Sales Force Management

Rahim Mazhar

24110292

Prof. Luqman Awan

Section 2

1) What are the differences between Over the Counter (OTC) & Mobile Accounts (MA)? Why are MA’s
important for TP in changing business environment?

In over the counter (OTC), a CNIC number can be used to transfer money from one location or person to
another. An app-based wallet for mobile devices is not required in OTC. However, the Mobile Account
(MA) Service works exactly like a regular bank account and can be accessed from a mobile device with
just a Telenor sim card. Payment of utility bills (electricity, gas, water, internet etc.), money transfers,
charitable contributions, quick pay, and overseas remittances are among the services provided by OTC.
While Mobile Accounts (MA) offers the same services as Over the Counter (OTC), it also includes some
added features like insurance and saving options. Over the Counter (OTC) is accessible at all Telenor
franchisees and retail locations; however Mobile Accounts (MA) is only accessible through its franchises.

Due to the shifting business climate brought by an increase in consumer financial activity and
competition, Mobile Accounts (MA) is Telenor's future. It is more profitable to the public in Pakistan due
to its convenience and broad features. The market for Telenor in Pakistan has a low ARPU (Average
Revenue Per Unit), but there is a lot of untapped potential there that Telenor may take advantage of by
using Mobile Accounts (MA) to provide a variety of value-added services.

2) Elaborate current Sales approach of Telenor Pakistan. What is changing in the environment?

Because of the distinctive nature of the TP industry, a specialized selling strategy and skill set were
required. There are now two channels for TP sales: direct and indirect. Indirect channel is organized into
seven areas, and a regional director oversees all operations taking place in each of those regions.
Furthermore, each region had an average of 15 territory sales supervisors. On the other side, the TP
business solution direct sales team made up the direct channel. The primary goal of the internal sales
staff is to target the value sector, as shown by B2B sales. They come to handle the intricate decision-
making processes of institutional clients.

Moving on, there are several methods in which customers connect with salespeople. They mostly
discover their clients by cold calling, house calls, office visits, and leads gathered through the retail
channel. Mobile account sales officers, or MASOs, aim to answer any client questions while describing
the features and benefits of the products. Due to the country's growing financial inclusion and industrial
competition, the environment is continually evolving. Many rivals, including Zong, Uphone, and
Mobilink, introduced banking services that were comparable to EasyPaisa. As soon as competition began
to arise, it set out to steal Easypaisa retailers and convert them into agents.
3) Why are Territory sales supervisors not successful in selling Mobile Accounts specifically? Will you
label them as hunters or farmers?

Firstly, the lengthy process of selling Mobile Accounts included multiple cold calls and in-person
meetings with potential clients. The KPI with the highest weight of 35%, which was secondary recharge,
was the one on which TSS primarily focused while MA was disregarded. One of the reasons for the
sluggish sales of MA was the incentive mismatch for TSS. Secondly, compared to OTC services, selling
Mobile Accounts needed a lot more work. An average explanation of a product's characteristics and
directions for use to a potential buyer took about 25 minutes. Since the bulk of Easy Paisa merchants ran
additional businesses, such grocery stores and cigarette shops. They could have made more money by
devoting the same amount of time in other enterprises than selling Mobile Accounts, but it was not in
their best interest to do so. Therefore, current OTC shops had a limited interest in offering mobile
accounts. The State Bank of Pakistan is the third justification. Since a mobile account had all the features
of a full bank account, State Bank of Pakistan approval was also necessary to create one. The delayed
registration made it more challenging to sell MA. They should be referred to as hunters because they
prioritized bringing in new clients above developing enduring relationships with existing ones. Due to
the daily rejections from potential clients, selling MA requires a great deal of ego drive (an
important characteristic of a hunter), as was also mentioned above. Additionally, their income was
based on an outcome-based system, which caused them to behave more like hunters than farmers.

4) How important is the role of Retailers in TP go to market strategy, what are different approaches TP
is using to retain them. Why are retailers not successful in selling Mobile accounts?

