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Introduction of Sales Management Of Kickmaster Assignment
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One of the most famous products of Kick Starter is Pebble Time Smart watch. It was introduced in 2015, as an alternative to Apple Watch. It is referred to as the highest –funded campaign of Kick starter (Hu and Yang, 2019). It made a record of “$20million in funds from 78,471 backers”. For proper sale of the product they gave detailed descriptions of the product and the strategic ways of storytelling visually. This report is going to deal with the key principles and techniques of successful selling, and how these principles and techniques aid in constructing and dealing customer relationships. The company Kick starter use the technique of “selling through others” and its advantages and techniques. This report also deals with the structure of sales of the product, the implementation of various structures of sales. It will explain the sales strategies to maximize profit. Lastly, the report tells how an actual sales structure progresses financial viability and provides strategic benefit over the challengers.
Principles and Techniques
There are many ways which will lead to the successful selling of Kick starter. Here 12 key principles and strategies are discussed that will aid in the successful selling.
- Proper Research- Before starting the campaign research is necessary. Exploring the idea and product is the primary requirement. It requires proper knowledge about the concept of crowd funding for making the strategies (Hu and Yang, 2019). The rules and regulations related to the campaign should be clear.
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Multiple ideas- Multiple ideas should be kept in mind. The product which is not physical needs a working prototype. The star citizen video game broke all the crowd funding records although it was nit coded (Ezegbu, 2020). It had many offerings to its customers as it is the cutting-edge video game of the world.
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Recognise the target audience- The target audience should be recognised at first before creating the marketing materials or posting the campaign live (Ezegbu, 2020). The requirements of the customers should be prioritised. Research and real data collection of the customer’s need is important for the sales.
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Set goals- At first it is important to set goals (Vatanen, 2021). A person should decide the total fund-raising goals along with the time line goals, production goals and other goals helpful for the product.
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Communicate openly- Interaction with the investors builds trust and aids in selling process. Every detail about the product needs not to be provided but inform them as much as possible (Abdeldayem and Aldulaimi, 2022). Telling something which is not true will tend to lose the customers as they will be able to know the actual truth later.
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Accept feedback- Feedbacks should be taken positively as it helps in the progress of the company. The negative points about a product are visible only through the feedback of the customers (Abdeldayem and Aldulaimi, 2022). The product then should be renovated so that the customers can no longer complain.
Selling through others
This process is pocket friendly and the products reach the customers through intermediary. When business customers are targeted, they deal with big suppliers it is beneficial to supply the products to the wholesalers. When an individual customer buys a product he buys a small quantity so it is better to sell it through retailers. Instead the products can be sold to the wholesalers who will in turn sell it to the retailers (Jardinier, 2019). The product can reach the customers through other distribution channels. Example, the company that deals with technology sell their products to the resellers who configure and install the technology according to the needs of the customer.
Hence sell-through is “the percentage of product that is sold by a retailer”. It is also when a customer purchases the product from the retailer. It is a productive way to calculate the effectiveness of the merchandise that is bought from the suppliers. It helps the merchants to evaluate the time the product requires to sale. It is one of the sales strategies which are taken by the company. Here the company sell the product through value-added resellers. The customer is clear on the price of the product and the company knows its profit. Hence it is profitable for both the customer and the company (Jardinier, 2019). It can also be termed as an “indirect sales model” which is used by vendor to sell the product to the reseller and then the reseller sells it to the customers. The “selling through others” rate is above 80%.
There are different ways of “selling through others” in the market they are to treat the nobles like friends and be interested to know more about the person and it is necessary to give before receiving (Jardinier, 2019). Strong merchandising process like kitting and bundling can increase “sell-through”. This means to mix products of low sell-through with products of high sell-through.
Sales Structures
a. Evaluating sales structure
There are four types of sales structure
- Functional Structure- It focuses on knowledge within the marketing team. It tells that every individual has different roles to perform on the basis of their interests, specialties. The sales team that have a functional structure is very well-organized but it also has different problems. They are specialized in different tasks but sales require knowledge in every task. This means that they require coordinating to remain in the sales team (Putri and Rahyuda, 2020). When the clients are from various geographic regions it becomes difficult for the specialized team. All the staffs will not know different languages so they will not be able to communicate with the clients. Duplicate information may be created as the tasks happen around the office and it might happen that multiple people have the same account.
