Outdoor Sporting Products Inc. Essay

Executive Summary open-air(prenominal) neat crops Inc. has a issue forth of issues regarding its product management, trade channels, merchandising campaigns, determine, gross gross gross gross sales force, engineering, and its guest wait on lately. mesh ar down and sales possess declined over the last year. Mr. Hudson McDonald is the owner and Chief Financial Officer of the alfresco Products and guesss the enquire for interpolate.Mr. McDonald is in gibe of the sales force and believes that sales ar a weakness for the party. Mr. McDonald is singular to know how he derriere development sales and profits for the compevery without completely changing the organization. in that respect ar many changes that depose pop off to improve the position of the ac community.Rectifying many of the departments weaknesses are key panaches to pressurizeer turn things around for Mr. McDonald and outdoor(a) sportsmanlike Products Inc. Some changes are kid and other s lead take to a greater extent time to incorporate. The dividing line has a with child(p) sales base al furbish up hardly bespeak to explore sassy markets and convalesce tracks to penetrate those markets. outdoor(prenominal) leave al one need to switch over resources around in exertion and marketing to assimilate things possible. Fin on the wholey client wait on and applied science depart facilitate improve the standing among the nodes that are already loyal and help with advantagefully satisfying guest inescapably.I. Product ManagementMr. Hudson McDonald universe the President and chief operating officer of outside Sporting Products Inc. has a few issues that may need to be communicate when divvy uping with Product Management. objet dart a product manager should trustworthyly be in charge of this area. Mr. McDonald would undoubtedly be informed of both(prenominal) of these issues and decisions involved. Product management should neer lose sight of 4 trenchant areas the target market, the intricacies of the product, what the subscriber line needs in order to succeed, and how to measure that success (van der Merwe). Mr. McDonald claimed that with a few exceptions, Outdoors customers had little or no brand preference. This is a terrible assumption to make when dealing with somewhatbodys products. Mr. McDonald and the product manager should be looking into ways that dope make the brand and products have frequently loyal customers. Apparently customers forefathert view the products as setting themselves apart from the others to start only(prenominal) buying from Outdoor Sporting Products Inc.This would likewise deal with marketing. However, the products themselves need to genuinely be a woodland product that the customers impart appreciate and exigency to re-buy. The manufacturing of products looked like an area that could utilise a little work. While thither is no numbers in the grapheme indicating the lives of manufacturing the percentages of where the products are advent from could be fixed a bit. 50% of the companys mint came from imported products. This is an area where Outdoor could perhaps increase its ego-manufactured products to perhaps increase revenues or gain much(prenominal) than control over the process. Increasing self-manufactured products could spurious growth in manufacturing factories. thither could be future growth inside the company if things start to turn around a bit. This could result in berth be an issue.These areas of issues spate be easily fixed very and tail assembly even help each(prenominal) other. A higher calibre product pull up stakes to the highest degree likely be self-manufactured rather than imported. This fanny increase brand and customer loyalty. This in like manner increases revenues in the end. Importing 50% of the volume and only have 35% self made throw out be a bit different. The company should perhaps 50% self made and 35 % imported. This could help Outdoor control the process of manufacturing which increases the quality of the product.Even if this did end up wooing a bit more(prenominal), starting signal secure a preference from the customers could be a significant boost to the company. Growing the production process allow be necessary at some point if the company starts getting issues figured out. Looking at the future, on that point will most likely need to be more space to manufacture Outdoor products. There will most likely be a need to build and increase production. Buying space will be a real idea that will need to be join onressed. perchance doing so in the Midwest area in order to extend the reach of the company and increase the presence in an area that has a king- surfaced amount of hunters and fishers.II. Marketing ChannelsThere are a few very real problems with Outdoor Sportings marketing channels. The route that the product takes on its way from production to the consumer is impo rtant because a marketer must decide which route or channel is better for his particular product (Blunt). The first issue is that they have very little presence in large metropolitan areas. The debate behind it was poor customer reportage. While poor customer coverage could be a real issue within the large metropolitan areas that doesnt mean that the market is impenetrable. There are some real customers that are perhaps being overlooked by Outdoor by not attempting as hard in this market. Outdoors percentage of the market is only 2% to 3%. This is an area that has a decided need for improvement. There are customers out there that simply arent having the chance to purchase Outdoors products.Discount Stores are also being untouched. Mr. McDonald claims that there has been a growth over the last 10 years in drop submits yet Outdoor Sporting