Development of Sales:
Russian Customers in Pulp and Paper Industry
Case: Bellmer Vaahto Paper Machinery Oy
LAHTI UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES
Faculty of Business and Hospitality Management
Degree Programme in International Business
Autumn 2018 Anastasia Shalygina
Abstract
Author(s)
Shalygina, Anastasia
Type of publication Bachelor’s thesis
Published Autumn 2018 Number of pages
51 pages, 4 pages of appendices Title of publication
Development of Sales with Russian Customers in Pulp and Paper Industry Case: Bellmer Vaahto Paper Machinery Company
Name of Degree
Degree Programme in International Business Abstract
The study was carried out in cooperation with Bellmer Vaahto Paper Machinery Company, located in Finland. One of the goals in the research was to analyse Bellmer Vaahto Paper Machinery Company’s current sales and marketing position in the sphere of paper industry in action of work with Russian market. The primary purpose of the research was to help the company to find most suitable customer-oriented approach for current and future long-term Russian customers’ partnership with next realization of operations and successful sales business.
The thesis was conducted using both empirical and theoretical frameworks. Theoretical part included the reliable secondary sources which were collected from the Internet and aca- demic literature. The data, published in the theoretical sources, presented notion of terms with abductive method about B2B sales, customers’ decision-making process, buying crite- ria, special handlings with sales process and inquiries and sales environment in business.
Empirical framework included qualitative research of semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with Russian representative of Bellmer Vaahto, Russian customers and Bellmer Vaahto’s workers. The interviews illustrated the customers and employers’ personal opin- ions which had been taken as an advantage for the progressive resulting of the develop- ment plan for the thesis conclusion.
The study results show that Bellmer Vaahto Paper Machinery Company has had a suc- cessful business partnership with Russian customers despite applying some new sales methods and strategies. The goal of these new methods and strategies is meant to in- crease the amount of sales in Russian market at the same level as with other customers, which has not been achieved yet. The thesis together with the research aim to support the company to focus on understanding customers from Russia and develop the sales with the results of the research and customers’ priorities, and taking into consideration the main fac- tors of trade.
Keywords
BV, Sales Development, Pulp and Paper Industry, B2B sales
I would like to devote this page with my thank you to everyone who made some proximate contri- bution into helping me to write the thesis, carefully taking into the consideration all the advice, recommendations and other aid which played its own role in supporting me with the thesis.
First of all, I would like to thank the integral personnel of Lahti University of Applied Sciences for always being helpful. Their amazing cooperative teamwork, invaluable knowledge, encouragement and belief into students cannot be left without attention. They help graduaters to become real spe- cialists and professionals of their studied area. Especially, I am grateful to Riku Nummikoski for helping with my thesis, his invaluable feedback, splendid supervision on the highest level and pre- cious expertise and instructions given to me for enriching my scope of knowledge. I also would like to thank Tarja Ahonen for helping me to overcome the cultural shock at the beginning of my studies with the course “Efficient Working “and for her qualified feedback given as a language supervisor.
In addition, I want to show my gratitude to the employers of Bellmer Vaahto in Hollola for accepting me into their working team, for their friendliness, kindness and qualified attitude to work. In par- ticular, I would like to thank Jyrki Strengell, Jari Kyllio, Hannele Kirvesoja, Suvi Valtonen and Antti Liehu for sharing their professionalism. Manager Director of Bellmer Vaahto, Jyrki Strengell not only allocated his working experience to me but also gave plentiful comments based on the thesis writ- ing.
Finally, I am indebted to thank my family for being always there for me in spite of a physical distance between us. I am also grateful to Kirill Ivanov for his support, confidence and faith in me.
The day of the graduation is not far off but I still cannot believe that I will become a graduater of Bachelor Degree, International Business quite soon. Studying at Lahti University of Applied Sciences completely changed my life in a good way. The university gave me everything that I could dream of. I could say that life can be unpredictable but only this life can give happiness to a person like me.
THANK YOU!
Figure 1______________ Main Points of Research Question………. 5
Figure 2______________ Content of Theoretical Framework………. 8
Figure 3______________ Research Methodology and Data Analysis…………. 9
Figure 4______________ Two Types of B2B Sales……… 14 Figure 5______________ The Customers’ Decision-Making Process………….. 18
Figure 6_______________ The Trends of B2B Business………. 19
Figure 7_______________ The Framework of Sales Process in B2B…………. 21
Figure 8_______________ The Types of CRM……….. 27
Figure 9________________ Customers’ 16 Step Sales Process………… 29 Figure 10_______________ The Push Strategy of Promotion………. 36
Figure 11_______________ The Pull Strategy of Promotion………. 37
Figure 12_______________ The Sales Promotion Premium Offers for the Custom- ers………. ………. 38 Figure 13________________The Level of Equality between Buyers and Suppli-
ers………. 40
IMAGE 1 The View of the Headbox………3
TABLE 1 Theoretical Framework of the Thesis……….. 12
TABLE 2 Multi-attribute Matrix Comparison……….. 16
TABLE 3 The Connection between Sales and Marketing……… 34
TABLE 4 The Formula of AIDAS……… 35
o B2B- Business-to-Business o BC- Behaviour Control o BV- Bellmer Vaahto
o CRM- Customer Relationship Management o DAP- Delivered at Place
o DDP- Delivered Duty Paid o DMU- Decision-Making Unit o EDI- Electronic Data Interchange o FTZ- Foreign Trade Zone
o GDP- Gross Domestic Product
o Incoterms- International Commercial Terms o KPI- Key Performance Indicator
o MGL- Marketing Qualified Leads o OC- Outcome Control
o PPI- Pulp and Paper Industry o RFQ- Request for Quotation o ROI- Return on Investment
o SFA- Sales Force Automation System o SGL-Sales Qualified Leads
o SIS- Sales Information System o VAR- Value-Added Reseller
CONTENTS
1 Introduction ... 1
1.1 Research Background ... 1
1.2 Thesis Objectives, Research Questions and Limitations ... 4
1.3 Theoretical Framework ... 8
1.4 Research Methodology and Data Analysis ... 9
1.5 Thesis Structure ...11
2 Sales In B2B Business ...14
2.1 B2B Top Performance ...15
2.2 Buying Criteria in B2B ...16
2.3 Customer Decision Process ...17
2.4 Trends in B2B Business...19
2.5 Building B2B Sales Process ...21
2.6 Customer Relationship Management in B2B...24
2.7 Sales Process in B2B according to the Customers ...28
2.8 B2B Inquiries: Special Handling ...31
2.9 Partnership Formation ...32
3 Sales Environment ...33
3.1 Habitation of Sales Environment ...33
3.2 Philosophy of Selling ...35
3.3 Sales Promotion ...36
3.4 Truth of Two Cultures ...39
3.5 Achievement of Supplier Status ...40
4 Empirical Research ...42
5 Development Plan ...43
6 Conclusion ...44
7 Summary ...45
LIST OF REFERENCES ...46
APPENDICES……….52
1 INTRODUCTION
This thesis presents the topic which is “Development of Sales with Russian Customers in Pulp and Paper Industry”. The topic for the thesis was suggested by Bellmer Vaahto Pa- per Machinery Oy to the author with the goal to analyse the sales with Russian customers and create the development plan for the company to increase sales with Russian market.
