This study has raised some matters that could be interesting to research in the future. Since the concept of sales steering is not acknowledged in the literature it would be interesting to hear what other companies, especially the competitors of the case company, think about the concept. The an-swers would probably differ quite a lot between different businesses but inside the same industry the answers could even be quite similar. Another intriguing matter, regarding the sales steering reporting systems, would be to investigate how other companies have practically solved the problems of integrating different systems into a one reporting interface. The tech-nical solutions behind such a system would be interesting to take a closer look at.
This study did not take opinions of the field salespeople into account when finding answers to the research questions but it could have been useful to ask their opinions about the necessity of a CRM system in their work, and also how they feel the current control system is working. Furthermore, it would have been interesting to hear their side of the story about the com-pensation system.
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INTERVIEWS
Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Carton Board. 2012. Interview:
30.05.2012.
Sales Director, General Packaging. 2012. Interview: 30.05.2012.
Director, Sales and Marketing, Food Service Board. 2012. Interview:
29.05.2012.
Vice President, Controlling, Business Planning & IT, Consumer Board.
2012. Interview: 16.05.2012.
Sales Director, Cigarette. 2012. Interview: 01.06.2012.
BI Analyst, BA Renewable Packaging. 2012. Interview: 30.05.2012.
Sales Director, Rest of World. 2012. Interview: 16.05.2012.
Director, Sheeting & Supply Chain, Carton Board. 2012. Interview:
30.05.2012.
Sales Director, Graphical. 2012. Interview: 30.05.2012.
Project Manager, Carton Board. 2012. Interview: 31.05.2012.
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Interview questions.
Questions for Stora Enso Renewable Packaging, Consumer Board key personnel:
Introduction:
- Could you briefly describe your position in Stora Enso Renewable Packaging / Consumer Board? (e.g. how long have you been in the position, your background etc.)
- What does sales steering mean in your opinion?
o What elements does it include?
o On what level is it performed and by whom?
o What is the most essential about it, and, on the other hand, what things might not be so important?
- Could you briefly describe the typical process of creating a marketing and/or sales strategy? (e.g. how are the customers segmented, pricing etc.)
Current situation:
- What kind of metrics do you use in management and in sales steer-ing?
o What reports do you receive “ready”, and do you acquire infor-mation by yourself? If yes, what systems/channels do you use?
o Are you aware if there are additional metrics available for the task?
o Why have you chosen the ones you use?
o How easily can you access the metrics and reports you would like to see? (e.g. how fragmented the data is and how much ef-fort does it take to view the data)
o Do you base your decision-making on actual figures (invoiced) or sales plan figures? (i.e. forward-looking versus backward-looking)
- What are the problems in the current sales steering metrics and re-ports, and what are the greatest of them? (e.g. availability, reliability, focus)
(Continues)
-
(Appendix 1 continues)
- What are the best features in sales steering metrics and reports cur-rently?
- Do you base your decisions solely on quantitative data or do you also take non-quantitative data into account while making sales steering decisions (e.g. opinions of the field sales people)
- How is the customer perspective taken into account while making sales steering decisions, and how do you see it should be performed in the future (e.g. do you use any CRM system)?
- How are the salespeople being controlled and compensated, and on what metrics should the compensation be based?
o How should the salespeople controlling be developed?
Future:
- What kind of objectives would you set for a sales steering reporting system if you would design one for Consumer Board now?
- Who do you see as the most critical user group for a sales steering re-porting system?
- What kind of metrics and reports would you like to have for your use?
- When accessing the information, what timeframes should be available and why? (e.g. daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly etc.)
- What is the timespan that the historical data should be stored?
- When thinking five years ahead, what kind of internal and external in-formation you would see as the most important?
- How would you like to access the sales steering metrics and reports?
(e.g. interactive dashboard reports, static email reports, Panorama re-ports etc.)
- What is your opinion about having more non-quantitative information integrated to traditional quantitative information in the reports? (e.g.
having a bulletin board on dashboard where thoughts about specific topics could be shared)
- How much importance would you put on an information presentation system that could integrate all the necessary information into one place? (e.g. receivables from SAP, stocks from Fenix, actual costs from Sting, customer feedback from VOICE etc.)
o What would be the benefits?
o What could be the downsides?