- Geographic structure- The sales structure is made based on the location. When the organization has customers in Atlanta, Boston and New York, it can divide its sales team among these cities. It can be referred to as “Territorial sales force structure”. This structure has many advantages firstly; it is cost-effective as the sales team are already divided on different locations (Putri and Rahyuda, 2020). The sales reps are present in different location thus it helps to save time and money. Secondly, due to the presence of the sales team it leads to the growth of the organization. The company gives focus to one place particularly so it becomes successful easily. Thirdly customers in different areas will get proper information about the sales rep in that area. The team will divide the customers according to the geographical areas. A relationship builds up between the customer and the sales rep and hence the sales eventually increases and the customers become more loyal. This aids in increase in the revenue and good relation with the customers in the future.
- Market-Based Structure- It is also known as “customer sales force structure” and it is planned by customers or industry. When the sales representatives are put in a particular industry, they get specialized in that company and they know the needs of the company. They become experts in their field and hence they are able to build good relationship with the old as well as new customers. The companies which don’t concentrate on a particular industry or a group of industries, this “market-based structure” is advantageous. The management team can shift from one industry to another in which the sales representatives are specialized. This strategic arrangement of the team helps in the increase of sales and it builds strong relation with the customers. But the problem with this structure is it needs high charge and there are difficulties in sorting the location. The technological companies are present in San Francisco and Nashville and some other companies are situated in Minnesota (Putri and Rahyuda, 2020). It is important to move the sales representatives for the industries that are situated in different geographical areas. This will result in huge waste of money due to transfer from one area to another.
- Product Sales Force Structure- The products made by the customers refer to the “Product sales structure”. It may also refer to the individual product or product types. It is the most famous and specialized structure among all. This makes the sales representatives more inclined to selling to other industries on the basis of their products. The representatives are divided on the basis of the product in one company and he handles the same product in another company. This type of sales structure is beneficial when the company concentrates on a particular industry (Putri and Rahyuda, 2020). It becomes difficult to function when there are multiple industries with multiple products. The sales rep is connected with many factors. It causes interaction problems and the requirement for coordination with each sales rep.
b. Implementing sales structure within Kinestarter
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Functional structure- Kickstarter makes the sales team knowledgeable about a particular product. They think that every individual have different tasks to perform according to their interests (Kilinc, Aydin and Tarhan, 2021). But here a problem arises; the sales team doesn’t have knowledge about every task. Hence coordination between the sales team is important.
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Geographic structure- The sales team is divided on the basis of geographic locations. Kickstarter is benefitted because this sales structure is cost-effective (Kilinc, Aydin and Tarhan, 2021). They keep the sales representatives in different locations already so it helps to save money and time. Kickstarter gives focus to a particular location at a time hence it becomes easy for to achieve the goals for the company.
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Market-Based structure- The sales representatives of kick starter are present in different locations for a long time. So, they are able to build up a good relation with the old as well as new customers. The team of Kickstarter can shift from one industry to another in which the sales representatives are specialized (Kilinc, Aydin and Tarhan, 2021). This is a kind of strategic arrangement of Kickstarter and it helps in the growth of the company. There is one problem with this strategy that is it requires a lot of money.
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Product Sales Force Structure- The individual product or product type of Kickstarter refers to the Product Sales Force Structure. The sales reps of Kickstarter become more inclined to sell the products. A particular product is represented by a particular sales rep and he tries to sell the product to other company (Kilinc, Aydin and Tarhan, 2021). When Kickstarter focuses on a particular industry this type of sales structure becomes very important. There are sometimes interaction and coordination problems between the sales representatives.
c. Sales strategies to increase profit within a definite sales structure
Kickstarter uses Cost Leadership strategy to maximize profitability and works under the market based structure. Companies like Kickstarter uses cost leadership strategies to gain a competitive advantage by keeping their prices very low. The company uses this strategy because of various advantages. The cost leaders try to keep the price low and increase the quality and efficiency of the process of production. Low cost in production leads to the low prices of product and the company makes huge profit. The cost leaders sometimes reduce the prices which prevent competition (Eva et al., 2018). The competitors who keep higher prices cannot compete with the leaders as they are not sure that they are going to win. Almost all consumers get attracted towards low prices. So, the companies who will keep the prices low will get benefitted. The market share of Kickstarter increases in this way and the company makes huge profit. Although this strategy has many advantages but it also possesses some disadvantages. When cost leaders of this company reduce their prices the competitors also can reduce their prices. This may result in loss of Kickstarter. In the development of new technology cost leaders can invest money. Use of new technology will increase the efficiency and reduce the operating cost hence the production will increase. Kickstarter have ownership over the source of raw materials. Thus the company reduces the cost of production and there occurs increase in profit.
