Strategic Sales Plan For Donkey Milk Products

Question

Task: Critically analyze and develop a strategic sales plan for donkey milk products in Bulla dairy manufacturing company.

Answer

Executive Summary
Strategic sales plan is important for the companies for gaining competitive advantage in the market. The purpose of the report is to analyze the introduction of donkey milk products in bulla dairy manufacturing company. It is observed within the paper that the firm is a market leader in the Australian dairy industry. In addition, the firm can apply various strategies to enhance the competency level of the sales team and can also increase their potentiality to enhance the profitability of the firm by providing them effective training and rewards.

Introduction
It is evident in the present study that developing an effective strategic sales plan for any product is very essential. The rapid increase of globalization is influencing the companies to effectively enhance their reach in the consumer market so that they can gain a competitive advantage over the rival firms. An advanced internal system facilitates the corporations to enhance their revenue and profitability. The study focuses on introducing a new product for Bulla, Australia, and developing a strategic sales plan so that it can effectively enhance its sales structure in the consumer market.

Company Background
Bulla Family Diary is a diary manufacturer of Australia whose strategic sales plan is built in the present report. Thomas Sloan established the firm in the year 1910. It is headquartered in Victoria, Australia. The firm was established by the incorporation of three interrelated families, who are still operating and owning the business. The firm uses to offer a wide range of cottage cheese, cream, dairy desserts, yogurt, frozen yogurt, and ice cream (Bulla.com.au, 2020). It is among the key players in the Australian market and is currently the biggest selling branded ice cream in the Australian market. In 2019, it stood observed that the majority of share of the ice cream market in Australia was of Bulla Family Diary with 31 percent. The company had currently employed 350 employees and gain revenues over 100 million Australian dollars in 2019 (Australianexporters.net, 2020).

Figure 1: market share of the famous ice cream brand in Australia in the year 2019
(Source: Hughes, 2019)

New product- Donkey Milk Product
The new product that will be introduced within the Bulla Family diary is "Donkey Milk Product." It stands observed in the strategic sales plan that donkey milk is much similar to the milk of the humans for its proteins, lactose, omega-3 fatty amino acid, and minerals. Despite having rich in lactose, the average content of fat in the donkey milk is lower (Li et al., 2020). It will help the customers to gain various medicinal benefits from the creams as it used to cure various ailments and are easier to digest.

The aspects of strategic sales plan signifies that the donkey milk is superior in quality as it has higher protein and medicinal advantages for human beings and is effective for the infants and for those people who have gastric problems (Aspriet al., 2017). The strategic sales plan of donkey milk is quadrupling the income of Bulla Family diary. It will facilitate Bulla to effectively enhance its revenue and market share in the competitive market.

The complementary service that would be added to the donkey milk is the donkey cheese. The donkey cheese is one of the most expensive food products as it takes around 25 liters of milk in order to manufacture 1 kilogram of cheese (Roberts, 2018).

Problem identification
It is being identified from the strategic sales plan that nowadays, due to the food frauds, the customers are facing various health diseases. Lack of food quality, traceability, dilution, substitution, mislabeling are the common types of food frauds that use to take place in the global food manufacturing industry (Aweimagazine.com, 2019).

Figure 2: Food frauds in Europe in 2018
(Source:Aweimagazine.com, 2019)

It is observed from the aforementioned figure that food frauds are common in the food manufacturing industry of Europe. Food fraud is also a common issue in Australia. In 2018, the biggest honey producer in Australia, Capilanowas accused for food fraud case. It is ultimately leading to an increase in the gastric and indigestion issues among the infants and the grown customers. The growing concern among the customers about the quality of food products had influenced the firm to effectively introduce the donkey milk so that they can gain various health benefits without any adulteration of the products. 

Opportunity and market analysis for developing strategic sales plan
The major competitors of Bulla Diary are Fonterra Co-operative Group Company and Pauls Diary. Fonterra Co-operative looks forward to provide innovative dairy products to the population of Australia so that to can enhance its market share. On the other hand, Pauls Diary focuses on providing a wide range of dairy products to the customers. However, Bulla diary’s donkey milk will look forward to provide medicinal products so that the customers can enjoy healthy and tasty products and can live effectively.

The major factors that drive the opportunity are the technological and social factors. Due to the increasing level of diseases among the Australian population, Bulla Diary had focused on reducing the ineffective health conditions of the society (Www1.health.gov.au, 2010). Moreover, as Australia is one of the major technological hubs (PAN, 2019), it will facilitate the firm to effectively manufacture the donkey milk.

Target market
The potential recipients of the product will be the B2C. The targeted market for the donkey mill will be majorly the infants and the adults who are suffering from various gastric diseases. The targeted age of the customer base will be around seven months to 5 years and 50-65 years. The product will look forward to categorize itself into two groups so that it can provide various health benefits to infants and adults. As the body and digestive structure of both the infants and adults is different, the product will focus on catering to their needs differently. In addition, the firm will focus on targeting the Australian market, as the production of donkey milk is much limited. In the coming years, by initiating the donkey farming, the firm can export its products to New Zealand and Europe.

