Sales Force &

Channel Management

S.C.M.H.R.D.

Case : Apple Food

Products
Batch : 1
Group : (I) 9

S.C.M.H.R.D.

Satyam Roy
Anant Saboo
Bhautik Popat
Gaurav Dulani
Harshal Nath
2

B61
C03
C07
C11
C13

Case Description
Apple food products is a well known company with a wide product range
comprising soft drinks, ice creams and ready-to-eat (RTE) food products.
Over the years, AFP had developed an excellent distribution system
which is a combination of its own salesforce and distributors.
While customer segment for each other of the product categories could
be different, there are a large number of retailers who keep all the
products and pack sizes of AFP.
The bottle coolers and deep freezers are given to the major retail points
by the company and owned by it.
The company has been fortunate to find a large number of independent
distributors for each of its business units and product categories.
The distributors are primarily financers for the business and their redistribution abilities are not of top qualities.
Hence there is a need for AFP to have so many of its own salesmen to
generate secondary sales.
S.C.M.H.R.D.

S.C.M.H.R.D.

Q1)

Is the role of a distributor primarily that of a financer?

Is he not supposed to take care of the re-distribution of the
products
to
all
the
outlets
in
his
territory ?

The main purpose of a Distributor is to ensure that

the products are distributed in all the outlets in that
territory.
To be good at this, he needs to be well aware and
familiar with the demand and the supply of products
for the consumers of his area.
For this, there is a constant need of micro monitoring
of each and every product and their respective
availability.
Considering the above mentioned roles, it can be
assumed that the role of a distributor is not primarily
of a Financer.
Financers are more concerned with the ROI to
forecast the demand and understand the consumer
buying behavior.
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Q2) What should be the role of the company

salesmen? Should they be used only to
generate secondary sales and get new orders
from the distributors? Should not the
secondary sales be generated by the
distributors
own
salesmen?
Salesmen should not only be used to generate
the secondary sales, they can also be quite
effective in making direct primary sales to
retailers outside the territory of distributors.
Their main role is to closely monitor the bulk
orders and supplies of the distributors.
However, in this case, the salesmen of the
distributors should be used to make secondary
sales rather than the company salesmen
because the distributors salesmen would be
more familiarized with the territory.
S.C.M.H.R.D.

Q3) How will the company salesmen

manage the large number of vans in
operation? How does a company like
AFP decide the permanent journey plan
for its salesmen?
Company salesmen can easily manage the
large number of vans during operations.
They have to arrange the schedule of
delivery by region, by day and the
availability of the vans.
Permanent journey depends on the
demands of their respective distributor,
considering the volume of supply and its
location.

S.C.M.H.R.D.

Q4) What should be the span of

control of an average salesman? Is
it correct, too high or too low for
AFP?
The span of control of an average salesman
depends on the Geographical dispersion:
If the branches of a business are widely dispersed,
then the manager will find it difficult to supervise
each of them, as such the span on control will be
smaller.
Capability of workers, if workers are highly
capable, need little supervision, and can be left on
their own, e.g.:Type of people, they need not be
supervised much as they are motivated and take
initiative to work; as such the span of control will
S.C.M.H.R.D.
8
be wider.

Value added of the boss, a boss that is adding value by training and developing
new skills in the workers will need a narrow span of control than one who is
focused only on performance management (this is the reverse of the capability of
workers point above)
Similarity of task, if the tasks that the subordinates are performing are similar,
then the span of control can be wider, as the manager can supervise them all at
the same time.
Volume of other tasks, if the boss has other responsibilities, such as membership
of committees, involvement in other projects, liaising with stakeholders, the
number of direct reports will need to be smaller
Required administrative tasks, if the boss is required to have regular face to face
meetings, complete appraisal and development plans, discuss remuneration
benefits, write job descriptions and employment contracts, explain employment
policy changes and other administrative tasks then the span of control is reduced
In the case of AFP, we have to base the above listed situations which is not clearly
elaborated, therefore we cannot give our conclusion.
S.C.M.H.R.D.

S.C.M.H.R.D.