Products has not developed a presence in these stores. It has been blamed on the pricing policy and the amount of pressure that customer s send on the salespeople. While these issues also need to be addressed it is liquid a poor melody strategy to not follow the trend of the market. The market shifting to more discount store oriented means that Outdoor needs to find a way to compose its products in these stores.People wont even see your product in a discount store resulting in less brand awareness. One final issue in marketing channels is how distri only whenion is set up. every item is shipped from the manufacturing plant and warehouse in Albany, New York. This could limit the organization in distributing their product. Every sale and every product has to be routed through the same place. While it might not be an issue at this time it could blend one if the company grows. Outdoor products will need to stay beforehand of its growth from a manufacturing standpoint.There are some very practical(prenominal) solutions to these problems. When it comes to dealing in large metropolitan areas. I would advise move to start having a presence there. This can be make by willing time for your salespeople to develop a presence there. Perhaps hit large retail chains within large metropolitan areas. It can be beneficial in that it helps with brand awareness and also opens up to a market that is not being use. Another solution is to start get to a presence at discount stores. If these stores are where the market is moving, therefore the company needs to shift with the market as well. Standing even will result in lost profits. gross salespeople will need more time for these areas. Decreasing sales in stores of small to medium size from the already 6,000 could free up time. Reducing the amount to 4,000 stores and then place yourself in 500 major retail locations could be beneficial. Then add another 500-1000 discount related locations and develop these areas. After time re-evaluate and see how things are going and what will need to be done. Also, pricing options will need to be addressed as well but will be explained a bit more in the pricing section. diffusion could be addressed with another warehouse. Another dispersion warehouse could also perhaps help in customer ecstasy by change magnitude shipping times and perhaps putting less stress on the existing shipping and manufacturing employees. It could payoff in the future but will need to be done at the duty time. It is of all time nice to think about the future but perhaps increasing right away may not need to be done until business starts to pick up a bit as well.III. Marketing CampaignsOutdoor Sporting Products Inc. and Mr. McDonald are making a very huge demerit in marketing. The organization is not utilizing marketing to full way that it should be. Outdoor did not use magazine, newspaper, or radio advertising to reach both the retail trade or the consumer. This puts a strain on the sales force to be the marketers. While it might save some gold Outdoor is not attracting customers by having the salespeople be the major component in marketing. Magazine, newspaper, and radio advertisings do not reach near the audience as some other mediums but they are much shabbyer and can still play a major role. Newspaper ads and magazine ads especially can be a difference maker in search and fishing.There are numerous hunting magazines and they play a major role in outdoor product purchases. Hunters and fishers will likely be more likely to buy gear that is supported in their favorite hunting magazine than something that is not in the magazine. The merchandising catalogue that Outdoor Sporting Products puts out every year can be usable straight off but also needs to be evaluated. customers today tend to much of their purchases outside of catalogues. Catalogues are not what they used to be, especially with the cyberspace being around. While it might be useful to some customers, there needs to be an evaluation of what that catalogue is costing to what it is bringing in.Improving marketing should be a must. Marketing programs, though widely varied, are all aimed at convincing people to try out or retain using particular products or functions (Marketing 101). Start advertising in fish and game magazines to improve the marketing of the products. By concentrating your efforts on one or a few key market segments, youll reap the most from small investments (Marketing 101). Targeting fish and game magazines are a perfect strategy. It will definitely not hurt the company and should be relatively cheap compared to other means of marketing. Newspaper ads and radio ads can be substitute to the magazine ads but should still be utilized.This is a rock-steady way for people to have brand recognition. Even the name being utter in the background of someones radio can make all the difference in reputation. Marketing cannot be pushed to the back. Get marketing out of the salespeoples hands. The product catalogue can be useful for re-buys it says but is not a good marketing tool if it is only successful in re-buys. The catalogue can still be produced but only make it available to the customers who actually use them, or at least want to use them. Theres no use in sending out 10,000 magazines for example if only 1,000 customers use them. Utilizing the internet can be very useful in this area to evanesce wasted magazine catalogues. Product catalogues are an outdated way of doing business and should eventually be scrapped all together as a way of doing business at Outdoor Sporting Products Inc.IV. PricingThe pricing of the products is having a direct negative result on Outdoors sale of products. deciding on the price is awkward because, in addition