-recruit-employees-2062874

APPENDIX

Voice record of conversation between Mr. Yadav and our group:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15ukQO3askEluCqY3ZmwQKO35Qs9TG3b_/view?usp=driv
esdk

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