Sales Strategies
The strategic sales plan will be specific according to the needs of the targeted customers so that the firm can enhance the sales of the entire process.

Operational level
The four basic elements that will be used within Bulla as the strategic sales plan is relationship strategy. In order to enhance the product’s sales, the firm will focus on relationship strategy.

Relationship strategy: the firm will focus on classifying the target market so that the strategic approach can be developing in order to sell each group. As the donkey milk manufacturing will be categorized into two portions. In order to sell the products of infants, the working people, homemakers, and single parents will be approached to buy the products. In addition, in order to sell the products to the senior citizens, the firm will focus on influencing the purchase making decisions to the customers between ages 50-65 years. The firm will focus on selling products that will add value to the customer’s life. The standardized products will help the firm to effectively enhance the experience of the customers and will help them to retain new as well as the existing customers.

Personal selling approaches
The personal selling approach that will be required in the first stage of its sales is the consultative approach. The sales team will focus on prioritizing effective relationships with the customers and will open up dialogue to provide solutions to the needs of the customers. The approach is one of the best approaches as the sales representative’s act as more like the advisers than the salespeople. In addition, they also recommend solutions (Avila and Inks, 2017). It will help the firm to effectively connect with the customers so that an effective relationship is built and maintained with them. It effectively fits the strategic sales plan of the entity as the salespeople will look forward to catering to the medical needs of the customers by providing them knowledge about the donkey milk.

At the same time, it is also being expected that the customers can find it vague to consume donkey milk (Daiet al., 2019). However, it is much necessary for the sales representative to effectively handle the expected objections from the customers and gain their feedback to improve the products and cater to their needs profoundly.

Sales territories and trading areas
The three major territories that will be considered to initiate the sales of the donkey milk considered in the strategic sales plan are Victoria and Queensland. As Bulla is headquartered in Victoria, it will be a much appropriate choice from the firm to initiate their products and sell them there. It is chosen because it is one of the most fast-growing states as well as the most populous city. It will help the firm to enhance its sales in a profound manner (Thornton et al., 2016). Most of the clinical trialsare done in Queensland. However, offering the product there will help the firm to enhance its medical advantages among the customers. In addition, Tasmania is one of eth most populous hubs for foreign investors. It will effectively facilitate the firm to enhance its reach among the foreign markets. Manufacturing the donkey milk in Victoria and selling it, there will be much cost-effective for the firm as it reduces their traveling expenses. On the other hand, transporting the products in Tasmania and Queensland will not be much cost-effective. 

Can you elaborate the sales structure basis the strategic sales plan?
The sales structure that can be adopted by the Bulla dairy is the production structure and market-based structure. The production structure will facilitate the salespeople to become experts in the attributes of the products as well as their applications. The management control over the efforts of selling will be allocated to the products. It will help the firm to provide specialized, and customers emphasized products to the customers. In addition, the firm can also incorporate the centralized sales structure to have full control over the sales personnel. It will be much viable, as the salesperson will facilitate the firm to effectively connect with the customers and cater to their needs. As the aforementioned territories are in various parts of Australia, the sales team will be sent to those parts so that they can enhance the knowledge and advantage of consuming donkey milk. On the other hand, the market-based structure will facilitate the company focusing more on the specific demand in the market. This structure will help to understand the specific needs of the customers in a better way. The market-based structure hugely focuses on the needs and wants of the customers. It develops expertise in handling customers in a profound manner and facilitates healthy competition among the various departments. It is one of the most flexible approaches, which will help Bulla to enhance coordination and cooperation within the firm to increase sales.

Salesforce recruitment
In order to recruit the sales force, the firm requires highly skilled professions who hold effective knowledge and experience to convince the customers to influence them to buy the products. It will help the firm to build an effective relationship with the customers and help them to aid their medical requirements. The candidate who has earlier worked in the consultancy field will get the major preference while recruiting the entire sales will be done on the basis of the consultative Personal selling approach. Moreover, those people will be recruited who understand and holds profound knowledge about the diverse language, culture as well as business practices. As per the obtained strategic sales plan, the recruitment process will be done by posting the vacancy of candidates on social media sites, reviewing the applications, screening the applications, shortlisting them, and selecting the right candidate through the interview process (Anyanwu and Umeh, 2019). The effective recruitment of the salespeople will facilitate the firm to enhance its sales by up to 5-7 percent annually.

Training approaches
In order to train the selected candidates, the firm will focus on designing the sales training program. Considering the sales personnel training on a monthly basis will facilitate the firm to enhance the capability of the personnel’s without making them pressurize with the work burden and training burden. It is necessary for the firm to develop a proper strategic sales plan and monitor the progress of the salespeople effectively so that they can analyze the efficiency of the training and development programs and the required areas of improvement. Ensuring adequate presentations of the training topics will help the firm to enhance the career of the employees (Hashimotoet al., 2018). In addition, motivating the salespeople to learn in training will enhance the training approach. The firm will focus on using micro training materials so that the employees can gain knowledge by reading the microchips. The lengthy materials of learning reduce the efficiency of training. Role plays will also help the firm to enhance the ability of the sales personnel. However, it is also necessary for the trainers to address the questions of the trainees in a profound manner so that it does not limit the advantages of training for the sales personnel.