Retailers serve as the company's public face, and the value and customer experience they provide help
to build Telenor's brand equity. In addition, they serve as key locations for TP to collect data, therefore
they are crucial to the company's marketing strategy. Customers' choice to employ the services of a
certain firm is largely affected by merchants, since in some cases, customers have no preference as to
which company retailers choose to transfer their payments. As soon as competition began to arise, it set
out to steal Easypaisa retailers and convert them into agents. Approximately 45% of shops, according to
one estimate, used money transfer services from various service providers, and Easypaisa retailers were
effectively recruited by the competition by promising higher fees. Easypaisa launched a variety of
projects to address this issue, including cash management programs, merchant training programs, and
merchant loyalty programs. Due to a number of factors, retailers had to put out far more effort to
promote Mobile Accounts as contrasted to OTC services. An average explanation of a product's
characteristics and directions for use to a potential buyer took about 25 minutes. It was not in the
interest of the majority of merchants to spend time selling Mobile Accounts since they could make more
money by investing the same amount of time in other companies, such as grocery stores, cigarette
shops, etc. Another factor contributing to the slow growth of MA was the current OTC retailers' lack of
interest in offering Mobile Accounts.

5) Why and how TP launched MASO’s?

Compared to the present sales and distribution infrastructure of TP, the exclusive characteristics and
distinctive services of MA required a new marketing strategy. Because of this, selling to Mobile accounts
requires a push strategy as opposed to a pull one. Telenor introduced Mobile Account Sales Officers
(MASO's) to address these issues. The following goals informed the launch of the MASOs:

 To expand the number of mobile account direct selling agents

 Create a sales team that worked closely with clients to instruct and educate them on how to use
mobile accounts.
 To have a field force in the franchise channel that is mobilized.
 MASOs were to guarantee that active Mobile Accounts were used continuously.

Based on the sales in the area, an average of Two MASOs were employed in each franchise. This choice
was made following careful sensitivity research. When MASO was employed, they had to show off their
hunting tactics in order to promote the sale of mobile accounts. Each MASO's qualifying standard was
simple intermediate. After being hired, they received training from the regional trainers already in place
and were handed unique phones that enabled them to open an MA for the consumer right away. Cold
calling, house-to-house visits, visiting small and medium-sized businesses, and leads gathered by shops
were all ways that MASOs communicated with their clients. Both fixed and variable pay was given to
MASOs. The primary driving force for selling was the variable part. Mas The first four months of MASO's
performance were outstanding. They were able to hit a figure of 105,000 active mobile accounts.
Consequently, the MASO launch was successful.

6) Discuss the pros and cons of proposed options for MASO’s future?

The 500 to 800 number expansion was the first potential possibility for MASO. Given that the
performance of the current MASOs is commendable, there appears to be a highly lucrative chance to
grow the number of MASOs and meet the goals. However, there were also issues with the MASOs'
control and quality. Although they were only franchise employees, they were seen as Telenor's
representatives. As a consequence, Telenor showed little concern for their actions, which made the
consumers act like irritable hunters. Receiving cold calls from MASOs on a regular basis makes people
unhappy. With no rise in MA sales, this strategy would considerably raise the franchisees' fixed
expenditures. The second scenario for the future of MASOs was to keep the present number while
emphasizing quality and control. Controlling the manner in which MASO presents mobile accounts to
clients might aid Telenor in protecting its reputation. The way salespeople behave is crucial; sometimes,
hunters may turn clients away. As previously said, a single talented salesperson may generate more
revenue than a group of less experienced salespeople. Franchises with current fixed costs would
generate more revenue and experience better profits if their salesforce's abilities were improved.
However, even if sales would rise, it is likely that Telenor won't meet its objectives with the current
MASOs. If there was a delay in gaining more Mobile Accounts, it may result in losing a significant sum to
the competition as well, given the characteristics of OTC marketplaces. This technique has the additional
drawback that not every individual can be educated to be an effective salesperson unless they already
possess the necessary intrinsic traits. The third alternative, which looked preferable to the others,
involved adding franchise-owned MASOs in addition to TP-owned MASOs. The introduction of company-
owned MASOs would enable Telenor to target bigger segments, such as large enterprises and banks, i.e.,
the core segment of Telenor, as the majority of the unbanked consumers would have been served by
franchise-owned MASOs. The success of MAs in this industry is extremely likely because most corporate
executives choose branchless banking. This choice would give TP effective performance and a wider area
of coverage. Consequently, it is a very profitable chance to tap into a very large market. Again, this
alternative would result in an overall rise in fixed costs, but it also has advantages of its own.