Survey Analysis
The traditional way of viewing company operations as interplay between the product, the market and the organization is completely insufficient in a world of ever-hardening competition. For an effective marketing, a competition strategy should be created. For the key to superior performance, the competition strategy must encompass an analysis of the target market (the group of people whom the organization wants to reach) and a marketing mix (the conjunction of product, price, place and promotion) that will satisfy those customers in the target market. Once the competition strategy of a firm is determined the whole business should be designed around the target customers` needs. Customer satisfaction is the primary aim of marketing. In focusing on the future, the enterprise ensures the best possible chance of attaining long-term stability and competitive standing. Marketing makes the basic assumption that customer satisfaction should be the primary aim of the business. Such satisfaction can only be achieved and sustained through the provision of competitive products or services, at competitive prices. It should be focused on every aspect of marketing, not only on promotion and sales techniques, to persuade customers to buy but also on target market, marketing mix and the effective marketing strategy. Successful marketing results in stronger products, happier customers, and bigger profits.
In line with the discussions above, this paper would discuss marketing variables related to the practices of Janssen (HK) Ltd. as perceive by the surveyed respondents (i.e. sales accountability, marketing and sales, relationship management and sales management).
Table 1
Sales Accountability
| | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Weighted Mean | Interpretations |
| We are defined as a sales organization and have clearly communicated the definition to our staff. | 28 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.76 | Working Well |
| The organization's "Sales Vision" is clear and drives the daily action of the entire company. | 21 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 4.44 | Tweak to get it |
| The sales budget is sufficient to support the success of our sales culture. | 11 | 11 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 3.97 | Tweak to get it |
| Senior management consistently demonstrates commitment to the sales culture by supporting the requirements of a high performing sales organization. | 23 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4.56 | Working Well |
| Senior management commits the resources required to building a high-performance sales organization. | 25 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4.65 | Working Well |
| Our organizational structure supports us as a sales driven company. | 28 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.76 | Working Well |
| There is a sales strategy in place. | 24 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4.62 | Working Well |
| Sales goals are set by business line. | 24 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.53 | Tweak to get it |
| Sales managers are in place and actively performing the role. | 29 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.82 | Working Well |
| Sales managers effectively motivate and coach the team to exceed expectations. | 28 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.79 | Working Well |
| Sales associates or relationship managers have well defined goals. | 23 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4.50 | Tweak to get it |
| Sales team members have the desire to exceed performance goals and customer service expectations | 26 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4.62 | Working Well |
| Compensation programs have the right mix of base salary, commissions, incentives and/or other rewards for exceptional sales performance. | 6 | 4 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 3.47 | Haven't Moved On |
| Our branches and offices are "sales comfortable" for customers and sales personnel. | 19 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4.35 | Tweak to get it |
As shown in Table 1, it indicates the summary of responses of the respondents regarding the sales accountability. In particular, the table above shows the result of the survey questionnaire of the respondents in regard to their perception. The column 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 signifies the number of respondents who answered to the different degree of responses (i.e. 5 for Working well, 4 for Tweak to get it, 3 for Haven't Moved On, 2 for Haven't got it and 1 for Not being Considered). For example, in statement number 1, there were only 28 respondents who answered 5, 4 for 4, 2 for 3, 0 for 2, and another 0 for 1. The weighted mean column shows the mean answer of that particular statement that is 4.76 and interpreted it as "Working Well".
Actually, the table above shows that most of the respondents answered "Working Well" or "Tweak to get it" on the given survey statements except on the statement about compensation programs. Actually, the statement concerning programs receives a weighted mean 3.47 that signify "Haven't Moved On" interpretation. Meaning to say, majority of the surveyed respondents believe that compensation programs in Janssen (HK) Ltd haven't move on to the right mix of base salary, commissions, incentives and/or other rewards for exceptional sales performance. Basically, all the statements from the survey are clear to the respondents.
Table 2
Marketing and Sales
| | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Weighted Mean | Interpretation |
| Customer contact staff members are committed to identifying and meeting customer needs. | 15 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4.03 | Tweak to get it |
| Frontline staff use good techniques to profile their customers. | 30 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.88 | Working Well |
| We regularly shop the competition to examine our place in the market. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 2 | 1.94 | Not Being Considered |
| We use mystery shopping to track quality of service and sales effectiveness. | 0 | 0 | 1 | 30 | 3 | 1.94 | Not Being Considered |
| We "mine" our customer database for opportunities to expand customer relationships. | 6 | 1 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 3.38 | Haven't Moved On |
| We proactively contact our customers with information about products and services that match their needs. | 23 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4.56 | Working Well |
| Our systems for tracking the results of sales campaigns are effective and easy to use. | 4 | 2 | 26 | 2 | 0 | 3.24 | Haven't Moved On |
| Salespeople are kept apprised of sales campaign results on at least a weekly basis. | 0 | 0 | 30 | 2 | 2 | 2.82 | Haven't Moved On |
| We post the rankings of our salespeople. | 0 | 0 | 1 | 30 | 3 | 1.94 | Not Being Considered |
From the research, marketing strategies in operation, strategies for product/ service differentiation from competitors and on how the business compete in the market for price and product supply serves a big factor in determining the success of businesses (Gaskill, Manning, & Auken, 1993). In connection to this, Janssen (HK) Ltd should constantly meet the demands of consumers to sustain financial growth.
