VTU MBA Summer Project

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MAKFORCE DATA SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Every business needs to get things done in a quick but efficient manner. One great way to
accomplish this is to use sales process automation. Sales process automation is a way to make
everyone’s life easier by accomplishing tasks faster. Sales process automation ensures that your
company can give top-notch customer service and grow your business. Sales process automation
is the concept of automating many of the steps in the sales process in order to save time and
money and give the best customer service process, so sales representatives can close more deals,
spend more time selling and less time on administration.

This study is carried out to analyze the sales process for implementing Salesforce.com in
Manickbag Automobiles. Manickbag Automobiles is a dealer of Tata Motors vehicle. Tata
Motors Commercial vehicles division is selected for implementation of Salesforce.com.

It is a descriptive type of research where data is collected by interview method. A structured set
of questions were asked to employees of sales department. The data provided by them is
collected to draw activity diagrams of sales process. This activity diagram is used to translate the
requirement for the perusal of software developers to customize the Salesforce.com.

Implementing Salesforce.com will help Manickbag Automobiles in following manner.

 Sales Executives - Salesforce gives them fast access to data—online, offline, and via mobile
devices—and links easily to popular tools like Microsoft Office and Outlook.

 Sales Manager - Salesforce provides powerful opportunity management, forecasting,


reporting, and customization capabilities, so sales managers can be confident their teams are
producing at their full capacity.

 Top Executive - With the powerful analytics and customizable dashboards that Salesforce
provides, executives have the real-time information they need to be effective.

The study is conducted for Makforce Data Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

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INDUSTRY PROFILE

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Customer relationship management (CRM) consists of the processes a company uses to track
and organize its contacts with its current and prospective customers. CRM software is used to
support these processes; information about customers and customer interactions can be entered,
stored and accessed by employees in different company departments. Typical CRM goals are to
improve services provided to customers, and to use customer contact information for targeted
marketing. While the term CRM generally refers to a software-based approach to handling
customer relationships, most CRM software vendors stress that a successful CRM effort requires
a holistic approach. CRM initiatives often fail because implementation was limited to software
installation, without providing the context, support and understanding for employees to learn,
and take full advantage of the information systems.

OVERVIEW
From the outside, customers interacting with a company perceive the business as a single entity,
despite often interacting with a number of employees in different roles and departments. CRM is
a combination of policies, processes, and strategies implemented by an organization to unify its
customer interactions and provide a means to track customer information. It involves the use of
technology in attracting new and profitable customers, while forming tighter bonds with existing
ones.

CRM includes many aspects which relate directly to one another:


 Front office operations — Direct interaction with customers, e.g. face to face meetings,
phone calls, e-mail, online services etc.
 Back office operations — Operations that ultimately affect the activities of the front
office (e.g., billing, maintenance, planning, marketing, advertising, finance,
manufacturing, etc.)
 Business relationships — Interaction with other companies and partners, such as
suppliers/vendors and retail outlets/distributors, industry networks (lobbying groups,
trade associations). This external network supports front and back office activities.

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 Analysis — Key CRM data can be analyzed in order to plan target-marketing campaigns,
conceive business strategies, and judge the success of CRM activities (e.g., market share,
number and types of customers, revenue, profitability).

TYPES / VARIATIONS OF CRM


There are several different approaches to CRM, with different software packages focusing on
different aspects. In general, Customer Service, Campaign Management and Sales Force
Automation form the core of the system (with SFA being the most popular). Variations of CRM
have emerged out of web 2.0 and social Medias, i.e. Customer involvement management.
Information on various types of CRM is given below

1. Operational CRM
Operational CRM provides support to "front office" business processes, e.g. to sales,
marketing and service staff. Interactions with customers are generally stored in
customers' contact histories, and staff can retrieve customer information as necessary.
The contact history provides staff members with immediate access to important
information on the customer (products owned, prior support calls etc.), eliminating the
need to individually obtain this information directly from the customer.
Operational CRM processes customer data for a variety of purposes:
 Managing campaigns
 Enterprise Marketing Automation
 Sales Force Automation
 Sales Management System

2. Sales Force Automation (SFA)


Sales Force Automation automates sales force-related activities such as:
 Activity Management: Scheduling sales calls or mailings
 Tracking responses
 Generating reports
 Opportunity Management and Assessment
 Account Management and Target Account Selling
 Automate Sales Order Processing

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3. Analytical CRM
Analytical CRM analyzes customer data for a variety of purposes:
 Designing and executing targeted marketing campaigns
 Designing and executing campaigns, e.g. customer acquisition, cross-selling, up-
selling
 Analysing customer behaviour in order to make decisions relating to products and
services (e.g. pricing, product development)
 Management information system (e.g. financial forecasting and customer
profitability analysis)
Analytical CRM generally makes heavy use of data mining.

4. Sales Intelligence CRM


Sales Intelligence CRM is similar to Analytical CRM, but is intended as a more direct
sales tool. Features include alerts sent to sales staff regarding:
 Cross-selling/Up-selling/Switch-selling opportunities
 Customer drift
 Sales performance
 Customer trends
 Customer margins
 Customer alignment

5. Campaign Management
Campaign management combines elements of Operational and Analytical CRM.
Campaign management functions include:
 Target groups formed from the client base according to selected criteria
 Sending campaign-related material (e.g. on special offers) to selected recipients
using various channels (e.g. e-mail, telephone, SMS, post)
 Tracking, storing, and analyzing campaign statistics, including tracking responses
and analyzing trends

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6. Collaborative CRM
Collaborative CRM covers aspects of a company's dealings with customers that are
handled by various departments within a company, such as sales, technical support and
marketing. Staff members from different departments can share information collected
when interacting with customers. For example, feedback received by customer support
agents can provide other staff members with information on the services and features
requested by customers. Collaborative CRM's ultimate goal is to use information
collected by all departments to improve the quality of services provided by the company.

7. Consumer Relationship CRM


Consumer Relationship System (CRS) covers aspects of a company's dealing with
customers handled by the Consumer Affairs and Customer Relations contact centers
within a company. Representatives handle in-bound contact from anonymous consumers
and customers. Early warnings can be issued regarding product issues (e.g. item recalls)
and current consumer sentiment can be tracked (voice of the customer).

8. Geographic CRM
Geographic CRM (GCRM) combines geographic information system and traditional
CRM. Geographic data can be analyzed to provide a snapshot of potential customers in a
region or to plan routes for customer visits.

STRATEGY

Several CRM software packages are available, and they vary in their approach to CRM.
However, as mentioned above, CRM is not just a technology but rather a comprehensive,
customer-centric approach to an organization's philosophy of dealing with its customers. This
includes policies and processes, front-of-house customer service, employee training, marketing,
systems and information management. Hence, it is important that any CRM implementation
considerations stretch beyond technology toward the broader organizational requirements.

