‘Go to Market’, Sales and Distribution Consulting Services
This service is spearheaded by Mr Shyam Vembar who has Indian and international experience in organisations like Unilever, Monsanto Chemicals and Mahindra Agri Business where he has worked at CXO levels. He is supported by Saumendu Saha who has work experience with Dabur, Shaw Wallace and Funskool Toys. Saumendu has extensive experience with Dabur in North Eastern states which offer a great opportunity for several brands. Sanjiv Vaidya is an expert on channel sales for durables and IT products. He has Indian as well as international experience in the sector with organisations like Godrej & Boyce, Honeywell and Tektronix.
The services offered currently are:
‘Go to Market’ strategy- Experienced and established organisations often make the cardinal mistake of adapting same ‘Go to Market’ strategy of a successful brand within the stable for a new launch of brand or brand extension. There are enough case studies available in the open domain which captures failures due to this singular phenomenon. Aidias Consulting Group had created a ‘Go to Market’ strategy document for a brand called Fair & Handsome from Emami to enter the market in Middle East. Client feedback on the success of the brand in Middle East suggests a pivotal role by this strategic document. The international work experience of the team at Aidias Consulting Group can formulate and guide organisations in their ‘Go to Market’ strategies in Africa, South East, Asia, South America, Europe and USA.
Audit and tweaking existing sales approach and strategies- Experience suggests that there is enough room for improvement in the existing sales approach and strategies which can improve business results by 5% or more. The experience at Aidias Consulting Group suggests that organisations often become victims of the approach that has given them success in the past. Sales teams also get into a routine way of working which diminishes the return on their efforts. Revisiting the approach after select market visits have helped organisations improve their sales numbers; reduce unsold inventory/slow moving items; improve supply chain for reducing distribution gaps in the market; rationalise SKU and product portfolio; integrate marketing strategy with sales strategy; increase prices of products based on competitive scenario; deploy sales force automation where it does not exist and reduce outstanding in the market by streamlining back end accounts and finance operations. All these directly impact the bottom line of the organisation positively. A small organisation in UP, Arpan Fragrances, has immensely benefited from this strategic plan assisted by handholding in executing the plan. In a depressed market scenario, Arpan Fragrances grew by 18% in existing markets and introduced their brands in three new states where they were nor present.
Analytics for strategy making- All organisations possess huge volume of data pertaining to the sales function. However, the analysis of data for formulating meaningful sales strategies is limited. In the process the organisations miss out on wealth of information which resides inside the system and can be used for sales tactics; marketing inputs; reorienting the working of sales team and fine tuning the distribution channel. This increases the probability of success and enhanced profitability.
Training of sales teams- This deserves special mention as the expertise needed in training sales teams are very different from any other training programmes. Since the experts at Aidias Consulting Group have led large sales teams; their practical knowledge of the market enables participants to resonate with the content of the training. The marked improvement in productivity at Arpan Fragrances is a testimony of the efficacy of the sales training imparted in that organisation.
Deployment of Worxogo to improve sales productivity- Worxogo™ (TM with Worxogo Solutions) has a strategic tie-up with Aidias Consulting Group where Aidias markets Worxogo and assists in post implementation data analysis and support. Worxogo is an app which is built on the concept of ‘nudge’ from Behavioural Economics for which Professor Richard Thaler was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2017. Using AI and machine learning in the backend, Worxogo creates ‘nudges’ individualised for salespeople and guides them on what to do for achieving higher sales numbers. DS Group deployed Worxogo on 120 salespeople to test the efficacy. In a declining market scenario, the 120 people using Worxogo could deliver a 7% growth in volume sales during a quarter when the rest of the team (not on Worxogo) declined in sales volumes during the same quarter.