d. Recommend how sales structure improves financial viability and have a strategic advantage over competitors
A company gets many strategic advantages due to the geographic structure. Geographic structure allows good interaction with the local people. There are teams of sales representatives at each important location. Therefore the sales people are able to serve the customers in a better way. There are different cultures, different languages and rules in different areas so it becomes important to divide the sales person according to their preferences. Kick starter Company is having salesperson that is specialized in certain products. For example, the sales person who is selling medical equipment’s should have proper knowledge of the product (Thaichon et al., 2018). Due to the use of advanced technology, the process of sales is becoming automatic and so it is easier and quicker for the salespeople. The company Kickstarter can use cloud based CRM that makes collaboration easier and it can easily keep records of calls. The salesperson can use tablets and headsets for multitasking. It facilities the meetings and calls to be well-documented and the salespeople can focus upon their customers. The use of technology makes the company efficient and productive.
Conclusion
This report illustrates the selling process of Kickstarter. It shows the principles and techniques used by the company. The different sales structure like financial structure, geographic structure, market-based structure and product sale force structure are illustrated in this report. It also shows how these different structures are implemented by the company. At last there are recommendations about how to improve the financial stability of the company.
References
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Elsden, C., Morgan, E. and Speed, C., 2021, May. Creative Transactions: Special Digital Monies in ‘Break Kickstarter’Crowdfunding Campaigns. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-13).
Eva, N., Sendjaya, S., Prajogo, D., Cavanagh, A. and Robin, M., 2018. Creating strategic fit: Aligning servant leadership with organizational structure and strategy. Personnel Review.
Ezegbu, C., 2020. Predicting Key Success Factors for Selecting Crowdfunding Campaigns/Projects using Machine Learning Techniques: A Case Study of Reward Based Crowdfunding Platform (Doctoral dissertation, Dublin, National College of Ireland).
Hu, W. and Yang, R., 2019, September. Predicting the success of Kickstarter projects in the US at launch time. In Proceedings of SAI Intelligent Systems Conference (pp. 497-506). Springer, Cham.
Jardinier, M.A.J., 2019. Kickstarter project creators’ communities: building online supportive networks along the crowdfunding journey (Doctoral dissertation).
Kharub, M., Mor, R.S. and Sharma, R., 2018. The relationship between cost leadership competitive strategy and firm performance: A mediating role of quality management. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management.
Kilinc, M., Aydin, C. and Tarhan, Ç., 2021. Do Machine Learning and Business Analytics Approaches Answer the Question of ‘Will Your Kickstarter Project be Successful?. Istanbul Business Research, 50(2).
Putri, I.G.A.P.T. and Rahyuda, H., 2020. Effect of capital structure and sales growth on firm value with profitability as mediation. International Research Journal of Management, IT and Social Sciences, 7(1), pp.145-155.
Soublière, J.F. and Gehman, J., 2020. The legitimacy threshold revisited: How prior successes and failures spill over to other endeavors on Kickstarter. Academy of Management Journal, 63(2), pp.472-502.
Thaichon, P., Surachartkumtonkun, J., Quach, S., Weaven, S. and Palmatier, R.W., 2018. Hybrid sales structures in the age of e-commerce. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 38(3), pp.277-302.
Thaichon, P., Surachartkumtonkun, J., Quach, S., Weaven, S. and Palmatier, R.W., 2018. Hybrid sales structures in the age of e-commerce. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 38(3), pp.277-302.
Tian, X., Song, Y., Luo, C., Zhou, X. and Lev, B., 2021. Herding behavior in supplier innovation crowdfunding: Evidence from Kickstarter. International Journal of Production Economics, 239, p.108184.
Vatanen, V., 2021. Designing a Kickstarter Crowdfunding Campaign: case impro the boardgame.
