15.2 Marketing operations

Different firms have different ideas about which operations are part of the marketing function and which are not. Selling, advertising, promotion, dealing with distributors, packaging, package design, new product concept development and market research are considered by most enterprises to fall within the responsibility of the marketing manager. Responsibility for transportation and storage of finished goods (physical distribution) is usually less clear.

For over two years, a Canadian firm deferred action on a consultant’s report which recommended the building of an intermediate storage and distribution warehouse, with expected savings to the firm of about Can$2 million a year. The simple reason was that no one could decide which department was to operate the proposed warehouse. While this degree of organizational futility is rare, the case nevertheless shows that top management may have difficulty in making decisions concerning the administration of activities that cross departmental boundaries.

Such situations should be detected at the diagnostic stage and the assignment formulated to include the appropriate recommendations. The marketing consultant who comes across such a case would be well advised to consult his or her supervisor, because organizational fuzziness in these areas could slow the progress of the assignment substantially or even stagnate it.

Sales management

The consulting activities in sales management are straightforward. Proper training and motivation of sales staff are key items to be checked, as is the way that sales staff divide their effective selling time between existing and potential customers, and among large, medium and small accounts. Another point to check is whether the client’s advertising is being used to increase the sales staff’s effectiveness by generating curiosity and interest in the minds of customers. Such interest makes it easier to obtain appointments and helps discussions to get off to a good start. This aspect of advertising is particularly important in marketing industrial goods.

Motivation of sales staff is a complex matter, given the conditions under which they work. A wide variety of incentive programmes is in use. The primary motivator, of course, is the payments system, which usually includes a base salary, a commission and a bonus component. The consultant should check that the incentive system is fair to the salesperson and is designed to obtain the results desired by the enterprise (to encourage the selling of profitable items in preference to less profitable ones).