Basically, table 2 shows that the respondents have different perceptions regarding the statements concerning to marketing and sales. In table 2, there are only 2 statements receives a weighted mean that signify "working well" interpretation and 1 statement for "Tweak to get it". The other statement receives an interpretation of "Haven't Moved On" and "Not being considered". In this regard, Janssen (HK) Ltd should give actions regarding the improvements of their sales and marketing.
Table 3
Relationship Management
| | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Weighted Mean | Interpretation |
| Sales personnel are able to identify sales opportunities in the customer database. | 4 | 10 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 3.41 | Haven't Moved On |
| We have the technology to turn customer data into usable customer information. | 1 | 1 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 3.06 | Haven't Moved On |
| Our systems are user-friendly and readily available to promote relationship management. | 1 | 3 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 3.12 | Haven't Moved On |
| Frontline staff has received effective sales training. | 30 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.88 | Working Well |
| Salespeople are able to identify one on one and segment marketing opportunities. | 21 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4.26 | Tweak to get it |
| We have an automatic simplified system to measure customer profitability. | 2 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 3.12 | Haven't Moved On |
| Customer profitability information is available to the sales team. | 0 | 0 | 31 | 2 | 1 | 2.88 | Haven't Moved On |
| We regularly review customer profitability so that salespeople understand the importance of this information. | 15 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4.00 | Tweak to get it |
An aspect that influences the retention of consumers is the relationship that the vendor has with its consumers. This is reflected in the process of marketing done by the former. The account of marketing can be divided into three phases in the context of buyer and seller associations: the simple trade era, the mass production era, and the new marketing era. (Khalil & Harcar, 1999) The simple trade era was a bona fide relationship involving the buyer and the seller. Merchants knew their clients on a personal basis, recognized what they sought after, and fulfilled their needs by means of tailored service. The owners of the business visualize trade chiefly in the context of share of customers. From the responses of the respondents it is found out that Frontline staff in Janssen (HK) Ltd has received effective sales training which was reflected to the responses of the respondents. However, the finding s of the survey reveals that the said organization should also prioritized management of relationship in order to maintain good business coordination to the consumers.
Actually, relationship management assists an organization's attempt to recognize, sustain, and construct a system of individual consumers and to incessantly reinforce the network through interactive, individualized, and value-added correspondence over an extended period. Furthermore, relationship marketing, as a retailer-customer agreement method, denotes to all marketing actions bound for developing and preserving a successful relational connections with customers. It attempts to set up, uphold, improve, and commercialize customer connections so that the goals of the parties concerned are fulfilled, which is completed by a mutual exchange and implementation of promises. In other words, relationship marketing is anchored on corresponding with consumers, paying attention to them, discovering their wants and attending to them. (Khalil & Harcar, 1999)
Table 4
Sales Management
| | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | Weighted Mean | Interpretation |
| Line managers are committed to the concept of sales management. | 25 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.68 | Working Well |
| Managers have received sales management training. | 24 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4.35 | Tweak to get it |
| Their sales management skills are effective. | 21 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4.06 | Tweak to get it |
| Sales managers conduct regularly scheduled sales meetings. | 25 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4.41 | Tweak to get it |
| We have a system to recognize and reward outstanding sales performance. | 11 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 3.71 | Tweak to get it |
| Sales and product training are conducted regularly. | 30 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.88 | Tweak to get it |
| Job descriptions clearly and explicitly spell out sales performance expectations of sales personnel. | 18 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4.24 | Tweak to get it |
| When hiring we look for salespeople for sales positions. | 26 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 4.59 | Working Well |
| Managers have their own personal sales goals. | 30 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.82 | Working Well |
| Managers develop a sales budget for their team. | 22 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4.41 | Tweak to get it |
| All sales managers are provided with timely performance reports that assist them with ideas for coaching and sales meetings. | 24 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4.50 | Tweak to get it |
| All customer contact personnel are committed to developing the skills required to be professional relationship managers. | 17 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4.00 | Tweak to get it |
| Frontline staff have sales and referral goals. | 29 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.71 | Working Well |
| Sales performance is reviewed with regularly and in a timely manner. | 33 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.97 | Working Well |
| Salespeople participate in setting their own goals. | 26 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 4.59 | Working Well |
| Sales performance is monitored against sales goals automatically. | 20 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 4.26 | Tweak to get it |
| People are held accountable to their goals. | 26 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4.68 | Working Well |
| Compensation systems are in place to reward for performance. | 10 | 8 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 3.82 | Tweak to get it |
| Referrals and sales tracking is automated to streamline sales management. | 5 | 3 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 3.38 | Haven't Moved On |
With regards to this variable, majority of the respondents believe that the given statements are all present in Janssen (HK) Ltd except to the automation of referrals and sales tracking since this statement receives an average response of "Haven't Moved On". Actually, majority of the respondents believe that managers are performing their job well particularly from hiring of staff up to goals in sales. Thus, for them as managers of Janssen (HK) it is better to understand that consumers are prepared to pay what they perceive a product to be worth. If marketers set the price above this level, consumers will not purchase the product. If marketers set the price below this level, the consumers will purchase the product but would have been prepared to pay more, so the organization has missed potential profit. As each consumer has their own value they attach to the product, it is the task of market researchers to determine an appropriate level for the target market.
References:
Gaskill, Luann Ricketts, Manning, Ronald A. & Van Auken , Howard E. ( 1993).A Factor Analytic Study of the Perceived Causes of Small Business Failure, Journal of Small Business Management. Vol. 31 (4).
Khalil, O. E., & Harcar, T. D. (1999). Relationship Marketing and Data Quality Management. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 64(2), 26+.
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