The objectives of a CRM strategy must consider a company’s specific situation and its
customers' needs and expectations. Information gained through CRM initiatives can support the

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development of marketing strategy by developing the organization's knowledge in areas such as


identifying customer segments, improving customer retention, improving product offerings (by
better understanding customer needs), and by identifying the organization's most profitable
customers.

CRM strategies can vary in size, complexity, and scope. Some companies consider a CRM
strategy only to focus on the management of a team of salespeople. However, other CRM
strategies can cover customer interaction across the entire organization. Many commercial CRM
software packages provide features that serve the sales, marketing, event management, project
management, and finance industries.

IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES

Many CRM project "failures" are also related to data quality and availability. Data cleaning is a
major issue. If a company's CRM strategy is to track life-cycle revenues, costs, margins, and
interactions between individual customers, this must be reflected in all business processes. Data
must be extracted from multiple sources (e.g., departmental/divisional databases such as sales,
manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, finance, service etc.), which requires an integrated,
comprehensive system in place with well-defined structures and high data quality. Data from
other systems can be transferred to CRM systems using appropriate interfaces.

Because of the company-wide size and scope of many CRM implementations, significant pre-
planning is essential for smooth roll-out. This pre-planning involves a technical evaluation of the
data available and the technology employed in existing systems. This evaluation is critical to
determine the level of effort needed to integrate this data.

Equally critical is the human aspect of the implementation. A successful implementation requires
an understanding of the expectations and needs of the stakeholders involved. An executive
sponsor should also be obtained to provide high-level management representation of the CRM
project.

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An effective tool for identifying technical and human factors before beginning a CRM project is
a pre-implementation checklist. A checklist can help ensure any potential problems are identified
early in the process.

PRIVACY AND DATA SECURITY

One of the primary functions of CRM software is to collect information about customers. When
gathering data as part of a CRM solution, a company must consider the desire for customer
privacy and data security, as well as the legislative and cultural norms. Some customers prefer
assurances that their data will not be shared with third parties without their prior consent and that
safeguards are in place to prevent illegal access by third parties.

MARKET STRUCTURE

The following table lists the top CRM software vendors in 2006-2007 (figures in millions of US
dollars) published in a Gartner study.

Vendor 2007 2007 Share 2006 2006 Share '06-'07 Growth


Revenue (%) Revenue (%) (%)
SAP 2,050.8 25.3 1,681.7 26.6 22.0
Oracle 1,319.8 15.3 1,016.8 15.5 29.8
Salesforce.com 676.5 8.3 451.7 6.9 49.8
Amdocs 421.0 5.2 365.9 5.6 15.1
Microsoft 332.1 4.1 176.1 2.7 88.6
Others 3,289.1 40.6 2,881.6 43.7 14.1
Total 8,089.3 100 6,573.8 100 23.1

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The following table lists the top software vendors for CRM projects completed in 2006 using
external consultants and system integrators, according to a 2007 Gartner study.

Vendor Percentage of implementations


Siebel (Oracle) 41%
SAP 8%
Epiphany (Infor) 3%
Oracle 3%
PeopleSoft (Oracle) 2%
salesforce.com 2%
Amdocs 1%
Chordiant 1%
Microsoft 1%
SAS 1%
Others 15%
None 22%

A 2007 Datamonitor report lists Oracle (including Siebel) and SAP as the top CRM vendors,
with Chordiant, Infor, and SalesForce.com as significant, smaller vendors.

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ABOUT SALESFORCE.COM

ORIGINS

Salesforce.com was founded in 1999 by former Oracle executive Marc Benioff. In June 2004,
the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol CRM. Initial
investors in salesforce.com were Marc Benioff, Larry Ellison, Halsey Minor, Magdalena Yesil
and Igor Sill, Geneva Venture Partners.

CURRENT STATUS

Salesforce.com is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with regional headquarters in


Dublin (covering Europe, Middle East, and Africa), Singapore (covering Asia Pacific less
Japan), and Tokyo (covering Japan). Other major offices are in Toronto, New York, London,
Sydney, and San Mateo, California. Salesforce.com has its services translated into 15 different
languages and currently has 43,600 customers and over 1,000,000 subscribers. In 2008,
Salesforce.com ranked 43rd on the list of largest software companies in the world.

Following the Federal takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in September 2008, the S&P
500 removed the two mortgage giants after Wednesday, September 10, 2008, and added Fastenal
and Salesforce.com to the index, effective after Friday, September 12, 2008.

ACQUISITIONS

The following is a complete list of acquisitions by salesforce.com:

 Sendia (April 2006) for US$15 million in cash – now Force.com Mobile
 Kieden (August 2006) – now Salesforce for Google AdWords
 Kenlet (January 2007) – Original product CrispyNews used at Salesforce IdeaExchange
and Dell IdeaStorm . Now relaunched as Salesforce Ideas.
 Koral (March 2007) – now Salesforce Content
 Instranet (August 2008) – now rebranded to Salesforce Knowledge

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SECURITY ISSUES

In November 2007, a successful phishing attack compromised contact information on a number


of salesforce.com customers, which was then used to send highly-targeted phishing emails to
Salesforce users.

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

1. Customer Relationship Management


Salesforce.com's CRM solution is broken down into several applications: Sales, Service
& Support, Partner Relationship Management, Marketing, Content, Ideas and Analytics.

2. Force.com Platform
Salesforce.com's Platform-as-a-Service product is known as the Force.com Platform. The
platform allows external developers to create add-on applications that integrate into the
main Salesforce application and are hosted on Salesforce.com’s infrastructure.
These applications are built using Apex (a proprietary Java-like programming language
for the Force.com Platform) and Visualforce (an XML-like syntax for building user
interfaces in HTML, AJAX or Flex).

3. AppExchange
Launched in 2005, AppExchange is a directory of applications built for Salesforce by
third-party developers which users can purchase and add to their Salesforce environment.
As of September 2008, there are over 800 applications available from over 450 ISVs.

4. Customization
Salesforce users can customize their CRM application. In the system, there are tabs such
as "Contacts", "Reports", and "Accounts". Each tab contains associated information. For
example, "Contacts" has fields like First Name, Last Name, Email, etc.
Customization can be done on each tab, by adding user-defined custom fields.

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Customization can also be done at the "platform" level by adding customized applications
to a Salesforce.com instance, that is adding sets of customized / novel tabs for specific
vertical- or function-level (Finance, Human Resources, etc) features.

5. Web Services
In addition to the web interface, Salesforce offers a Web Services API that enables
integration with other systems.

6. Languages
English, Dutch, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Korean,
Russian, Thai, Danish, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese

7. Other
Other technologies in use at salesforce.com are Resin Application Server, and the in-
house technologies Apex (a Java-like programming language and programming platform)
and S-controls (Salesforce widgets - these are predominantly based on JavaScript).