This development plan will combine the interests of the customers, the company and Rus- sian Agency in order to eliminate the company’s weaknesses and concentrate on the cus- tomers’ preferences and needs in cooperation, which will end up in the increase of sales for Bellmer Vaahto. At the beginning of this chapter, the author describes the overall con- tent of the thesis structure by illustrating the research which aims to answerthe questions, the results of which will have a direct impact on the outcome of the thesis. Furthermore, the reader can specifically get interested in the objectives and limitations characterized in the framework of the research and the usage of empirical and theoretical tools. As pre- sented at the end, the thesis is finalized accordingly to the thesis guidelines.
1.1 Research Background
Pulp and paper industry (PPI) plays a significant role in the development of the world’s in- novative progress, employment rates, preservation of the environment, and consequently the international economy. As a proof of this, companies in PPI located in EU have found a way to dispose the world from CO2 emissions and remain still to be sustainable by gen- erating more energy from biomass and recycling 70% of paper. In addition to this, employ- ment rates of European companies have benefited from PPI as the companies have hired more qualified specialists for the past few years. New working labour has consistently been one of the megatrends in stabilizing the economic growth, GDP, working productiv- ity, globalization of the world. The number of employed people in the PPI has increased to 647,000 workers in more than 20,000 companies in 2018. The economic achievements are apparently shown on the results of the operations which have been invested in and in- novated by PPI. The annual turnover of PPI amounts to 180 billion euros together with other spheres of industry as graphic, packaging and others. (European Commission 2018.)
Despite the positive effects of operations PPI faces obstacles which have a negative im- pact on the environment. One of them is an inevitable consumption of forests which is practiced in deforestation and threatens the extinction of soil in some places, the world of animals, human-beings, and the prosperity of the nature. In some cases, environment is
impacted negatively by the irresponsible activities which are not controlled by people, or- ganizations, the purpose of which is to find a financial benefit. From these financial bene- fits, nature suffers. Every year more and more forests come to the stage of the extinction because of the continuous deforestation and animals become the victims of the happen- ings. (World Wildlife Fund 2018.)
Known as the most forested country in the world, Finland became the first country which started producing paper already in 1667 and had the first pulp mill in 1876. Up till now Fin- land remains one of the exported in paper and pulp industries, the revenue of which amounts to $11 billion and 16.3% among other exported goods. (Workman 2018.) In addi- tion, Finland has the most paper-machine manufacturers which have the high-valued cus- tomer advantage and strong positions in the market which distinguishes it from other countries. More than that, it has been investigated that paper and pulp industry will not disappear in Finland. Conversely, Finnish economy will be strengthened due to the dura- ble materials in paper which are made only in Finland (This is Finland 2018).
In 2017 Finnish export increased by 16%. In foreign trade Finland has exported mostly to the countries such as Germany, UK, USA, China, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The ex- port of machinery and equipment, which includes paper machines, account for 13% of the whole export. (Statistics Finland 2018.) It is strongly believed that steady growth in Finnish export of machinery and equipment will continue increasing in the future decades.
The current thesis is practice-based and has been implemented during the author’s intern- ship at Bellmer Vaahto Paper Machinery Oy located in Finland. After the global financial crisis 2008-2009, Finnish economy faced a financial instability noted as overloading of ex- penses, companies’ bankruptcy, lack of investments, decrease of export, reduction of in- dustrial output and weak competition between others. Because of the financial crisis, Vaahto, being an original Finnish venture, was taken over by the German paper machin- ery leader, by acquiring the sufficient operations, premises, services, labor, location, ma- chines and changing the name. Having been Vaahto, the company changed to become Bellmer Vaahto. At present, Bellmer Vaahto (BV) Group possesses eight companies, the functions and operations of which differentiate from each other and are located all over the world: Germany, Finland, China, the Netherlands, Spain, India, and USA (Bellmer 2018).
Nowadays, Bellmer Vaahto is a paper machinery company which has been based on building headboxes for paper machines since 1874. Being a family business, owned by three brothers, the history of the company started from 1880. Bellmer Vaahto has a strong
mission and vision which drives the business with the flow to annual efficient operations and sufficient results in achieving a stable customer approach and permanent satisfaction.
By being a successful worldwide operator in paper and pulp industry, this company has already built over 180 headboxes andbroadened the scope of the area operations pro- gressively.
Headbox is a part of the paper machine which function is responsible for spreading the stock to the plastic net wire. Paper mass goes to the headbox from a large diameter pipe.
Then the pressure of the stock is accelerated through small holes called “Turbo”. After- wards, the mass flows through slice lip and on the plastic net wire being ready to be dehy- drated and made as the paper. Image 1 shows how the headbox looks like.
IMAGE 1. The View of the Headbox taken from Bellmer Vaahto Paper Machinery Com- pany adapted from (Bellmer Vaahto 2018)
Through the years, Bellmer Vaahto has been aiming to operate more or less mostly in Russia, Scandinavia, Germany, USA, UK, United Arab Emirates, India, Indonesia, South Africa, France, Italy, China, Turkey and Portugal, Poland. Operating almost all over the
world, Bellmer Vaahto has opened new areas for paper machine building opportunities.
Nevertheless, despite the efforts to make a progress in marketing and sales improve- ments, BV is still struggling to achieve the stated targets and numbers especially in Rus- sian market.
The author of the thesis, coming from Russia, sees huge perspectives for foreign compa- nies to make projects and deals with this particular business player. According to the the- sis content, the author analyzed the current position of the Bellmer Vaahto’s sales with Russian customers throughout the years and came to the conclusion to help the company to increase the sales by getting to know better the Russian customers’ variable needs.
In addition, Russia sees PPI as an international way out of the economic depression for the country itself and the whole world, which induces the local government to invest in and consequently generate the income from. Thus in 2015, Russia made a small amount of increase in Pulp and Paper productivity and capacity by 3.6 % contributing between for- eign capital and private sector. (Economic Commission for Europe 2016, 11.)