Rewarding system
The firm will look forward to involve both financial as well as non-financial compensation to the employees so that they can effectively contribute towards the success of the firm. The financial rewards will involve bonuses as per the employee's performance, and the non-financial requirements will involve achievement certificates and recognition so that it can inculcate a sense of togetherness among the employees and can enhance their capability to perform the organizational tasks. The auditing methods that will be used in order to figure out the accomplishments of the sales personnel will be sales performance. The person who will be able to fulfill the sales targets as outlined in the strategic sales plan will be rewarded.

Collaboration with marketing
In order to effectively refine the system, the firm will look forward to involve the marketing team who will effectively help the sales personnel with various researches about the customer's needs. It will help them to cater to the need of the customers with profound knowledge about the customer’s preferences and perceptions. In addition, the marketing team will also help the firm to effectively enhance brand awareness by using Integrated Marketing communications. It will help the firm to adjust the requirements and work closely with the sales team in order to enhance the revenue of the sales team.

Budget Structure
The key fixed as well as the variable cost basis the strategic sales plan is represented in the below table:?

Table 1: budget structure
(Source: created by the learner)

Sales Objectives identified from the strategic sales plan

• To enhance the donkey milk production in Australia by 30% within coming 1 year to cater to the needs of the customers
• To increase the sales by 5-7 percent annually
• To enhance the market share, growth, economies of scale and profitability of the firm to maintain its leadership in the consumer market

Conclusion
It can be concluded from the study on strategic sales plan that the Bulla Diary is one of the market leaders in the dairy manufacturing firm. By considering the strategic sales plan, it can be stated that the firm can effectively look forward to enhance its reach among the customers and aid the gastric and indigestions issues of the customers by introducing donkey milk.

Reference List
Anyanwu, A. and Umeh, C.I., 2019. Salesforce Recruitment and Commercial Banks’ Sales Growth: A Study of Fidelity Bank Plc. strategic sales plan International Journal of Economics and Business Management, 5(1), pp.64-76.

Aspri, M., Bozoudi, D., Tsaltas, D., Hill, C. and Papademas, P., 2017.Raw donkey milk as a source of Enterococcus diversity: Assessment of their technological properties and safety characteristics. Food Control, 73, pp.81-90.

Australianexporters.net,2020.Bulla Dairy Foods - Dairy products - Australian Exporters. Available at: http://www.australianexporters.net/companyID1251.htm (Accessed: 8 May 2020).

Avila, R.A. and Inks, S.A., 2017.The evolution of the sales process: Relationship selling versus the challenger sales.pp.317-323

Aweimagazine.com, 2019.Food Fraud - AWE International (2019). Available at: https://www.aweimaaweimagazine.com gazine.com/article/food-fraud/ (Accessed: 8 May 2020).

Bulla.com.au,2020.international. Available at: https://www.bulla.com.au/the-bulla-story/ (Accessed: 8 May 2020).

Dai, F., Dalla Costa, E., Burden, F., Judge, A. and Minero, M., 2019. The development of guidelines to improve dairy donkey management and welfare. Strategic sales plan Italian Journal of Animal Science, 18(1), pp.189-193.

Hashimoto, K., Xiong, C. and Socher, R., salesforce com Inc, 2018. Training a Joint Many-Task Neural Network Model using Successive Regularization. U.S. Patent Application 15/421,431.

Hughes, C. 2019. Australia - market share of selected ice cream brands 2019 | Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1027648/australia-market-share-selected-ice-cream-brands/ (Accessed: 8 May 2020).

Li, M., Li, W., Wu, J., Zheng, Y., Shao, J., Li, Q., Kang, S., Zhang, Z., Yue, X. and Yang, M., 2020. Quantitative lipidomics reveals alterations in donkey milk lipids according to lactation. Food Chemistry, 310, p.125866.

PAN, M.Z., 2019. Review of Environment Influence on Virgin Australia’s Competitive Strategy. DEStech Transactions on Social Science, Education and Human Science, (ermis). Pp.111-116

Roberts, B. 2018. These Are The 3 Most Expensive Cheeses In The World, Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianroberts/2018/02/18/most-expensive-cheeses-in-the-world/#44aaaecb1447 (Accessed: 13 May 2020).

Thornton, L.E., Lamb, K.E. and Ball, K., 2016. Fast food restaurant locations according to socioeconomic disadvantage, urban–regional locality, and schools within Victoria, Australia. Strategic sales plan SSM-population health, 2, pp.1-9.

Www1.health.gov.au. 2010. [online] Available at: [Accessed 11 May 2020].