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TYPICAL SALES PROCESS


A sales process is a systematic approach for performing product or service sales. The reasons for
having a sales process include seller and buyer risk management, standardized customer
interaction in sales, and scalable revenue generation.
Specific steps or stages in a sales process vary from company to company but generally include
the following steps:

1. Sales lead – source of info.


2. Qualified prospect – ability of buyer, economic feasibility
3. Need identification – QnA session to identify the requirement
4. Proposal – Written offer from seller to buyer
5. Closing – Process of making sale
6. Deal Transaction – exchange of money.

From a seller's point of view, a sales process mediates risk by stage-gating deals based on
collection of information or execution of procedures that gate movement to the next step. This
controls seller resource expenditure on non-performing deals. Ideally this also prevents buyers
from purchasing products they don't need though such a benefit requires ethical intentions by the
seller. Because of the uncertainty of this assurance, buyers often have a buying or purchasing
process.

A formalized sales process is generally more common for companies that either have large
revenue risks that require systematic assurance of revenue generation and/or those that choose to
use a more consultative sales approach (e.g. Saturn, IBM, Hewlett-Packard).

Strictly speaking, even an effective ad hoc or retail sales process can be described by steps of an
ideal sales process though some of the steps may be executed quickly. Often a bad sales
experience can be analyzed and shown to have skipped key steps. This is where a good sales
process mediates risk for both buyer and seller. A solid sales process also has the dramatic
impact of forecasting accuracy and predictability in revenue results.

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Many companies develop their own sales process; however, off the shelf versions are available
from companies such as the Improved Performance Group, Huthwaite International, and Miller
Heiman. These provide a customizable process and a set of electronic tools that can be
freestanding or can be integrated if required with the company's SFA, CRM, or other opportunity
management system.

1. SALES LEAD

A sales lead is the identity of a person or entity potentially interested in purchasing a product
or service, and represents the first stage of a sales process. The lead may have a corporation
or business associated (a B2B lead) with the person(s). Sales leads come from either
marketing lead generation processes such as trade shows, direct marketing, advertising,
Internet marketing or from sales person prospecting activities such as cold calling. For a sales
lead to qualify as a sales prospect, or equivalently to move a lead from the process step sales
lead to the process sales prospect, qualification must be performed and evaluated. Typically
this involves identifying by direct interrogation the lead's product applicability, availability
of funding, and time frame for purchase. This is also the entry point of a sales tunnel, sales
funnel or sales pipeline.
Once a qualified lead exists, additional operations may be performed such as background
research on the lead's employer, general market of the lead, contact information beyond that
provided initially or other information useful for contacting and evaluating a lead for
elevation to prospect, the next sales step.
If a sales lead eventually makes a purchase, this is called conversion and a closed sale. The
ratio of sales leads that convert is often referred to as the conversion rate, a way to measure
the effectiveness of a sales process, sales team, or sales person.

Lead Sources
Leads can be generated by many different marketing campaigns or can have many different
sources. You can generate leads by mailings (fax, paper, email), fairs and trade markets,
phone (call centers), database marketing and the websites. Leads from websites are often
called web leads.

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Telemarketing for Sales Leads


Using call centers and telemarketers to generate leads is a very productive way to find
interested prospects. It is one of the few methods of generating leads where you can directly
affect the number of leads by the amount of time and effort put in. The more you dial the
more leads you generate. Many industries still use telemarketing to generate mortgage leads,
insurance leads, sales leads, commercial leads, and many others. This is one of the most
effective ways to get a 'prospect lead'.
In popular culture
Sales leads are a central part of the story of the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, about four real
estate salesmen who want "the good leads" which will close more easily (result in closed
sales, i.e. a financial transaction).

2. QUALIFIED PROSPECT

There is much debate in the sales profession as to what constitutes an actual "qualified"
prospect. Most sales professionals apply their own unique set of variables in order to
determine whether a prospect is actually "qualified."
In general terms, sales professionals need to know a set of discrete data in order to determine
whether or not the "prospect" will become qualified. These variables may include: business
needs, authorization to transact business (financial or operational), money or budget and an
"economic buyer" or in other words, who would stand to benefit the most (or lose the most)
if the good or service were to be acquired (or not acquired).
In industrial marketing a qualified prospect is an organization which has expressed the need
for the products or services of the seller.
Another subject in the buying process is usually referred to as either an "influencer" or a
"saboteur", someone who, although not the financial or operational authority, exercises a
significant level of internal control or leverage in the buying process.

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3. NEED IDENTIFICATION

Description
In this stage the salesperson takes a qualified prospect through a series of question and
answer sessions in order to identify the requirements of the prospect. During this step, the
salesperson will attempt to help the buyer identify and quantify a business need or a "gap"
between where the client is today and where they would like to be in the future. Based on
that gap, needs can be clarified to determine if the solution will fill all, or part of the overall
gap.
From this procedure the salesperson is able to come up with a proposal suggesting various
products/services that will suffice the need as presented by the prospect.

Seven Stages
The full Selling Process consists of:
1- Pre-approach
2 -approach
3 -need identification
4 -presentation
5 -handling objections
6 -closing the sale
7 -post-sale follow-up.

4. PROPOSAL (BUSINESS)

A business proposal is a written offer from a seller to a prospective buyer. Business proposals
are often a key step in the complex sales process--i.e., whenever a buyer considers more than
price in a purchase
There are three distinct categories of business proposals: formally solicited, informally
solicited, and unsolicited. Solicited proposals are written in response to published
requirements, contained in a Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Quotation (RFQ), or an
Invitation for Bids (IFB). RFPs provide detailed specifications of what the customers wants
to buy and sometimes include directions for preparing the proposal, as well as evaluation

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criteria the customer will use to evaluate offers. Customers issue RFPs when their needs
cannot be met with generally available products or services. Proposals in response to RFPs
are seldom less than 10 pages and sometimes reach 1,000's of pages, without cost data.
Customers issue RFQs when they want to buy large amounts of a commodity and price is not
the only issue--for example, when availability or delivering or service are considerations.
RFQs can be very detailed, so proposals written to RFQs can be lengthy but generally much
short than an RFP-proposal. RFQ proposals consist primarily of cost data, with small
narratives addressing customer issues, such as quality control.
Customers issue IFBs when they are buying some service, such as construction. The
requirements are detailed, but the primary consideration is price. For example, a customer
provides architectural blueprints for contractors to bid on. These proposals are be lengthy but
most of the length comes from cost-estimating data and detailed schedules.
Sometimes before a customer issues an RFP or RFQ or IFB, the customer will issue a
Request for Information (RFI). The purpose of the RFI is to gain "marketing intelligence"
about what products, services, and vendors are available. RFIs are used to shape final RFPs,
RFQs, and IFBs, so potential vendors take great care in responding to these requests, hoping
to shape the eventual formal solicitation toward their products or services.
Informally solicited proposals are typically the result of conversations held between a vendor
and a prospective customer. The customer is interested enough in a product or service to ask
for a proposal. Typically, the customer does not ask for competing proposals from other
vendors. This type of proposal is known as a sole-source proposal. There are no formal
requirements to respond to, just the information gleaned from customer meetings. These
proposals are typically less than 25-pages, with many less than 5 pages.
Unsolicited proposals are marketing brochures. They are always generic, with no direct
connection between customer needs or specified requirements. Vendors use them to
introduce a product or service to a prospective customer. They are often used as "leave-
behinds" at the end of initial meetings with customers or "give-aways" at trade shows or
other public meetings. They are not designed to close a sale, just introduce the possibility of a
sale.
A proposal puts the buyer's requirements in a context that favors the seller’s products and
services, and educates the buyer about the capabilities of the seller in satisfying their needs.