The rise of Pulp and Paper operations sets a new target for Russia to continue attracting investments into the inner sector to finally solve certain economic problems and expand the scope of partnership internationally. In other words, Russia acts close to the future de- velopment which is meant for new investments and international relations with the pur- pose to strengthen the economy, currency, both import and export.
1.2 Thesis Objectives, Research Questions and Limitations
The thesis aims to study and undergo the operations which will give the whole overview of the operations with Russian customers. Using the reliable sources of information, the au- thor seeks a correct contact to tell the readers clearly about the ending target of the the- sis, research questions and limitations.
Objective is a centred idea of the topic for which the publication of the thesis is important.
In other words, having an objective the author of the thesis succeeds in solving the stated tasks and raised problems. The main objective of this thesis is to advise BV Company to define the reasons of the low business development with Russian paper companies inside the venture and find the developing key factors for the prosperous customer-oriented part- nership which, as a result, increases the amount of sales.
One of the main components for the thesis objective was chosen to notice the conceivable adjustments in marketing and customer-orientation in B2B business to accomplish the
company’s goal in generating the flow of sales. Finally, with the help of the qualitative re- search results, the author intends to make a conclusion of improvements in the sector of marketing activities and sales based on the advantageous interviews gathered among the employers of the BV Company, the business agent located in Russia and the prevalent Russian customers. Thus, the thesis comprises the following goals:
• To study the substantive situation of cooperation between Russian customers and Bellmer Vaahto Paper Machinery Company. To trace the faced opportunities and difficulties, the best time of sales, during the years of the company’s operations
• To illustrate briefly the keys terms of sales in B2B sector by giving a perceivable understanding of the thesis to the reader
• To achieve the targeted development of sales based on the gathered results from empirical and theoretical parts of the thesis.
The second meaningful component is the research question which in its way narrows down additionally the topic of the thesis and specifies the specifics. The research question is the question around which the research of the thesis is mainly centered at. The suffi- cient research question should be clear, focused, arguable and concise. (The writing cen- ter 2018.) According to the author’s opinion to understand what the research question is, it is advisable to pay attention at the bottom table first, Figure 1 and learn three important steps in making a correct research question for the thesis:
FIGURE 1. Main Points of Research Question
Research Question
Brainstorming Choice of
the main and least important
Understanding of the topic's
message
The main research question for this thesis is:
How should Bellmer Vaahto Paper Machinery Company operate with Russian cus- tomers so to increase the sales with them?
Research question is only one part of the main research. From second part comes out sub-questions. With a purpose to fully open the research topic background, the author has used sub-questions. Sub-questions occur to be an indispensable helper for the research question with the purpose to implement the entire research and step by step to get an- swers to the most interesting, to the author and reader, questions.
The following sub-questions are:
1. Is there a necessity and opportunity for BV Company to develop the sales with Russian customers?
2. What should be first taken for granted to find appropriate ways for leading busi- ness profitably with Russian market?
3. Can Bellmer Vaahto Paper Machinery Company change the current marketing, sales and customer orientation strategy?
4. How will the Russian customers react to the new way of leading business with them?
5. Will the study be able to reach the targeted changes for the active both-sided trade agreeably?
The structure of the theory in sales:
In the structure of the theory in sales, the author aims to describe the sales process, the definition of B2B business, its advantages and disadvantages. The theory is meaningful in the thesis because it guides the author’s thoughts by matching with the proven
knowledge. As at the end, the theoretical facts can assist in observing desirable develop- ment of sales which is meant for the promotion of the company.
o How are sales held in business-to-business?
o What does the decision-making process consist of?
o What is Top Performance in B2B business?
o For what is the buying criteria?
o Have the trends in B2B business changed throughout the time?
o What are the types of B2B sales process?
o What is Customer Relationship Management in business-to-business?
o How does sales environment look like in business?
Besides the research objective and research questions of the thesis, another crucial com- ponent is research limitations. Research limitations are the weaknesses of the study that cannot be controlled by the author during writing of the thesis but have a direct influence on the research results at the end. (Hair, Celsi, Money, Samouel & Page 2011, 428.) There are some identified limitations for this thesis which cannot be left out without notice.
First and important limitation is that the current thesis is written down only for the Paper Machinery Industry which means that the thesis outcomes can be applied only by this specific industry, in other words Paper Machinery Industry. Nevertheless, other foreign companies that also trade with Russia and face difficulties in increasing the annual turno- ver from this area of sales, can also apply the results of the thesis to themselves for their future development.
Secondly, the research is narrowed down by the lack of the company’s internal infor- mation since the Bellmer Vaahto Paper Machinery Company started recording the data of the actions when it was taken over in 2013 but not earlier than that. That is why, the oper- ational actions of Bellmer Vaahto will be based on the information taken for comparison and making out the results for the future from 2013 and up till now. This limitation aspect can be seen as least problematic because the company’s most important events and pro- gress were made with the time of takeover in 2013, which puts the start for a further dis- cussion in the thesis further on.
Thirdly, the scope of limitations can be seen in a language usage since the author of the thesis was working for Bellmer Vaahto Company in Finnish and was gathering information in this language which further was translated. Another limitation aspect happened during the interviewing process. The interview time was flexible for the author to hold but not for the interviewers. It was not easy to gather the interviewers for the interview stated and the time was also limited both for them and the author.
In addition, the questionnaire for the qualitative part was made up particularly only for Russian customers. This means that the answers got, can be used only with purpose to develop the trading market only with Russia. Nevertheless, the results as the questions are translated into English and those foreign companies which see willing opportunities in leading business with Russia, will find this thesis as a useful source to use for making sus- tainable changes in operations.
1.3 Theoretical Framework
Theoretical part of the thesis is an essential part which should be mentioned about. The- ory opens up the thesis structure in a more organized way presenting the topic clearly and deeply to the readers.
There are two specific questions which are answered by the author: What is a theoretical framework? What is the theoretical framework for the current thesis?
Answering to the first question, Theoretical framework includes the information of theories, concepts and gives the full understanding what the theory of the chosen subject is about (USC Libraries 2018). Figure 2 points out the content of the theoretical framework.
FIGURE 2. Content of Theoretical Framework
Theory framework should be concrete and close to the topic, using the thesis results which are proved by the objective theoretical studies.
The theoretical framework of the thesis is divided into three parts.
Chapter 1 describes the introduction which gives the defining of the thesis into basics to the readers. Chapter 2 discusses the sales in general, the features of sales in B2B sector.
