Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
2009
Submitted to Prof. Aithal
Submitted by :
Group 11 - Section C
IIM L
Table of Contents
Technology in Sales Force Automation ......................................................................................................................2
MARICO ......................................................................................................................................................................2
Use of Technology in the Primary sales force ........................................................................................................2
Order Processing and Inventory Management ......................................................................................................4
COLGATE PALMOLIVE .................................................................................................................................................5
Technology in Sales Force Automation
Technology is the buzz everywhere nowadays and so is the scene in India. Now technology and its
implementation are not just confined to Software companies and in the HO s of all companies. Technology
has also started to be used in Sales Force automation in many FMCG companies across India. The sales
force automation ranges from using hand held devices for taking down orders in the market to complete
automation of order processing and inventory management.
We plan to do a comparative study of the sales force automation in 2 FMCG majors – Marico & Colgate
Palmolive. We plan to study what all measures have these companies taken when it comes to automation of
sales force using technology. We will study the use of technology in 2 fronts – Use of technology in the primary
sales force & use of technology for the order processing and inventory management.
We would like to study about the sales force automation that has already taken place in these companies and
its impact on increasing sales / efficiency of the sales process. The reason for choosing these 2 companies is
firstly because both have a very different portfolio and secondly, both are pioneers in using technology in
sales force
MARICO
Use of Technology in the Primary sales force
Marico has implemented the use of Personal Digital Assistant (PDA’s) in all the major cities of the country.
The PDA is used by the DSR’s to note down orders when he goes to the market. The PDA’s replaced the
traditional beat book which was used till then.
The reasons for implementing the use of technology / PDA in the primary selling were:
o Stock levels
o Schemes.
Manual process
Ease of Use.
Minimum Navigation.
Application stability
Collections Entry/Modification.
Sales Return.
Reports
o Scheme details.
o Order Entry
o Billing
o Inventory Management
o Daily audit reports
o DSR incentive reporting
Colgate Palmolive has a central Database system which is connected to all the distributors of the country
who update all dispatch transactions to the retailers and wholesalers in their territory. The Computer
Operator plugs in the data as soon as the dispatch is made. This way the Regional Managers or the Area
sales manager is able to assess the sales of a particular territory. Also an order is directly placed at the
Colgate Palmolive ware house which is the difference of the stock levels at the stockiest/distributor point
and the inventory level set to that stockist by the area sales manager in every three days and it is physically
dispatched the next day.
In some parts of the country like Mumbai, the Sales officers use hand held PDA devices to take order from
their wholesale and retail accounts and all this data is uploaded into the central database system at the
stockist point and the order is dispatched.
The idea here is not only about data collection but it is a Field sales tool which would assist the sales officer
with an enhanced territory management and provide a resource for information on product, category,
promotional and other informational selling aids.