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A successful proposal results in a sale, where both parties get what they want, a win-win
situation.
The professional organization devoted to the advancement of the art and science of proposal
development is The Association of Proposal Management Professionals

Components of a Formally Solicited Proposal


1. Requirements Matrix, which matches customer requirements with the paragraph and
page numbers of where those requirements are addressed in the proposal
2. Executive Summary, which outlines the primary benefits of the vendor’s solutions to
the customer's requirements
3. Technical Volume which demonstrates how each requirement will be met
4. Management Volume, which describes how the program will be managed
5. Cost Volume, which provides all costing data, as well as implementation plans and
schedules

Components of an Informally Solicited Business Proposal


1. A description of the seller's capabilities or products
2. A discussion of key issues
3. A description of the buyer's specifications and how they will be met
4. The cost of the offering
5. A schedule for delivery of the products or services
6. Proof of prior experience i.e. Testimonials from previous customers, Project
descriptions of previous projects

5. CLOSING

Closing is a sales term which refers to the process of making a sale. The sales sense springs
from real estate, where closing is the final step of a transaction. In sales, it is used more
generally to mean achievement of the desired outcome, which may be an exchange of money
or acquiring a signature. Salespeople are often taught to think of targets not as strangers, but
rather as prospective customers who already want or need what is being sold. Such prospects
need only be "closed."

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"Closing" is distinguished from ordinary practices such as explaining a product's benefits or


justifying an expense. It is reserved for more artful means of persuasion, which some
compare with confidence tricks. For example, a salesman might mention that his product is
popular with a person's neighbors, knowing that people tend to follow perceived trends.
In automobile dealerships, a "closer" is often a senior salesman experienced in closing
difficult deals.

6. DEAL TRANSACTION

The deal transaction is the hub of global commerce. A deal transaction is a unique event
where money exchanges hands in return for a product or service. The ―transaction
experience‖ is the buying, selling, and marketing cycle defined as the pre- and post-effects of
that unique sale.
The transaction itself holds a key position as the hub of commerce. Each sale is identified
and handled separately as a unique transaction experience. Each time a signature is provided
by the buyer, and a sale is consummated by the buying organization, a single transaction has
occurred, but the transaction experience may only be half way over.

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ABOUT THE COMPANY

MAKFORCE DATA SOLUTIONS PVT LTD

COMPANY PROFILE

MakForce Data Solutions Pvt. Ltd. helps organizations transform into high performance businesses
by leveraging on the power of information technology. We deliver high quality, reliable and cost-
effective IT services to clients around the world. We complement deep industry and technology
skills and focus on business solutions that are dynamic, process driven and second to none.

MakForce provides technology-based solutions to organizations at three levels - Strategy,


Processes and Change Management. We go about implementing these solutions through structured
methodologies taking into account the environment and the adaptability of the solution. In addition
to providing technology solutions to corporate, we are value added resellers for select global
software companies.

Our integrated network of development facilities across India is complemented by onsite, offsite
and near-shore capabilities in major international markets. We implement aggressive SLA-based
outsourcing models, compressing delivery timeframes. Our Technology Innovation and Delivery
Innovation initiatives ensure that our clients are constantly equipped with solutions, frameworks
and skills to meet emerging opportunities and threats.

MakForce is a Global IT Services company with offices in India, New Zealand and the US. It has a
portfolio of clients which include names such as Digital Mobile, First Mobile, and others. Their
array of services includes Application Development, Application Maintenance, Salesforce.com
Administration and Portal Administration.

Makforce is a professionally managed organization led by experienced leaders committed to


creating valued relationships by providing quality technology services to its clients. Makforce is
an established firm with its workforce based in Belgaum, India. Our niche is providing System
Integration services, customized development, integration and Application Management
Services.

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Makforce is been hired to provide the solution to automate the solution. My job in the Makforce is
to work with the team implementing the Salesforce.com in Manickbag. My role primarily includes
analyzing the present sales process of Manickbag, problems faced and shortcomings in the process
and providing the solution for implementation of Salesforce.com

PRODUCTS

1. Mobiz

MoBiz! A unique mobile phone management system exclusively designed for the business
arena. Mobiz allows business to quickly consolidate and manage their mobile phone
communication requirement from one convenient simple to use online portal.

2. Ontrack

It is a hosted case management application to track the status of cases and tasks. Ontrack
can also be integrated with CRM application using built in integration manager.

3. Zeroin

Zeroin is a unique tracking service that enables you to locate, manage and communicate
with your staff out on the road requiring NO specialized hardware just a GPS enabled
phone and state of the art GPS (Global Positioning System) technology.

4. Proposal Generator

This application is developed entirely in salesforce.com. This application helps sales person
of DigitalMobile to generate quality proposals in pdf format.

SERVICES

1. Customer Relationship Management


It includes implementation of Salesforce.com and SIEBEL on demand Solutions.
2. Content Management
It includes developing e-commerce enabled content management websites. They also
provide product catalogs and integration with legacy applications.

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3. Administrative Services
They provide 24 X 7 remote administration service for CRM and content management
applications using OnTrack for case management.

CLIENTS

1. Digital Mobile

2. NDA

3. Nuralite

4. Telecom

5. Vodafone

6. First Mobile

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GENERAL INTRODUCTION

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is very important that if any company wants to achieve higher success in revenues and profits
by selling some products then they have to manage their sales force effectively and efficiently. It
will be much needed to manage the sale force for organizations which are into sales of costly
products priced in Lacs of Rs. There are following reasons why they should manage their sales
force effectively

1. The cost of products being sold is very high.


2. The amount of money blocked in working capital and inventory is very high.
3. Profits and revenues received are not much great.
4. Severe competition faced by the organization in market.
5. Uncertain nature of Indian and world economy.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To automate the sales process it is required to know the current sales process of Manickbag
automobiles. After considering the time span of project allotted by university, following
objectives were set for the purpose of study

1. To study the current sales process of commercial vehicles division at Manickbag


Automobiles
a) To study the current issues and shortcomings in sales process.
b) Sales Organization Structure
c) Compensation Structure
2. To propose the effective automation solution for sales process of commercial vehicle
division.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

 Type of research:
This is primarily a qualitative research. This study is based on the data collected through
structured questionnaire of open ended questions.