In this chapter, the author says about customer behavior, decision-making process, top performance of B2B, characteristics of the buying criteria, trends in B2B business, B2B
Theoretical Framework
Concepts
Existing Theories
Definitions Relevant
literature
sales process from the perspective of the sellers and the customers, customer relation- ship management, formation of the partnership. Chapter 3 concentrates more in detail the sales environment. This chapter analyzes more in detail the customer’s behavior the sales environment, philosophy of selling, sales promotion for the companies.
1.4 Research Methodology and Data Analysis
Research methodology is a process which collects information for the study with the pur- pose to make correct business decisions (BusinessDictionary 2018). Data collection is a component of research methodology which is presented into an action of collecting and measuring information in way to implement the hypothesis and make up the conclusion point of collections (Techopedia 2018). Data collection is implemented in two research methods with different research approaches and data sources. Below Figure 3, there is a visible comparison of the following methods used for the thesis.
FIGURE 3. Research Methodology and Data analysis
In the above illustrated Figure 3 “Research Methodology and Data Analysis” the thesis di- vides data collection into three categories. The first category is Research Method consist- ing of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Qualitative research method is the method based on non-numeric data collection gathered from interviews, conversations, surveys, notes, videos, images, observations, textual and oral materials and etc. Qualita- tive research includes primary data which analyses the behavior, interactions and social
Research Method
Qualitative
Quantitative
Research resources
Primary
Secondary
Research reasoning
Inductive
Deductive
life of people. For this type of the research method, the researchers do not seek answers to the questions of numbers but they try to find reasons and stories of the happening. Dur- ing the qualitative research, the researcher collects the descriptive data which is then in- terpreted with the logical sequence of the received results consequently. There is an ad- vantage of the qualitative research which helps the scientists to push off from the scientific theory and do the research concentrating on the social life experiences and actions. Tak- ing into an account, the qualitative research focuses more on the events from people’s everyday life, the research itself forms the theory using the inductive method. (Crossman 2018.)
One of the above mentioned research approaches is inductive. Inductive research ap- proach comes from the development of the observations and the theories made by the people’s experience. This type of the research approach is a free scope of data for the thesis author to use. He can himself choose the path where to start, continue and end the research observations and make the final point out of results conclusion. The author can investigate the subject from different points of view by looking at the previous studies and illustrated theory and exploring the topic further on. Although, the inductive research ap- proach derives information from society, it is not an excluded fact that the author can com- pare and use the absolute existing theory along the research. Through the terms of quali- tative research method and the inductive research approach, the author gathers the sub- jective opinions, primary data and makes up the conclusions which are not proved by the scientific theory. (Dudovskiy 2018.)
There is a detectable difference between qualitative and quantitative research methods. In its role, quantitative research method is the method which gathers the data only in num- bers using mathematical and statistical processes which aim to predict the future. Being based on numerical results, the main sources of this research method are got from online surveys, polls, questionnaires with the purpose to gain accurate and logical information at the end. The representation of results is shown in form of the graphs, tables, charts which give the open overview of the data gathered and the results. Quantitative research method also uses the deductive research approach and makes up the objective conclu- sions which are independent from opinions and views. (Bhat 2018.)
The second type of reasoning is a deductive one. This type of reasoning is claimed to be one of the most important tools for the research. Deductive research approach is an ap- proach which begins with the structured hypothesis for testing, the concentration of which is focused on the theory, literature and existing data. (Deborah 2013.)
Deductive research approach starts from observing the subject at the first level theoreti- cally and finishes up in approving the certainty scientifically proved by the published offi- cial theory. During the deductive research, the author tests the hypothesis and collects the empirical evidence by looking at if it is true or not. If the researcher finds some facts to be true, consequently it means that the whole research can be said 100 % correct. (Cross- man 2018.) Deductive research approach goes specifically only with quantitative research method together with the hypothesis and the theories applied.
Primary and secondary information are the main original research resources used by the author for efficient thesis writing. Both resources are usable officially in the articles, text documents, magazines, reports and etc.
Primary source is the source which provides the original information about the events, his- tory, actions, knowledge written and published by the person himself. Primary source re- flects the personal opinion, problem about the subject and suggests accordingly the solu- tions as an example. Primary sources can be: diary, interview, survey, posters, drawings, reports and etc. (Santiago Canyon College 2018.)
Secondary source is the source which analyzes, evaluates, and interprets the information mentioned previously before. There is always uncertainty or a lack of secondary source which is taken from the original one. Secondary source can be: bibliography, reference ar- ticles, books, textbooks, magazines, reports, journals, movie reviews, textbooks and etc.
(Santiago Canyon College 2018.)
For this research the author uses a qualitative research method which aims to ask the as- signed tasked questions from the audience during the interviews and find the answers and solutions to the topic of the thesis based on the people’s life experience and personal opinions. The thesis also uses both the primary and secondary data including the induc- tive research approach.
1.5 Thesis Structure
In this section there is an overview of the thesis structure which is divided into six parts.
The arrangement of the thesis consists mainly of the introduction, sales in B2B, sales en- vironment, empirical part, new sales development plan, and conclusion. All the parts con- tain sub-themes which are later described in the thesis. Table 1 represents the thesis structure more visibly.
TABLE 1. Theoretical Framework of the Thesis Introduction
• Pulp and Paper Industry
• Case: Bellmer Vaahto Company Sales in B2B Business
• B2B Sales Business
• Buying criteria and decision-making process
• Trends in B2B Business
• Selling Process
• CRM
• B2B inquiries handling
• Partnership Formation Sales Environment
• Habitation of Sales Environment
• Philosophy of Selling
• Sales Promotion
• Truth of Two Cultures
• Achievement of Supplier Status Empirical Part: Interviews
• Russian Representative of Bellmer Vaahto,
• Russian Customers
• Employers of Bellmer Vaahto Sales Development plan
Formation of sales development plan based on the outcomes of theoretical and the empirical chapters described in SWOT analysis. In addition to the SWOT analysis, the suggestions are provided.
Conclusion
• Results analysis and summarization
• Thesis sum up.
In the first part of the thesis, the author introduces the topic of the thesis presented in “In- troduction”. Introduction firstly opens the case point to the readers by indicating the im- portant facts, goals and knowledge about the Pulp and Paper Industry and Bellmer Vaahto Paper Machinery Company.
Afterwards, the methodology and the theoretical framework present the topic for the ob- servation from an objective point of view. The theoretical part is divided by two chapters, sales in b2b business and sales environment. In the first chapter the thesis writer explains the definition and meaning of b2b sales, buying criteria, customer decision process, trends and top performance of b2b, CRM, special handling with the quotations and partnership formation. The second chapter of the theoretical part is sales environment where the au- thor discusses the general description of the sales environment, the philosophy of selling, how sales promotion works, the achievement of the supplier status, the reaction, normal behavior of the customers to the operations of sales and first steps to the review of the thesis questions for finding ways of sales promotion.
