VTU MBA Summer Project

MAKFORCE DATA SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.

Department of MBA - 1

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.



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.



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



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



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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer



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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retention

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Availability



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

Revenue

2007 Share

(%)

2006

Revenue

2006 Share

(%)

'06-'07 Growth

(%)

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_privacy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_privacy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_security

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gartner

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_AG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Corporation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salesforce.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdocs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft



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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gartner

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siebel_Systems


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_AG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany,_Inc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infor_Global_Solutions


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PeopleSoft


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salesforce.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdocs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chordiant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAS_Institute

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datamonitor&action=edit&redlink=1



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


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Benioff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Stock_Exchange

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Ellison

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halsey_Minor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco,_California

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Mateo,_California

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%26P_500

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%26P_500

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_IdeaStorm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koral



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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing



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).



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.



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.



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.



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



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.



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."



"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.



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.



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.



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



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.



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.



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.



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.



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



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



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.



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



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



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.



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.



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.



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.



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



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.



15. ACTIVITY DIAGRAM OF CURRENT SALES PROCESS



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



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.



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.



VARIOUS MODULES DESCRIBED IN THE FORM OF A DIAGRAM.



SALES PROCESS OF MANICKBAG AUTOMOBILES AFTER IMPLEMENTATION

OF SALESFORCE.COM



ACTIVITY DIAGRAM – MATCHING SALESFORCE.COM WITH SALES PROCESS



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



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.



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



ANNEXURE

1. AREA WISE MANPOWER DISTRIBUTION OF SALES DEPARTMENT



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?



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)

http://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

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