 Data collection:
This study includes both primary and secondary type of data. Sources of primary data
include the employees of Manickbag Automobiles. The structured questionnaire was
developed and administered to generate the primary data. Company’s internal records
were the sources of secondary data.

 Method of data collection:


The method of data collection used in this study is direct interview type.

 Sampling Plan:
The sampling plan of this study is designed to cover the three types of employees of
Manickbag Automobiles. The staff strength of Manickbag Automobiles is 1200. The
respondent for this study includes people from top, middle, and lower management who
are working in sales department of commercial vehicles division.

 Sample population:
The sample population for the purpose of the study consists of all the employees working
in sales department of Manickbag Automobiles.

 Instrumentation technique:
Structured questionnaire: The primary data is collected through a structured
questionnaire, consist some open ended questions to collect the information about sales
process.

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SCOPE OF STUDY

The data required for this study was collected from sales manager, sales executives, and other
concerned staff of Manickbag automobiles. The study involves gathering the information about
current sales process of Tata Motors commercial vehicles. This study is carried to help in
implementing the Salesforce.com (a CRM) in the Manickbag Automobiles. This study will also
try to eliminate any shortcomings if present in the process.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1. Due to time constraint the study was limited for the sales process of commercial vehicles
division of Manickbag Automobiles.

2. The data collected and findings are based on the assumption that the information given by the
respondents is correct.

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ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS

1. HISTORY OF MANICKBAG AND CURRENT BUSINESS LINE

Manikbag was founded in 1920 by two families of MIRJI & SHAH with Mr. Dharmappa
Mirji & Mr. Manikchand Shah as the VISIONARIES. They started with rice mills & soap
factory, Diversified into groundnut oil manufacturing & exporting. In 1950 they entered into
automobiles line. They started a automobile workshop called as Manikbag Engineers.
Simpsons was the leading manufacturer of diesel engine then and they offered the dealership
for their engines to Manikbag in the year 1951. Following are the important milestones in the
history of Manikbag automobiles.

1. Manikbag acquired the MICO dealership in 1956.


2. In 1958, they got the dealership of ASHOK LEYLAND vehicles for north Karnataka.
Till 1992 this dealership was operated.
3. In the year 1974 a branch of Manikbag Diesels for MICO was inaugurated in Bijapur.
4. In the year 1984 Manikbag Automobiles opened a branch for Ashok Leyland at
Hubli.
5. In the year 1980 (24-9-1980) Sundram Clayton TVS Moped dealership was taken.
6. The TVS Motor Co Ltd (Ind- Suzuki) motorcycle dealership was started on 28-5-
1984 in Manikbag Engineers. Further branches were opened at Bijapur and Ankola.
7. In 1992 Manikbag Automobiles shifted from Ashok Leyland to TATA MOTORS.
They were offered the main dealership for entire north Karnataka, for TATA vehicles.
This was very prestigious addition which culminated into huge turnover. A landmark
showroom and workshop for TATA passenger cars at Khanapur road, Belgaum is
recently inaugurated.

Manikbag Automobiles was converted into Pvt. Ltd Company on 1st April 2002.
Turn Over: - Total group turnover has touched Rs.350 crores in 2005-2006 and crossed 450
crores in 2006-2007.

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Total staff strength is now more than 1200 members. Manikbag Group iPresent Business
lines

Company Name Dealership Since


Hindustan Petroleum 1950
Simpson 1951
MICO 1956
Kirloskar Bearings 1975
TVS Motors 1980
Sesa Goa (Pig Iron) 1990
Tata Motors 1992
LG Electronics 2004
Videocon 2005

2. AREAS ARE COVERED BY MANICKBAG AUTOMOBILES FOR THE SALES OF


TATA MOTORS

Manickbag the authorized dealers for Tata Motors covers the follow district and Talukas
from the Belgaum Office they look after sales of corporate as well as retail customers.

Head office - Belgaum


Branches -

Hubli Bijapur
Ankola Gulbarga
Gadag Gajendragad
Shahapur Bidar
Basavakalyan Jamakhandi
Gokak Athani
Bailhongal Sirsi

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3. PRODUCT LINE OF TATA MOTORS COMMERCIAL VEHICLES

More than half a century of impressive presence Tata Motors continues to provide India with
top of the line commercial vehicles. Tata Motors is India's largest and among the worlds top
five medium and heavy commercial manufacturers. Tata Motors have over 130 models
providing a wide variety of commercial transport solutions. A vehicle for every application -
you name it we have it! From 2 ton LCVs to 40 ton tractor trailers and buses that can seat 16
people to as many as 67. From Tippers to Special Purpose Vehicles, to 6x4 and 4x4 off road
vehicles and Defense vehicles etc.

MAKE MODEL VARIANTS MAKE MODEL VARIANTS


Winger Standard EX Series SFC 407 EX
Deluxe Flat Roof SFC 709 EX
Deluxe High Roof SFC 909 EX
Luxury Flat Roof LPT 709 EX
Magic 4+D LPT 1109 EX
6+D LPT 1613 TURBO EX
7+D Tipper SK 1613 TCIC
207DI Single Cab SK 1613 TC
Ex Single Cab LPK 407
Crew Cab LPK 1613 TCIC
EX2 Series SFC 407 EX2 LPK 1618 TC
LPT 709 EX2 LPK 2516 TC
LPT 809 EX2 LPK 2518 TC
LPT 909 EX2 LPK 2530 NOVUS
Mixers LPK 2516 LPS 4018
LPS 3516 LPS 4923 TC

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4. CURRENT SALES PROCESS OF COMMERCIAL VEHICLES DIVISION

Step 1: The sales Process starts when customer enters the Manickbag automobiles
showroom.
Step 2: Here Customer asks for a particular model which was predetermined by him before
coming to the showroom. Many times customer doesn’t analyze the practical
conditions before purchasing a vehicle like Road Condition, Load Capacity, and
Maintenance etc.
Step 3: In this step Sales representative helps the customer in selecting a suitable model for
his requirement.
Step 4: When customer satisfied with the selected model he requests for quotation of the
product. Here if the customer is interested in buying the product then he approaches
sales representative for negotiations on price quoted.
Step 5: In this step customer applies for the finance. Here customer has to take a loan from
third party financer and applies for cheque of desired amount.

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Step 6: After receiving the cheque payment is made by submitting cheque to accounts
department.
Step 7: It will take a time of 3-4 days to get the vehicle from Tata Motors factory /
warehouse and make it ready for delivery. Tata Motors factory/warehouse is located
near Dharwad in Karnataka, which is about 90 Km away from Belgaum.
Step 8: Before vehicle is delivered it has to go through RTO registration process,
installation of road governor and insuring the vehicle purchased.
Step 9: Final step is delivering the vehicle to customer.