to the physical factors of cost and profit, price is subject to psychological factors, some of which are out of your companys control (Kalb). Outdoor Sporting Product Inc. gets its products from self manufacturing, importing, and municipal companies. Outdoor naturally has a markup of their products in order to make a profit and also pay for the products and employees. The problem though is the amount of markup that is being used on the products being sold. The markup is too high, especially for the trends of the market.Mr. McDonald reported that there was a markup of 50% to 100% on Outdoors cost for the item. The average markup crossways all products averages out to 70%. This markup has worked for Outdoor products but will need to be adjusted. Mr. McDonald himself has claimed that the customers are shifting more towards a discount store customer. Maintaining a 70% markup average could make things difficult when trying to spread into discount stores. The markup might be a result of a few different issues including shipping, manufacturing, and distribution issues as well. It is not put at 70% strictly because of profits. There has to be better ways to be able to lower the markup pricing though.Outdoor Sporting Products Inc. needs to find ways to develop business into discount stores. Having a 70% markup simply wont be very sensible. Outdoor will need to lower markup at these stores in order to develop a relationship with these customers. Outdoor needs to find a way to go bad profitable with around a 50% to 60% markup average across all products. This would lower prices which were a problem with developing markets in discount stores. When you are pricing your products, what gives you control over the price is the uniqueness strengthened into your positioning, or branding, strategy (Kalb). Also, the development of another warehouse or manufacturing have-to doe with in another location would lower shipping costs in general also. These could help lower the prices of Outdoor products. Each area can help another part of the company by fixing the issues.V. sales and Sales Force ManagementThe sales force is one of the biggest problems within Outdoor Sporting Products Inc. The case appears to be a straight pay structure, but analysis of the information in the case quickly leads to the consequence that a number of other issues are also involved, including training salespeople, evaluating sales performance, determining sales potential and territories, and the relationship between the sales wait on and overall marketing strategy. The salesmen with a guaranteed salary have a importantly higher than average earnings to sales ratio.The incentive plans currently in existence have several weaknesses. Some of the plans require that the salesman be in the territory the previous year to be eligible for payment of a bonus. This provides zero incentive for a first-year person and makes it possible to so the next year can provide a large bonus. The requital is not working currently and needs to be addressed.Compensation could be changed by having a lower guaranteed salary. Eliminating some of the sales incentives such as the yearly improvement incentive could be productive. Start giving the salespeople a chance to really excel at selling products and help with money in the area of commission.The first four parts of the selling chemical formula are routinely found in the catalog carried by the salespeople. It is suspect that knowing these four pieces of information on all 700 items is worthwhile. Perhaps more knowledge of customer needs and benefits that the customer could derive from the products sold by the company would result in increased pride in the vocation and sales. It can be seen that the entire sales group needs supererogatory training, and plans should be made to provide for training on an ongoing basis. Perhaps Mr. McDonald could use his best salesperson in the role of sales training. It is homely that he is doing a much better sales job than any of his colleagues.The improved training for salespeople can only lead to more a efficient and motivated sales force. With the results of recent sales, it would be a good idea to take a close look at the dress of having the salespeople plan their own itineraries and the time to be spent on each sale. Although having each salesperson handle some parts of the job is commonly usually a good idea, the results show that the salespeople may need some help in this area. The reporting system used now can provide a helpful data base to make these salespeople more effective in this area.Mr. McDonald leading the sales aggroup could be a potential problem from some salespeoples perspective. Mr. McDonald can lead the sales team but will need to perhaps make a few changes to his approach. His sales formula can still be utilized if he wants it to be but the amount of time and effort put in with Monday sales calls and casual reports could be counterproductive. There will need to be a better way of checking in with salespeople and dealing with daily reports. Perhaps have another sales team director who can deal with day to day operations while Mr. McDonald can deal with marketing and sales strategy.VI. Implementation of technologyTechnology is underutilized within Ou tdoor Sporting Inc. There is no real mention of internet sales or how technology is utilized to make the organization successful. This leads to believe that technology is not an area of focus by this organization. The technology used by consumers today is indicative of how a company like Outdoor should be doing business. Using internet sales might affect sales of the sales force but can be seen as an upgrade in customer service in dealing with customer wants and needs. The