Read what the press are saying.
Our inaugural “Are You Being Sold” survey conducted across Australia, India, Singapore, Thailand, China and South Korea, produced some highly valuable insights into capability gaps, market variations and most importantly, opportunities for driving real step change.
Below are some excerpts from recent Indian press articles.
Business Standard - Kolkata Nov 5 2009
India fares poorly in Sales Staff Survey
Have you ever felt the salesperson at your multi brand electronics storeroom is endorsing only a few of the brands displayed? Or noticed how some salespersons only smart-sell brands which give them the better commissions?
Due to such practices, information technology & consumer electronic majors in India may be losing up to Rs 84 lakh per store annually, indicates a new study by Grass Roots Group, a performance improvement solutions provider. The Survey titled " Are You Being Sold" focused on 14 multinational brands in IT hardware and software, as well as consumer electronic space…….
….The study reveals that only 43 % of sales people in India made an attempt to close the deal……
….. Stephen Hibberd, Regional Director (Asia) Grass Roots Group, says "The competition for the share of the consumer's wallet is fierce. Brands should not simply use reseller rebates or marketing fund contributions to generate top-of-mind activity by salespeople." He reasons that having spent hundreds of millions of dollars on R&D, manufacturing, distributing and advertising a product, no brand can afford to let the customer walk out of the store without buying the product merely due to a poor retail environment.
HT Mint - Oct 24 2009
Electronics retail needs a makeover.
Poor selling skills and a shopper-unfriendly retail environment are hitting sales of consumer electronics and IT products in India.
"The biggest challenge in India is that the shopkeepers fail to understand the opportunity each shopper represents," Stephen Hibberd, regional director Asia, Grass Roots Group said. “As a result, there is a huge opportunity cost involved."
The Hitavada - Nagpur Oct 24 2009
IT, electronics firms losing Rs 84 lakh/store annually.
……"India's excellent scores in categories like Product Knowledge, indicates that the sales people have excellent technical know-how about the product, but are simply not feeling engaged enough with the brand to support products or make recommendations” said Stephen Hibberd.
Decan Chronicle - Nov 2 2009
India's Sales Effectiveness Lowest In APAC
…"India's overall sales effectiveness rated significantly below the regional average. Tremendous opportunity exists for stronger engagement between the brand and the front line sales team within the reseller environment," said Grass Roots India Managing Director, Mr Charoo Aggarwal.
…." There are issues which India's brand managers and retail managers must fix to ensure overall excellence in sales effectiveness - it is going to take a holistic approach of engagement tools, communication, learning and motivators which will improve the overall behaviour," Mr Aggarwal added.
The Financial Express - Nov 2 2009
Loopholes in Sales
….India's overall sales effectiveness was rated significantly behind the other countries, signalling an immediate need to improve its overall performance.
The Political & Business Daily - Nov 2 2009
India needs to improve its sales effectiveness - Survey
….Moreover, the knowledge of Indian sales staff about after sales product support was also amongst the poorest in the entire region and merely 39 per cent used that knowledge as a selling point.
Images Retail - Nov 2009
Are You Being Sold?
…In the survey, Australia and China emerge as the leaders in most of the categories, with Thailand not far behind. However, a particular shortcoming that has been observed across the region, particularly in India, Singapore and Thailand, is the inability of the sales person to close a deal. Merely 43 per cent of sales people in India made an attempt to close the deal…….
DQ Channels Nov 16-30 2009
Who’s Selling You?
……I also met the representative of an enterprise storage brand and asked him why his company is still trying to find a foothold in the industry for some years now. He candidly admitted that a big reason for this was that the sales people of his solution provider partners were not promoting his brand.
Now he’s trying to come up with ‘out of the box’ solutions to encourage not just his sales people but also those of his channel partners to position his brand more prominently with customers……
Vinita Bhatia, Executive Editor
DQ Channels Nov 16-30 2009
Indian Salespeople Don’t Effectively Recommend Brands.
Study by Grass Roots indicates annual loss of over RS 84 lakh per store to IT and consumer electronics companies due to poor sales effectiveness.
DQ Weekly Nov 12 2009
Are You Being Sold?
…………Stephen Hibberd, Regional Director – Asia, Grass Roots Group explained, “Through this survey, we wanted to understand if leading hardware and software giants were being well represented by their channel partner and how effectively they were being sold………”