Tata Motors is having a huge dealership network across the country. To maintain proper
communication across all the dealers, Tata Motors have installed SIEBEL software in their
entire dealer network. There are certain steps defined in SIEBEL for sales of vehicles. These
steps are explained as below

Tata Motors Sales Process as defined in SIEBEL

C0- Enquiry
This is the step where customer enters into the showroom and requests for a particular
model. This step is limited only to enquiry made by customer. When these processes are
completed, this stage of sales process is called as C0.
C1- Quotation is taken by the customer
In this step customer receives the quotation from dealer. At this stage a customer account
is created to keep the record of customers who have taken the quotation and to follow up
with them regarding purchasing the vehicle. This stage of sales process is called as C1
C2- Arrangement of Finance and Other Documents
This is the stage where customer arranges all the necessary documents to avail the
finance for purchasing the vehicle. This stage of sales process is called as C2
C3- Final Delivery of the Vehicle
At this stage after receiving the desired amount from customer vehicle is delivered to the
customer. This stage of sales process is called as C3

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5. SALES TEAM/ORGANIZATION
The sales organization of Manikbag automobiles is shown below. The structure is very much
hierarchical and runs top to bottom. Sales department comes under General Manage. Sales
Manager is supported by Assistant manager. After Assistant manager they have five
divisions. These divisions are maintained at all taluk’s offices in Belgaum district.

 Medium and High Commercial Vehicles


 Ace and 207
 Light commercial vehicles and ICV
 Magic and winger
 Back office staff

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6. RETAIL AND CORPORATE SALES


 Business to Retail
Business to Retail is the type of sales where products are sold to direct end users. Here
the requirement of quantities of products is less.
Advertising for such customers is mainly done through demos at the nearby places such
as Gokak, Athani, Bailhongal, Hukkeri, Bagalkot, Jamkhandi, Mudhol, Badami and
Bilagi Taluks. 95% of the advertising that is done Manikbag is done through this channel.
Here banners are put up, and pamphlets are distributed among prospects. Their contact
details are taken by the sales representatives and the later follow up is done.
Representative calls the customers after a period of 8 days asking him about the purchase.
This is however not done in an organized manner. Not much advertising is done in
newspaper or magazines for commercials vehicles. But the prospects are contacted
directly during demos, and customer meets. In customers meet the existing customers are
informed about the new products by Tata Motors.

 Business 2 Business
This is the case where vehicles are sold to business houses that will purchase vehicle for
their business purpose. Such type of business includes construction, mining etc.
Existing customers are provided with finance from Tata Motors based on their credit
worthiness. Tata Motors generally avoid FTB (First Time Buyers) as their credit
worthiness is low when compared to an established player. It’s the policy of Tata motors
and they consider recovery is risky for such customers.
Manikbag sales representatives meet the business houses personally and provide the
information and quotation to them. Manikbag provides corporate with credit sales from
their side, based on the earlier business transactions with Manikbag.
The new business houses are identified by following ways
a) Body Builders - Body builders give contacts to Manikbag regarding prospects. The
body builder uses his reputation to get discounts for the customers.
b) Previous Transaction – The businesses themselves approaches Manickbag
regarding their requirement and then Manikbag gives them a suitable quote.

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An enquiry book is maintained to keep the records of customers who have visited
Manikbag and enquired about vehicles. This book also contains the records of people
who have taken quotation. The details entered in the book are Name, Address, Contact
No, and Model of vehicle interested. By using this enquiry book future follow-ups are
made. They look into the register for customers who took quotation and call them
reminding about their visit.

7. VALUE ADDED SERVICES PROVIDED BY MANICKBAG AUTOMOBILES

 SAMPOORNA SEVA - Annual Maintenance contract


This is the facility provided by Manickbag Automobiles called as Sampoorna Seva. Here
a contract is made with customer to provide him full maintenance of his vehicle for the
entire year.

 RECON – Reconditioning facility available for engine and aggregate

 TRACKit (Auto Telematics) - A vehicle tracking telematic device developed by Tata


Motors for Indian truck drivers and fleet owners.
Vehicle telematics is a term used to define connected vehicles interchanging electronic
data. These systems may be used for a number of purposes, including collecting road
tolls, managing road usage (intelligent transportation systems), pricing auto insurance,
tracking fleet vehicle locations (fleet telematics), cold store logistics, recovering stolen
vehicles, providing automatic collision notification, location-driven driver information
services and more particularly, Dedicated Short Range Communications DSRC in-
vehicle early warning (car accident prevention) notification alerts.

8. SALES COMPENSATION AND TARGETS


Sales Compensation is incentives and bonus distributed to sales executives. A meeting is
held every month for all sales representatives and representatives from Tata Motors which is
held at the Manikbag Premises either in Hubli or at Belgaum. Targets are assigned by Tata
motor representatives for different Taluks and districts based on the season and months.

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December is a rather slow month as the consumers want to get their vehicles in the New Year
which would help them get a better resale value later. Targets also differ based on the
experience of the Sales Representative. Quarterly incentives are provided to the
Representatives by Manikbag.

Sales representatives are ranked based on following grounds


• Experience
• Education
• Behavior with customers and customer handling
• Attitude
• Targets achieved

Incentives are calculated on the basis of percentage of targets achieved by the sales
representatives.

9. SALES FORECASTING:

The sales during the period Feb - June is on peak as this is the summer season in Belgaum
and it helps customers to get their body build as most of the body builders lack good
infrastructure to build during rainy season. People generally don't buy vehicles in rainy
season, i.e. during the period of June-September also they don't prefer to purchase at the end
of year in November and December because they don't get the desired resale value later.

10. PRICING STRUCTURE AND DISCOUNTS

Discount given to retail customer varies from 4-6%. Discounts are given to corporate buyers
only if the quantity of purchase is 10 or more vehicles. Discount allowed is shared by both
company and dealer. Govt. purchase of commercial vehicles is done only at Bangalore.

There is no margin calculation process and discounts are given only on bulk buying (10 or
more vehicles). Sales representative have right only to issue quotation and the discounting
factor is taken care by management. It is based on the previous relations with customers.
Quotations are given as vehicle prices fed in Siebel.

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11. ACCEPTING PAYMENT AND DELIVERY OF VEHICLE

When customer arrives with the cheque to purchase vehicle, payment is accepted by accounts
department. The information of payment received is given to both sales executive and service
department. Service department is the department which prepares vehicles for delivery. It
includes tighten the screws, fixing the accessories, washing the vehicle etc.

12. EXISTING IT APPLICATIONS

Manickbag Automobiles don’t have any IT application specific for their requirement.
Although they have installed SIEBEL but it is due to mandatory requirement of Tata Motors.