From the theoretical part, the author gradually moves to the consideration of the empirical part. The empirical part does the research over the opinions of employers, customers and other included personalities taking into the account people’s experience, field of work, atti- tude to the Pulp and Paper Industry. The benefit of the research is that the results gath- ered from interviews, survey and discussions proceed together with the theoretical part for making out the effective conclusion with an awareness of ethics, morals, assessments and theory.
The fifth part of the thesis structure is represented as the development plan which brings together the review and conclusion of the theoretical and empirical results. In addition, the development plan provides the swot analysis for the illustration of the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Finally, the development plan illustrates the customers’ suggestions for the company’s improvement and the forecast for the future business of Pulp and Paper Industry
At the end, the author makes the conclusion out of all the results gathered in the research shown in the development plan, theoretical and empirical frameworks of the thesis.
2 SALES IN B2B BUSINESS
B2B sales represents itself as a method of selling between people, who sell and compa- nies which want to buy. The main difference of B2B sales from B2C sales is that this type of selling is meant for selling between businesses without contacting final consumers. B2B sales is considered to be a more difficult process of turning deals into sales than B2C sales because of the high costs of the products and services involved. Below, Figure 4 il- lustrates two types of B2B sales. (Connick 2018.)
FIGURE 4. Two Types of B2B Sales, adapted from (Connick 2018)
The first type of B2B sales is meant for the own business satisfaction. Every business has certain needs that ask to be satisfied like office equipment, business premises, electricity, heat and etc. Here the purchasing is based on the size of sales and the company. In other words, the more company operates in sales progressively, the less expensive and better purchasing cycle there will be. (Connick 2018.)
The second type of the B2B sales is the manufacturing process of products and service.
Each one business company produces own products or service with own made materials and functions which differentiates such business to be a unique leader in the industry from others. However, it is noticeable that business companies also adapt their operations by using some outside components for the manufacture of personal products. Sales business world opens ventures new opportunities and functionalities to satisfy the customers’ needs with high quality and sustainability.
B2B Sales
Business need satisfaction
Manufacturing own products and
service
Besides physical products, service is highly needed in B2B sales. Business companies can be both service and product providers. Nowadays, it is more being in trend to impose on the supply of service than products. The choice of buying service is looked through with more caution since not all people are professionals of providing efficient and ex- pected service results to the customers. (Connick 2018.)
B2B trade selling is introduced as the responsibility of the seller to sell the product or ser- vice and make sure that the products or service are sold appropriately via agent, distribu- tor or installer. During the merchandising, the selling companies have to make sure that the contract between them and the intermediaries is made on the applicable conditions for both sides, and that the final customer is informed about the terms of delivery and pay- ment which are asked by the seller. The sellers should own the sufficient knowledge about the selling process with the intermediaries and know about the cost material expenses and the partnership percentage from the selling agent. (Donaldson 2007, 49.)
2.1 B2B Top Performance
Customers’ business understanding requires the collaborative partnership with the selling business, knowledge of the competitors, needs and goals of the customers. That is why it is important to have an intangible control over the buyers and develop the preferable type of the relationship for the buyers by the sellers. There are two types of business relation- ship in B2B: collaborative and transactional relationship. D. Hutt and W. Speh (2007, 93) compare these two types of relationships and find them both to be different from each other. For example, in transactional relationship there are a plenty of alternatives, stable market dynamism, low importance of purchase, low complexity of purchase, low exchange of information and limited amount of operational linkages. Whereas, the author states that it is totally vice versa in the collaborative relationship. (Hutt & Speh 2007, 94.) The busi- ness marketer has the data of relationships with the customers according to which he can check the status and activeness of the interaction.
Transactional relationship provides the stable supply market to the clients when there is too much competition in the market of the supplier. In most cases, buyers use such a rela- tionship when they want to buy something which is less important or not expensive to the organization. With the limited amount of budget given leads to the low level of information exchange and operational linkages. (Hutt & Speh 2007, 94.) Transaction customers can easily switch the vendors due to their needs. Transaction customers focus on the benefits provided by the suppliers. And if the suppliers set up lower prices for the buyers, this cate-
gory’s buyers can easily agree if the purchase is proceeded further. The selling compa- nies can suffer from the costs if they invest fully in this type of the relationship. (Hutt &
Speh 2007, 95.)
In collaborative relationship, buyers usually purchase the technological innovational equip- ment which creates the more complex purchase. In this type of the relationship, buyers have a more serious attitude to the suppliers since the goods which are in the process of the purchase, have a high valued costs for the buying organization. As a rule, in the col- laborative relationship, the operational linkages, information exchange, complexity of pur- chase have a high level of importance. Collaborative customers have a high loyalty and commitment to the suppliers and it is not easy for them to change one or two vendors. In the collaborative relationship, customers and suppliers have a long-term partnership which controls the customers’ needs and actions. Business marketers can invest in such relationships and help the customers with the planning procedure of the purchasing.
Sellers can visit the customers as many times as it is necessary for the establishment of the strong partnership. Here it is noted that the customers want to collaborate more with the sellers in the collaborative relationship. (Hutt & Speh 2007, 94-95.)
2.2 Buying Criteria in B2B
For understanding the buyers’ criteria, buyers use multi-attribute matrix to choose the best vendors by mentioning the weight by price, delivery, quality, amount by the ranking sys- tem of the number which they state. With the multi-attribute matrix, the buyers compare the suppliers and choose the highest out of them by the numbers. Table 2 illustrates the example of Multi-attribute Matrix Comparison. (Tanner, Honeycutt & Erffmeyer 2009, 92.) TABLE 2. Multi-attribute Matrix Comparison adapted from (Tanner at al. 2009, 92)
Name Weight Supplier 1 Supplier 2
Quality .5 X X
Delivery .3 X X
Customer Service .2 X X
Totals 1.0 X X
Nowadays customers’ buying criteria has a direct impact on the decision-making process.
With the development in the technology, the approaches to the products and service changed which led also to the different attitude to decision-making process and custom- ers’ buying criteria. Consumers who are concerned about the price, they pay attention to the quality, durability. But the tendency with the buying criteria changes and now more customers make purchase decisions based on their own observations. (Stax Insights 2016.) Decision-making process includes the following decision-making process members like decision-making unit which is, in other words, the buying center, initiator, decision maker, controller, purchaser, influencers, users, gatekeepers. (Tanner, at al. 2009, 92-93.) Initiator is the person who begins the purchasing process by understanding what the cus- tomers want, like purchasing manager, design engineer and others.
