Sales Strategy of Idea Cellular

Submitted ByGroup 4Muthu IPawanjeet Singh AroraYatin JoshiDeepak AroraMansee SaxenaKaran

Sales Strategy of Idea CellularSales organisation and Territory designSales Hierarchy

Circle sales is divided into Pre-paid and post-paid.Salesmen in the bottom of the hierarchy belong to Distributors.

Territory Design

Each of the 22 Telecom circles is divided into Zones.

Delhi circle is a circle of Metro category. This circle includes NCR as well. Delhi/NCR is divided into several Zones. Example : South Delhi, Delhi-East and so on.

Zones are further divided into Territories. Example : In South Delhi, Territories could be Qutub area, Hauz Khas and so on.

Qutub Territory comprises of Katwaria Sarai, Ber Sarai, Jia Sarai.

Decision Makers

Table 1 : Decision MakersResponsibilitiesRoles

Market Opportunity Analysis & ForecastingZonal Business Manager (ZBM)

BudgetingZBM, Pre-paid and Post-paid Sales Heads

Sales Force Size methodology & AllocationZBM

Territorial Planning & DistributorsTerritory sales Manager

Decision Making related to Sales

Market Opportunity Analysis & Forecasting Methods

Competitors Offerings and Competitors growth : Looking at competitors offerings and their growth, opportunity is estimated. Sales strategy is formulated according to the demographics of the area Residential complex, Commercial complex, Corporate offices. Post-paid offers are predominantly preferred by businessmen.Bulk sales are done with Corporate houses.

Development of Neighbourhood : New investments in neighbourhood residencial areas, upcoming Industrial plants are considered.

Industry demand and Sales potential of firm is determined.

Forecasting is done according the above mentioned points.

Sales quota is determined after Sales forecast. Based on the potential of the retailers, targets are set to the retailers and this target is overseen by Sales personnel who work for the territories. This will be explained in detail in Territorial Planning & Distributors.

Budgeting : As per forecasted results, budgets are allocated to pre-paid and post-paid divisions. Installing towers are also dependent on forecasting.

Sales Force Size methodology & Allocation : The following parameters are considered while determining Sales force size and allocation.

Size of the Territory Potential of the Territory Density and Distance : Based on potential clusters in a zone, territories are designed and sales personnel are allocated. Distance to be travelled is considered and allocation will be in such a way that a salesman would travel within a territory of maximum 5 km radius.

Territorial Planning & Distributors

Zones are divided into Territories. Once these territories are determined, each territory is given to a Distributor/ Direct Sales Associate.

Pre-paid Sales

There would be 25 to 30 Distributors in Delhi/NCR and South Delhi alone would have 8 to 12 Distributors.

These distributors could be FMCG distributors. A typical distributor could handle Idea products ( for that matter, any telecom product), Tropicana juice products and cosmetic products. But salesmen who sell Idea products will sell only Idea products.

Targets (i.e) Sales quotas are set to Distributors. Distributors could handle more than one territory. Targets are set for every territory.

Each and every territory is handled by a Sales Man and a Sales Assistant. The Salesmen are the primary salesforce in any territory. Sales Assistants help salesmen and act as backup for Salesmen.

Targets are set to the Salesmen and not to the Sales Assistants.

Targets of salesmen are further divided among retail outlets. Target of retailers depend on their size of operations.

An average retailer would get Monthly Targets as per below table.

Table 2: Monthly Targets for an Average RetailerSIM Activation TargetRecharge TargetPoints for meeting Targets

2050000 INR1 Point for meeting each target and extra points for selling more.

This would change based on retail outlets business operations.

Post-paid Sales

Post-paid sales are handled by Direct Sales Associates. These could be Company-Owned-Company-Operated stores or Franchise stores (my Idea).

There are 104 such Franchise stores in Delhi/NCR and companys stores are only 2.

Apart from selling post-paid connections, these stores handle all kinds of queries/complaints/requests.

Relationship Managers take care of Corporate bulk sales. They provide additional services such as payment collection at office. There are two types of corporate products one in which the company pay the bills and other in which the employees pat their respective bills.

Advantages of the Current Sales organisation

Appropriate personnel are involved in decision making processes. Based on a territorys potential, sales staff and distributors are determined by Zonal Business Managers and Territory Sales Managers.

Disadvantages of the Current Sales Organisation

Different channels for post-paid and pre-paid products would result in inconvenience for customers in terms of changing the product from post-paid to pre-paid and vice-versa, spatial convenience and product knowledge.

Ranking of skill sets required for sales staff

Appearance of Salesmen is important when they meet retailers.

Salesmen should possess Persuasive skills to convince the retailers.

Recruitment and selection of sales peopleSource of Sales Force Recruits Referrals (previous work experience) Campus Recruitment

Effectiveness of different training methods for sales staffInitial Training programme General training Product trainingInitial training goes for 5 days for Salesmen.

Continuous Training programme One day in every month on products, new offerings

Compensation structure Fixed and Variable components

Salesmen and their supervisors are entitled to get variable pay. Sales Assistants are not entitled to get variable pay.

Sales Assistants were paid in the range of 7000 to 8000 INR per month.

Sales Mens fixed pay is 12000 INR per month.

Table 3 : Variable Compensation StructureTargetsCriteriaVariable Pay

SIM Activation TargetsUpto 6002 INR for every activation

Above 6003 INR for every activation starting from 601st activation

Retailer TargetsMeeting minimum targets12 INR per retailer

PortingMaximum 15 porting per month from other players20 INR per porting

Recharge and Coupon collection20 Lakh INRPoints per connection are awarded based on rental charges, which will be converted to pay later.

For example, 0.75 points per connection will be awarded, if rental charges are between 99 INR and 150 INR.

Similarly, 1 point for 150 to 200 INR range;1.5 points for 200 to 300 INR range and for 300 to 400 INR range and for all other ranges up to 700 INR;2 points for 800 to 900 INR range and so on.

Approximately, 6000 INR is earned through these incentive route.

Salesmen are content with Compensation structure as they understand market dynamics.

Both Salesmen and Sales Assistants are in Distributors payroll.All other Sales staff till Territory Sales Manager in the hierarchy are in Idea Cellulars payroll.

Method of prospecting and reporting with degree of Sales Force Automation

Identifying Leads Every possible retail outlet in the assigned territoryQualifying Leads Qualifying is quite easy for Idea, Airtel and Vodafone salesmen as these three are the leading brands and stable companies in the market in terms of products, services and growth.

Winning business Targets are fixed for retailers as per the size of retail outlets. Gifts/Cash worth up to 3000 INR will be given for meeting targets. Retailers remain trustworthy to Idea Cellular because of the growth in business. Recharge coupons of varied denominations are bought by retailers without reluctance.Reporting methods Salesmen use Billbooks to provide invoice to retailers on purchase of SIMs and Recharge coupons. There is no realtime updation as no Personal Digital Assistants/CRM facilities are provided to salesmen. Reporting is done every evening in their respective Distributors office. Data Entry Operators/Distributors pass on the Sales information to Idea Cellular.

Better aspects of Vodafone when compared with Idea Cellular

Idea is poor in responsiveness to retailers. Vodafone is quick to clear retailers queries, complaints and activation issues. Recharge coupons of Idea Cellular are of poor quality which increases the risk of possessing the coupons, whereas Vodafone coupons are of good quality.