With the help of this software dealer can order new stock of vehicles from Tata Motors. All
the dealers are linked to each other through this software. If there is shortage of any spare
parts or components then dealer is able to search for that component to its nearest neighbor.
Transfer of money to Tata Motors is also done by SIEBEL. Dealer can keep track of balance
available in the account.

SIEBEL is the official software that is provided by Tata Motors to its dealer all over India, it
maintains the follow functions for the Dealers, and they are:

 Service – Regular Maintenance of Vehicles.


 Spares - Spares are the spares parts, and inventory is the number of vehicles that are there
with the dealer for sale. Like the models that are kept for display in the showroom, and
the vehicles that are being used for demos at various Taluks by the Sales Representatives.
 Sales – Keeping record of sales of different vehicles, Generating Invoices of purchased
vehicles is done through it.
 Inventory – It’s about managing the existing stock of vehicles.
 Vehicle Track Record - Vehicle Track Record is a feature in Siebel that allows dealers to
see where the vehicle was serviced earlier and what are the problem that were faced by
the customers and repairs that were carried out and parts that were replaced.

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With the help of this software dealer can order new stock of vehicles from Tata Motors. All
the dealers are linked to each other through this software. If there is shortage of any spare
parts or components then dealer is able to search for that component to its nearest neighbor.
Transfer of money to Tata Motors is also done by SIEBEL. Dealer can keep track of balance
available in the account.
Post sales and maintenance are provided to the customers when they purchase vehicle. They
have all details about customer’s track record maintained in SIEBEL. Even if the servicing of
vehicle is done in some other service center, it can be traced.

13. TYPES OF REPORTS USED FOR COMMUNICATION

Manikbag Automobiles use SIEBEL application provided by Tata motors to maintain


Customers Database, Quotation, Orders, and Invoices etc.
Following are the additional details maintained by Manickbag other than Siebel.

 Customer Tracker
Customer tracker is used to maintain details of customers having most likely purchase
behavior. This is maintained using an Excel document. Here customer name, address,
contact no, stage, finance status, documents status etc. These details are provided when
being asked by Tata Motors as closing customer’s status. This helps to keep track of
important customers.

 Pink Book
This a small book printed specially for the benefit of Manickbag Automobiles sales
executives to maintain records of their daily activities. As we know that a meeting is
conducted every month for all sales representatives to assign them their targets, at this
point all sales executives are given a pink book in which they enter the details of daily
activities. There is a provision to write down the details of their travelling plans, demo
plans for the current month. It is required for a sales executive to visit an average of 6
customers on daily basis (4 new and 2 old customers). This book maintains the detailed
customer visit status by the end of single visit, next planned visit etc.
Pink book also has a form which will maintain the summarized details of daily activity of

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sales executives. This contains the no. of customers visited daily and their status. Every
day by 5.30 pm all sales executives sends a daily report to Hubli office by mail. This
report is called as PIPELINE report. Later a combined detailed report of all sales
executives is forwarded to Tata motors from Hubli office.

14. CURRENT ISSUES AND SHORTCOMINGS

 Communication Gap:
As most of the sales representatives are out on demos hence they are unable to update the
sales manager. They don't have any systems to record the prospects.

 Financing Problems: (delays faced by the customers in getting finance)


Customers arranges for finance on their own. Manikbag is not involved in any financing
activities in sales process. Though Tata motors provide finance facility, they provide it
only to the existing fleet owners. Thus customer has to avail finance from other banks,
and this generally takes a period of 10 days after verification of documents and the
security that is provided.

 Co-ordination: (among the office staff as most of the sales representatives are on Demos
at various different Taluks)
Sales representatives are most of the time out of the city for demos. The communication
takes place between Sales managers and Representatives is verbal and the message given
to different representatives varies.

 Discounting:
There are 2 dealers for Tata Motors Commercial Vehicle in Belgaum. One is Manickbag
Automobiles and other is S C Motors. Customers are offered various Dealer Discounts
from Both the dealers and this reduces the dealer’s profit. There is a tough competition on
discounts provided by both the dealers.

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15. ACTIVITY DIAGRAM OF CURRENT SALES PROCESS

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PROPOSED SOLUTION

MODULES OF SALESFORCE.COM FOR IMPLEMENTATION

MARKETING:
 Marketing Campaigns: There are a number of ways to simulate demand for your
product or service including email campaigns, search engine marketing, direct mail, or
trade shows. Within salesforce.com, you can set up a campaign to manage details such as
the key dates, budget, and project details. The campaigns feature also allows you to track
the ROI of a particular initiative including the number of prospects touched, converted
leads, and pipeline generated.
 Lead Capture: To measure the success of a given campaign it’s important to have lead
capture mechanisms. Leads can always be entered manually by sales reps on the phone,
but it’s more effective if you can feed your sales team leads and reduce the data entry.
One way of doing this is by importing lead lists from an excel worksheet. Another is to
setup a web-to-lead form and post it on your website. This might be a contact me request
or a registration page to download a whitepaper. When a user submits their information a
lead is created inside Salesforce and routed to the correct sales rep based upon business
rules you set up.
 Auto Response Rules: When a lead is created inside Salesforce you have the option of
sending a personalized auto-response email thanking them for their interest and letting
them know that someone will follow-up shortly.
 Lead Assignment: You can also set up lead assignment rules, based upon the fielded
information you captured. For example, you might want to create geography based
routing rules, or maybe you route leads based upon product of interest. This ensures the
right sales rep receives the lead and is accountable for prompt follow-up. Note that there
are other forms of lead distribution, such as assigning leads to a queue or a sprinkler.
 Lead Scoring: With Salesforce you can automatically assign a score to each lead so that
your sales team can prioritize their day. For example, a lead with a hotmail address might
get a lower score than a lead with a corporate email address, or maybe you place a greater

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emphasis on certain job titles. With a lead score field, your reps can create filtered views
and power through their call downs.

LEAD MANAGEMENT
 Duplicate Leads: Duplicate leads and dirty data is a challenge which almost every
company faces. It’s very embarrassing if you call into a lead, only to find out that they
are already a customer. Salesforce.com has a number of AppExchange partners (Ring
lead and Demand Tools) who can help merge duplicate leads as they are entered into the
system. You’ll also want to train your team on ways to manually de-dup leads. On the
lead record there is a button called find duplicates. This tool does a search on the person’s
name, the company name, and the tail end of the email address to help determine if there
are any matches. If a duplicate lead is found, there is a button which initiates the merge
process.
 Rules of Engagement: When a new lead comes in it will be assigned a lead status of
open. You’ll want to design your own rules of engagement for who has the right to work
this lead. Most of the time the lead owner retains ownership unless the customer calls in
on the 800 line before the rep is able to get to is. Once the lead owner initiates contact
and sets the lead to working, they own that lead. The reason being, you want to create a
single point of contact and reward them for their work.
 Follow-Up: In addition to rules of engagement, it’s good to set up a standardized follow
up plan. For example; all open leads are followed up on within 48 hours. A lead is then
set to working. The sales rep will start with a phone call, then send an email, followed by
another phone call and email three days later. If you are unable to establish contact within
30 days the lead will be set to Archived. Note that the exact follow-up schedule will
depend on the type of lead and your particular business process.
 Email Templates: One way to help ensure a consistent follow-up plan is to create a
standardized set of email templates for the reps to send out. These templates can be
personalized, pulling information such as first name or company name, from the lead
record. Email templates are a big time saver. They can be sent using the mass email tool
or one-off.