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Q5)

The company has put in a large number of cold storage units in the market place. AFP has noticed that salesmen of one product group
do not pay attention to the cold storage unit of another product group in the same outlet. Many times these other units may be getting
misused to store competitive products. Is not ensuring the proper use of cold storage units part of the merchandising task of the salesmen
and
distributors

Since the distributors are mostly financers, it

becomes the duty of salesmen to generate
secondary sales. Also, number of bottle coolers and
deep freezers are quite large for each product
group, each salesmen has been assigned a product
group to generate sales in the group.
The cold storages were provided by the company
and the retailers were entrusted with it, but just as
a precautionary measure all the salesmen must
ensure that these units are only used for companys
product and not to store competitive product.
The distributor must make the initial level check for
the same so the retailers do not repeat such
mistake and the second level check must be done
by salesperson as this will help only help the
company as whole and not just one11product.
S.C.M.H.R.D.

Q6)The

division by product groups has created exclusive turfs for each set of salesmen. Every
distributor or salesman visiting the outlet is bothered about his product group only and there is no
company
pride.

Creating of turfs leads to competition within the

product categories of the companies and this may
harm its product as each salesman will fight for its
product. Thus, a product may win but the company
overall will not be shown in good light.
Hence, it is more feasible- financially and otherwise,
to have one distributor or salesman for one outlet
and handling all the products. This will generate
sense of pride about the company and they will be
motivated to promote the company as whole and not
just any single product. 12
S.C.M.H.R.D.

Q7) How would retailer react if five distributors and company

salesmen visit him every week? How would they ration the
money available for buying AFP products among the five
distributors? Would not some of there calls be un-productive?
Is it likely that two salesmen and distributors of AFP visit the
retailer within hours of each other? Is this the meaning of
intense distribution?
Retailer might be confused if he will deal with many distributors/salesman.
A customer has to deal with different salesmen or managers for different
products of the same company. Also the company will face problems such
as:
(ii)Extra costs of maintaining separatesalesforcefor each product.
(iii)Duplication of costs on travel, etc.
(iv)Tends to make maintenance of economical central services difficult.
(v)Results in increased problems of the top management control.
Retailer will find it hard to ration his capital it might cause trouble.
They should prioritize the distributor that they feel convenient to deal with.
Definitely, some calls maybe declined especially if source of funds are
insufficient. This is not the meaning of intense distribution
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Q8)

Bottle coolers and deep freezers were not kept in many

outlets. Who is responsible for their upkeep and maintenance?
Do the salespeople and distributors have any role to play in this?

Maintenance and Repair

of the freezers
Agreement
of the
company
and the
distributor
s

Company
norms

S.C.M.H.R.D.

Relationship
and sales

External Factors

No Adequate
Air Flow
Around
Fridge

Negligence
of salesman
or distributor

Overloading

External
damage
caused
during
moving or
sliding

Internal Factors

Quarterly
service

Ordinary
wear and
Tear

Malfunctionin
g due to
manufacturin
g defect

DistributorParent company
14

Q9)

With so much specialization, is it possible to

rotate between product groups? How would one design
trade and consumer promotions.?

Going with specialization would not be a good option

Specialization will lead to increase in number of salesmen as well as cost
Company has 3 product groups i.e. cold drinks, ice creams and RTE.
Therefore, all salesmen should have knowledge and familiarity with all the
products.
Rotation of best Salesman should be done
Thus with specialization, salesmen cannot be rotated between product
groups.
Trade and Consumer Promotions:
Giving Trade discounts
Points on purchase of stock which later can be redeemed in form of discounts,
offers, foreign tours.
Credit Facility so that more stock of SKUs can happen
S.C.M.H.R.D.
Line enforcing of products to increase 15
movement of slow selling products

Q10)

How would one design any incentive

scheme for salesmen in such a multi-product,
multi-distribution channel system to be
equitable for all salesmen
Incentives
can
be
straight
commission
based
related
to
payment for the performance of a
unit of work i.e. sales target.
For each product group there should
be different commission based on
sales target
Higher selling products having
higher sales quotas.
Best salesman award in the annual
sales conference
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Thank You

S.C.M.H.R.D.

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