Decision maker is the person who says the final decision.
Controller is the person who is responsible for the structure of the budget.
Purchase is the customer who wants to buy the product.
Influencers are the people who can say something about the suppliers, products or ser- vice which can affect the final decision.
Users are people who observe the evaluation of the products or service when they are purchased.
Gatekeepers are the controllers of the knowledge.
2.3 Customer Decision Process
Customer decision-making process is the process within which the marketers watch the buying behavior from the beginning up to the end. The decision-making process is divided into five stages but not often the customers go through all the stages. (Professional Acad- emy 2018.) The decision-making process consists of the need recognition, collection of the information, evaluation of alternatives purchase, and postpurchase satisfaction (Kotler
& Armstrong 2017, 152). The process of the decision-making is shown in Figure 5.
FIGURE 5. The Customers’ Decision-Making Process
1. The first step of the decision-making process is the recognition of the customers’
needs. At this step, customers feel some kind of the need to buy something which will satisfy their social, physical or moral needs.
2. Secondly, being based on the recognition of the customers’ need, the customers start collecting information about the product or service which they will to pur- chase. The channels for data collection can be different like Internet, newspaper, magazine, social networks and others. (Kotler & Armstrong 2017, 152-153.) 3. In evaluation of alternatives, the customers choose the best deal for them compar-
ing the chosen product by the price, quality and some other factors with other products. The customers look for the alternatives if the chosen product does not fully satisfy their needs. (Professional Academy 2018.)
4. The purchase stage predetermines the customers’ choice. At this the customers already have selected what they want to buy based on the analysis of all the fac- tors which are beneficial to them. Nevertheless, the final purchasing consists of two factors: purchase intention and purchase decision. Purchase intention influ- ences the customers’ aspiration to buy the product in case if the customer finds something better or more popular brand. Purchase decision can affect if the cus- tomers have little money or the price on the product has increased. (Kotler & Arm- strong 2017, 154.)
5. The final stage of the customers’ decision-making process is the post-purchase satisfaction. This stage is considered to be important for the salespeople and mar- keters since they aim to get to know if the customers’ needs are fully satisfied, if the customer is going to come back or even recommend to his friends and rela- tives. (Professional Academy 2018.)
Need Recognition
Information collection
Evaluation of alternatives
Purchase
Postpurchase satisfaction
2.4 Trends in B2B Business
B2B business trends have always been an actual topic for the discussion in business world throughout the years. It is a well-known rule for the companies to see growth and be a winner among the competitors, it is important to be updated due to the trends, to be able to follow new trends and be ready for dramatic changes if needed. The 21st century has been noticed as a period of innovations and developments. In 2016 with the upcoming trends in the United States resulted to the undertaking of trends all over the world. The fig- ure 6 illustrates the list of trends in B2B business which changed the life of the whole busi- ness cycle. (Burdett 2016.) With the appearance of the Internet in the lives of people, cus- tomers and sellers started communicating in better ways through different selling channels which made selling progress be more active than it was 30 years ago. The internet
changed many approaches between buying and selling. Buyers got a free access to the description of industries, the products and service which sellers can offer, company’s visi- ble results of operations, changes of the ventures’ missions and visions throughout the years and main competitors. Sellers got to know more about the customers’ world by fol- lowing their needs and preferences, predicting the customers’ reactions to the offered products and looking at the future of sales. With the coming new era of modern world, firms try to go in one or even three steps more forward before the customers. Figure 6 shows the trends of B2B business below.
FIGURE 6. The Trends of B2B Business adapted from (Burdett 2016)
Science of Sales
Big data and Tools
Social selling
Reputation Sales with
millennials Workplace
diversity
• Science of Sales - It was stated by CSO Sales Management Optimization Study that development of sales is seen in the future investments. According to the arti- cle Top B2B sales trends of Eliot Burdett (2016, 54) first trend stands for the in- vestments which consist of sales process trainings and methodologies. Leading this trend promises to bring successful sales management performance. In other words, if companies hold more trainings for the sales employers improving their knowledge in selling, offering case companies for brainstorming, methodologies like providing sales solutionsto challenges, they will be able to see visible changes in improvements of sales department.
• Big data and tools - According to the Peak Sales Recruiting Sales Tool Survey, big data and tools were emerged and still are being advanced up until now. The trend of invention of tools has illustrated the current increase of the sales performance by helping to analyze, find networking, progress sales. B2B business focused on some social tools in sales like social media channels especially Facebook, Insta- gram, and Twitter. These channels became one of the most usable sales manage- ment tools for the comfort of people to use. Since that, it is believed to say these sales management tools continue growing in demand for people. In the near future sales departments will be able to measure the results of gathered data with the tools, amount of participants by MQL, SQL which consequently are seen to in- crease ROI and stabilize a strong sales force. (Burdett 2016, 55-56.)
• Social Selling - It is believed to be a close relation between the trend “Big data and tools” and the trend “Social Selling”. The admitted connection was shown through the results of happy customers and successful sellers. Many companies noticed, that social media channels sellers beat their record on freely selling any kinds of products and gaining as many customers as possible through social selling on dif- ferent social media channels. Through digitalized selling, sellers were able to ob- serve the customers opinions of the products, service, in the form of the custom- ers’ written feedback, likes and dislikes marked below the pictures. (Burdett 2016, 56.)
• Reputation- Companies’ brand reputation is gaining momentum more and more.
Buyer-seller relationship is being improved by the open free digitalized information.
From now on, customers are able to evaluate the company’s image and their oper- ational favorable incomes. By following innovations, many CEOs start investing into the reputation of their ventures especially in the acquiring of digitalized
knowledge, equipment, professionals who are aware of the new computer’s era.
(Burdett 2016, 56.)
• Sales with millennials- Another sales work’s prosperity was seen in hiring millenni- als. Millennials are people who are claimed to be rich in ideas and their realiza- tions. They are considered to be a trend due to the fruitful unexpected results of their work. Millennials can bring the advancement of innovations into the leading operations of the companies, nomite the ventures on the way to the progress by using the strategy of applying the changes and educate the workers with the spirit of the unity and success. (Burdett 2016, 56-57.)
• Workplace Diversity- This trend stands for hiring new varied blood, for example more women, with the purpose to upgrade the company’s team with up-to-date ideas, experience , abilities, working atmosphere views, helpful personal charac- teristics and different ways of managing with work. (Burdett 2016, 56-57.) 2.5 Building B2B Sales Process
Sales process is not difficult to understand but important to know. Sales and Marketing processes have two connected lines which have a direct influence on each other. If mar- keting process loses in some moments then consequently sales process does not win ac- cordingly. In sales process customers are the main leading link which all sellers have to refer to. For the stable selling, sellers should build the sales process which will guide the company and its clients together to the right direction of long-lasting cooperation. Figure 7 concentrates on explaining the building of the B2B Sales Process.