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 Lead Qualification: You’ll want to devise a set of qualification questions which are
required for a rep to convert the lead. For example you might want to capture current
situation, pains, opportunity size, timeframe, budget, decision maker, and main
competitor. This information can be added as a call note to the activity history to ensure a
smooth hand-off to the tier two sales rep. Salesforce.com also offers a call scripting
application which allows you to create scripts using branched wizards and lead scoring.
This is especially helpful in training new reps or selling complex products.
 Converting Leads: Once a lead is qualified it will be converted over into an opportunity
with an associated contact and account. In some cases the account will already exist, so
the rep simply appends the new opportunity. During the conversion process the rep will
usually re-assign it to a tier two sales rep who will manage it through the sales cycle.
While the new sales rep will receive an email notification, it’s a good idea to send a hand-
off email to the customer with contact information for their Account Executive.
 Developing and Archived Leads: Before we move on to explain steps in the sales cycle,
we should talk a little bit about what happens to developing and archived leads. The lead
status developing is used for leads which have a follow-up task which extends beyond 30
days. For example the prospect might say, ―We aren’t quite ready yet, but give me a call
back in 3 months.‖ This keeps the ownership in the hands of the sales rep who owns the
follow-up task. For those opportunities which are archived, Marketing should come up
with a quarterly email campaign to maintain the relationship and re-new interest.

SALES
 Sales Cycle: Each sales organization will have their own sales methodology which can
be mapped to Salesforce. Some popular ones include Miller Heiman, Solution Selling,
the Complex Sale, and Value Vision. With each methodology you’ll have a set of sales
stages and actions which are to be performed. For example, your stages might be lead,
needs analysis, confirmed, objection handling, selected, negotiating, closed/won,
closed/lost. Each sales stage also has a probability associated with it which will help
forecast revenue.
 Active Customer: When you win deal and bring on a new customer there should be a
whole new set of steps that kick off, and begin the account management process.

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VARIOUS MODULES DESCRIBED IN THE FORM OF A DIAGRAM.

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SALES PROCESS OF MANICKBAG AUTOMOBILES AFTER IMPLEMENTATION


OF SALESFORCE.COM

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ACTIVITY DIAGRAM – MATCHING SALESFORCE.COM WITH SALES PROCESS

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FINDINGS

BENEFITS OF SALES PROCESS AUTOMATION

Salesperson benefits
 Salesforce.com will streamline data collection and put all important information at the
Salesperson’s fingertips.
 They will be able to handle more accounts at each stage in the cycle.
 Use of the system will eliminate almost all paperwork.
 Instead of spending several hours each week filling out forms and reports, the salesperson
can spend more time selling. They will work smarter, not just harder.

Accurate inspection will be possible


 From the sales management perspective, managers will be in a position to inspect
adherence to the sales process, i.e., to have the information they have always needed and
wanted to control sales activity and provide help to people in the field.
 They will know everything their salespeople do about what's going on in the field. This
ability takes on added importance for sales managers caught in the squeeze of flattening
organizations. Use of the system will set a new standard for sales management.

What Middle Managers will get


Without requiring formal reports from the field, managers will know
The specific plan and schedule for each prospect account; what is in the pipeline now – both in
quantity and quality
 Where each opportunity is in the sales process
 Where the buyers are in the funding process
 What sales impediments exists
 The specific sales strategy to be followed
 How salespeople are using their time
 What they do well and where they need coaching or other help

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 What to expect in terms of unit sales, bookings and revenues, (by salesperson, region,
company, products)
 Where the managers’ time and other resources should be applied;
 Who's selling; who's buying; who's not.

What upper Management will get


 Using the communication lines to the field, management will be able to point salespeople
in the right direction, with the right information at the right time, to take effective action
before it is too late – to act rather than react.
 This includes information on target market accounts;
 Updates on competitive information; changes in pricing; answers to questions from the
field; suggestions on sales strategy; and so on.
 Managers can also insert additional sales contacts into the salesperson's schedule for an
account.

When a sales person leaves the job


When you lose a salesperson or decide to reassign or split a territory, managers will have all of
the information they need in the prospect database. There is no sudden drop off in sales.
Instead, new salespeople are assigned in hours, rather than weeks, and they get off to a running
start, without having to read and reorganize volumes of prospect data.

Department of MBA - 45
MAKFORCE DATA SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.

OBSERVATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

During the study following points were observed.

 A custom made form should be prepared to help assessing the requirements of customers.
This form will contain a questionnaire which will deal with issues related to purchase of
vehicles. Customer will fill this requirement form and gives it back to sales
representative. This will help sales representative to handle customer in better manner.

 Sales representatives who are working in villages are not interested using computers.
This will create communication gap between sales manager and executives. All
information is exchanged orally and there is high probability that information will be lost.

CONCLUSION

After implementing Salesforce.com

 Sales Department will be able to track sales in the pipeline


 Sales Department will be able to secure the information when a salesperson leaves the
job. They can use the same information with the new personnel
 Sales Department will be able to quickly and easily change the sales process when
needed and to tailor the processes to individual products and markets.
 Lead management will be much easier.
 Middle and top management will
 Sales Department will be able to manage the competition

Department of MBA - 46
MAKFORCE DATA SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.

ANNEXURE

1. AREA WISE MANPOWER DISTRIBUTION OF SALES DEPARTMENT

Department of MBA - 47
MAKFORCE DATA SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.

2. QUESTIONNAIRE

Manikbag Vehicle Sales Process

Background
(Brief Intro of Manickbag)
(Brief Intro of Vehicle Division)

Objective
(Purpose of this exercise)

Questions

 What are the different divisions of Manickbag?

 What is the Sales Process of Commercial Vehicles division?


(Graphical description of existing process)

 Describe each sales process for retail and corporate sales.

 What are the different products, and services offered by Vehicles division?
(Brief intro on each product and service)

 What is the Sales Team/Organization of Vehicle division?


(Organization chart, Sales compensation, Sales Forecasting)

 What are the current issues, shortcomings?

 What are the existing IT applications


(Brief Intro of each application)

 What kinds of reports are prepared by sales department?

Department of MBA - 48
MAKFORCE DATA SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Manikbag Automobiles Internal Records


 www.makforce.co.in
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management
 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Salesforce.com
 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sales_process (Dated: 30/12/2008)

Department of MBA - 49

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