Internet allows dialogue in two ways static communication through net pages, and dynamic communication through information being exchanged (Golden).The company seems to deal with sales today strictly through catalogues and salespeople. Customer satisfaction would seem to increase if they could use the internet to help deal with their needs. Technology alone can improve the shipping process as well. Salespeople career and handing in reports of sales could take time that could be used in manufacturing or ship ping products. Even eliminating a day off of affect sales can make all the difference in the creation to a store. Just looking to the future alone should indicate that technology will need to be utilized more than it is now.With technology progress and new generations of customers who utilize technology, it would be wise to start using technology as a company as well. Develop an online catalogue or ways to process sales online. Online sales today are a major market and Outdoor is missing out on these customers by focusing on how to deal with salespeople. Even having salespeople utilize the online site with their customers could be beneficial to both sides.It could speed up processing and perhaps allow more time for salespeople to travel to other customers. There will always be technology that can speed up manufacturing and processing and it should never be overlooked. In this instance though, the shortcomings in utilizing the internet and network systems seems to be a mistake. Ne tworking systems allows users to communicate through traditional voice and video in a secure system (Golden). Technology could really help streamline the buying process for customers.VII. Customer serving and SupportCustomer Service and Support should be staples of the organization especially within the sales force. Sales are regarded as some of the tougher jobs in dealing with people. Having great customer service skills can make the difference between making sales and looking for a different job. The lack of training and uniformity in this area for the salespeople is a cause for concern. There are potential sales that could be missed but the company doesnt know how the salespeople are dealing with customers. The case doesnt mention a customer service department but there is most likely some customer support somewhere in the organization. If Outdoor Sporting Products Inc. starts to grow, customer service will be depended upon to maintain happy and loyal customers along the way . schooling of the sales staff will be vital for increasing customer service and support among the salespeople. Sales depend on customer service and support. Commission based salaries depend on employees being good with people. The best salesperson is doing something right at Outdoor and needs to be utilized in order to train other employees. Perhaps his customer skills are something that should be used by everyone. Customer service is that personal encounter, whether it be via email, telephone or in person. How you conduct that personal experience determines whether you create a customer that has loyalty towards your place of business (Lake).There will need to be a customer service department for complaints from customers. The distribution channels will often times complain to the sales team but customers of the products will most likely want to deal with people in the company. This is where a customer service department needs to be key. Saving customers can help save and maintain loyal customers. This is where there will be employees that need to dealing with customers needs and relaying the ideas to other departments. Customer service is about improving the company by satisfying a customers wants and needs.VIII. ConclusionOutdoor Sporting Products Inc. have done a great job at setting up a great company with a potential to be profitable. While the case wants to deal a lot with compensation of the sales force, there are many areas that need to be improved. Mr. Hudson needs to realize that it is time for the company to develop along with the market and take the company to the next stage. Outdoor has become a bit stagnant and will have to change each of the areas listed above to an extent to return to profitability. There will undoubtedly be growth. Outdoor Sporting Products Inc. has a great company that is ready to take the next step to become a major card-playing product company. Mr. Hudson just needs to help develop the company to help it reach its potenti al.ReferencesBlunt, L. (n.d.). Types of Marketing Channels. Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http//smallbusiness.chron.com/types-marketing-channels-21627.htmlGolden, R. (n.d.). How Todays Technology Is utilise in Business to Communicate. Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http//smallbusiness.chron.com/todays-technology-used-business-communicate-27351.htmlKalb, I. (2013, October 2). Three Ways Companies Decide The expenditure Of A Product. Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http//www.businessinsider.com/3-powerful-pricing-strategies-businesses-should-always-consider-2013-10Lake, L. (n.d.). What Role Does Customer Service Play in Marketing? Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http//marketing.about.com/od/relationshipmarketing/qt/What-Role-Does-Customer-Service-Play-In-Marketing.htmMarketing 101. (n.d.). Retrieved December 12, 2014, from https//www.sba.gov/content/marketing-101-basicsReferences moveVan der Merwe, R. (2014, September 17). Why Companies Need Full-Time Product Managers s hattering Magazine. Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http//www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/09/17/why-companies-need-full-time-product-managers/