FIGURE 7. The Framework of Sales Process in B2B
Solution Custome
demandrs
Modific ation of solution
Evaluatio n
Negotiati Loss on
End of
the deal Sales funnel
Sales process represents itself as the integrity of the elements which purpose is to change and improve the interconnection between the sellers and the buyers and turn it into the further long-term productive cooperation. The elements of the Sales Process are held in the certain order: customers’ demand, solution, modification of solution, evaluation, nego- tiation, loss, end of the deal and finally the sales funnel.
So, first of all the sellers have to know the customers and their desires and needs. The cli- ents’ needs appear to be, firstly what the customers want and secondly, what price they are ready to pay for the products or service. Not all customers rich or poor, every person has certain amount of money that he/she is ready to spend. It is likely to be better for the sellers to take into consideration that customers’ home country standards of living differ- entiate. Some countries have a high level of standards, some do not, depending on the development of the economy. This factor helps the sellers to stress on the customers who are able to buy their products and make a forecast for those who cannot. (Technology In- novation Management Review 2018.)
However after understanding the demands of the customers, the sellers establish the so- lution to the offers. This solution focuses on providing what the customers want with the interests of the sellers. In case if the solution is not accepted by the customers, sellers move on to those who can. Otherwise the companies are likely to suffer from costs with- out generating any incomes. The experienced sellers know exactly when to stop if they meet halfway of the deal with the customers by lowering down the prices, making dis- counts. The sellers who prepare the quotations with additional expenses for them, are likely to bring the company to the bankruptcy. (Technology Innovation Management Re- view 2018.)
Next, if the customers seem to agree with the offered product and price, then the discus- sion of the deal moves forward on. The customers and sellers should always have options which they are able to choose. For example, customers can order three products instead of five or ask for the change of payments terms, 60 net days instead of 30, reduce the costs by taking the responsibility of delivering the goods themselves or just inquire for the discounts. Sellers accept the suggested terms of the customers only in case if they dra- matically do not change the whole concept of their selling. In such a solution both custom- ers and sellers have the opportunities for showing the preferences. But it is worth not to forget that quite often the offered solution can make one of the parties to refuse from the deal. (Technology Innovation Management Review 2018.)
After the proposal of the solution, the customers and sellers start negotiating between each other. At the negotiation, both sides briefly go through the terms of the quotation: the product features and descriptions, the time of production and delivery, price and payment terms, guarantee. The main target of setting up the negotiations is to answer the main questions of the customers and sellers and escape the misunderstandings connected to language usages, cultural differences and etc. When the negotiation is completed, the fi- nal decision is carried out and the letter of intent is issued. After the letter, the contract is being prepared to be signed by its both agreed sides with the same data and terms which was discussed before. Sometimes it happens that after signing the contract, buyers can still refuse from the products or service if some of the terms are broken or forgotten to mention. (Technology Innovation Management Review 2018.)
If the deals come to the stage of loss, the sellers have to find out the reasons which make such negative consequences. In this way, the sellers can analyze the customers’ feed- back and make notes for changes in the future. It is believed to say that the sales process is never the same. This means that with the changing world, the terms and conditions of the contract made by companies start adding the modifications and updated knowledge due to the law and the economy of the world. (Technology Innovation Management Re- view 2018.)
Since the contract is signed by the parties, the relationship comes to CRM process from the sales process. At this step of relationship, new opportunities open for the sellers. The sellers have to prove to the customers that they chose them not by mistake and can never feel regretted. If the customer understands that the company did not meet their expecta- tions, the company can suffer from costs by losing this potential customer. (Technology Innovation Management Review 2018.)
In sales process all actions of the sellers are real and can be inline both for the victory and for the failure. In order to be sure that the actions are right and they are controlled, sales funnel is made up. Sales funnel is a selling mechanism which controls the actions of the sellers and tracks the current and future customers. Sales funnel analyzes: the opportuni- ties of the customers, evaluates the amount of the opportunities and their role importance, the time of being in contact with the sales funnel, the level of progress made in sales pro- cess measured by sales funnel, income forecasts in cash flow. (Technology Innovation Management Review 2018.)
Sales funnel builds up the opportunities for the sellers in each step in sales process. The goal of the sales funnel is to control the sales process in the way that the customers ac- cept the proposed solution at the end. The probability of the sales funnel is measured mostly in percentage. (Technology Innovation Management Review 2018.)
Besides this step, there is another step in sales funnels. This step is characterized as con- trolling the value of the opportunities and number of the customers during the whole sales process. In this step, the probabilities are calculated as a weighted value for the deal.
(Technology Innovation Management Review 2018.)
Final step in sales funnel includes the estimations of credits. This step shows the forecast of the amount of the money in the bank. Besides this, the final step totally analyzes the possible upcoming sales. (Technology Innovation Management Review 2018.)
For the conclusion of the sales process based on the information explained above, the main business sales strategy builds up the future of any company based on the relevant successful structured sales process. In order to escape the costs of gaining experience in losses, the companies should build up the progressive sales models and processes to be totally sure in the results and consequences which are likely to happen. (Technology Inno- vation Management Review 2018.)
2.6 Customer Relationship Management in B2B
CRM is understood as the combined scope of technologies and processes of the business which spotlight the realization of the customers’ needs, wants, wills and requirements.
CRM intends to develop the long-term value and the increase in the financial outcome with the help of the customers. CRM demands the acquisition of the customers’ data and sellers’ interaction in the process of satisfying the customers’ needs. As the result, the sales performance is improved together with the right perception of the customers, inno- vative service and minimum made costs. For the effective achievement of CRM, compa- nies use the SIS and SFA. SIS contains the technical information for the advancement of the sales process. SFA is known for as an activity of the front and back office which aim is to ease the information empowered sales that leads to the progress of sales force and the relationship with the customers. For the long-term relationship with the customers, sellers move their actions from closing a single sale to building up the long-term elements of sales which modernize the way of selling and attitude to the customers. (Donaldson 2007, 113.)
Customer relationship management process includes the active method of acting which is concentrated on the potential goal to develop the interaction with the existing and future customers. CRM achieves the customers’ loyalty and trust and turns the relationship with them in a long-term meaning. For the trader it is essential to see that customers are ready to cooperate again in the coming future. Moreover, in this type of process sellers are able to get an access to the personal data of the customers by finding out their tastes, predilec- tion, favoritism, preferences, touching points which can match with the offered products or service of the company. (FinancesOnline 2018.)
CRM supports selling ventures to sell the offered products, service with the future positive feedback and experience from the customers to provide 100% confidence that the cus- tomer will want to come back to buy the next product with a pleasure. Otherwise the gained costs can overweigh the spent investments if the client’s refusal to cooperate and the company has to move on the next customer with additional expenses. (Finance- sOnline 2018.)
CRM provides perspective benefits for sales operations which give a guarantee of the growth in business sector. Firstly, CRM saves time and increases about 40 % of sales hence employers use Cloud CRM systems which opportunities are to send efficiently and quickly out the messages through email and view profiles of customers, for example, through LinkedIn. Secondly, CRM systems grant possibilities to control the achieved goals or setting up them. The drawings, in other words the graphics like SalesForce views the history of whole sales from the beginning up to the end. (SalesForce 2018.)
The sellers can evidently see the progress of sales in the measurement of percentage, count the achieved and not achieved sales targets and have the future forecast. Thirdly, it is a great chance for the companies to develop and track the sales of products with the help of Cloud CRM Application. In this system, the sales people can easily view the top of people’s trending products with the help of Internet connection in any place and analyze and focus which product are mostly used and bought by the customers in different parts of the world. (SalesForce 2018.)
Additionally, CRM can solve the problem of many companies which have difficulties with the calculation of the sales representatives’ compensations. According to the words of Dickie, a partner of CSO Insights Since, sales compensations drive the sales motivation for the effective work, if this means significant for them, then the companies need to invest in creation of the CRM applications for the observation of the compensations. Then, CRM application is considered to be important for all the spheres of the business development,
not only for the sales department starting from the marketing finishing up to the financial accounting. (SalesForce 2018.)
CRM application is meant to be in usage not only for big businesses but also for the small ones. Besides, according to the words of Denis Pombriant, the author of the book called
“The Subscription Economy”, CRM systems are focused on the sufficient delivery of prod- ucts to the customers even in exceptions when the products are needed to be delivered at once with risks. He also points out that CRM system makes the total control over the sale by ending up in the correct final destination. Sometimes, without knowing the customer, it is a risk for the company to start the cooperation. (SalesForce 2018.)
That is why, in this sense the CRM reviews the data, history of the customer to provide in- surance to the companies in further business deals. The CRM also illustrates the custom- ers’ amount or orders, unaccepted quotations, any positive or negative feedback. The sellers can make some opinion about the analysis of the customers’ feedback and change the situation to the better side by correcting mistakes and behaviour. (SalesForce 2018.) At last, the CRM process reminds the selling company about that the customer is the king and the service and operations over him should be taken under serious consideration and care. Having all the information about the customer in one application lets the sellers con- nect quickly to the database of the customers, analyze the selling process, make modifi- cations, updates and start the process of negotiation by knowing exactly what the cus- tomer wants. For the sellers it is much easier to communicate using CRM process since they can be ready for any requirements of the customers and can smoothly escape the exceptions. (SalesForce 2018.)
There are three types of CRM used in practice of the business cycle. Below, Figure 8 marks three important types of CRM.
FIGURE 8. The Types of CRM sourced from (SalesForce.com 2018)
Operational- This type of Customer Relationship Management is responsible for the pro- gressive work of sales, marketing, products and service control including previous experi- ence of the deals with the customers. Operational type includes sales force automation, marketing automation, and service automation. Sales force automation is focusing on op- erating with the current customers and gaining the new ones. It also automatizes the sales in all stages of the sales cycle, marketing, views the operational progress and failures, ad- ditionally adopts to the actions of the sales promotion. Speaking about the marketing auto- mation, it focuses mostly on the appropriate marketing approaches and process of opera- tions. The main target is to insure that the company uses the right way of selling otherwise it is modified with finding best ways of offering the products. Finally, service automation makes certain that the quality of the service provided is satisfied by the customers based on the evaluation of Key Performance Indicators. It also involves the development of the sales management based on customer’s behavior.(SalesForce 2018.)
Analytical- focuses on the development of the experience and service of the clients with the help of the whole team work of the company. This type of CRM analyzes the customer data received with the range of methods which come up in the form of support for the pro- gress.(SalesForce 2018.)
Collaborative- This type of CRM process leads business with the cooperation of external part of the company mainly suppliers, vendors, agents by informing them about the needed quotations which customers are interested in. So the external partners can be
Operational
Collaborative
Analytical
aware of the selling process and be on the same flow with the customers. Such a cooper- ation results in effective working atmosphere which achieves goals of successful selling at the end. (SalesForce 2018.)
2.7 Sales Process in B2B according to the Customers
Sales is a transaction which is organized between two parties in any sphere of the indus- try. In the sales there is always a buyer, a person or company which orders and receives the goods or service and, the seller, in other words, the person or the organization which gives the products or service for the temporary usage or ownership for a certain price esti- mated by the seller. Before making sales, the sellers and the buyers make an official con- tract between each other which includes the both sides’ personal description, bank data, terms of payments, rights, actions, responsibilities, Income terms and etc. The sellers and buyers make agreements of sales according to the contract and written law of both parties which are accepted, confirmed and signed by them. (Investopedia 2018.)
Nowadays, it is a well-known fact that for the companies it becomes less required to hire a person with the huge working experience for the sales positions. Nevertheless occupa- tion’s background and know-how knowledge is still seen as a big plus for the selection cri- teria by many employers. Besides, It turns into enough for the enterprises to hire people if the future seller owns certain types of characteristics, confidently understands what sales is and what he should do to sell effectively the products or service. For the employer, it is a big issue to understand that the person who is chosen to be a seller, is a right candidate for the position and he can fulfill the companies’ hopes and targets. A professional seller is a productive person who can easily and quickly explain products’ features, make simple for the customer to understand that the offered product or service is sold particularly for his need, and show that the company thinks first about what the customer wants but not about the price or annual turnover. Products and services created by the sellers, should be needed by the customers by giving them the advantages of the ownership, solving the problems, satisfying the needs and the wants. During the quotation or the meeting, the customer pays special attention to the things which reflect first ideas about the sellers.
Competent sellers know exactly that they are the official representatives of their compa- nies and they feel the high responsibility of making decisions which should end up in good results. Many sellers realize that much depends on their work, meaning which impression and thought they will leave on the customers, the same the clients will think about the company in a whole in the future. That is why, by making one small ill-considered mistake can create bad consequences forming the customers’ serious attitude to the case. In this chapter, the author asserts the topic about the sales process and what conception the
