Just Emkaying: December 2007

Dec 8, 2007

LOREAL Experience- BA Management 2

Hi... today am going to continue about BA management. Like i mentioned in the last post the initial stage is to connect with your BA's and make them a part of your team. Remember without this there is no point in going ahead with part 2 as it wont work without the initial understanding and faith.

Any way in part 2 we look at how to get BA's to do their work honestly and diligently. Usually a BA will not see the logic in doing a particular work, when in essence it would definitely efect her. Confused??
Let me explain with an example. One of the task of the BA is to maintain the products in the shelfs in a particuar manner ( planogram) and very tidy. To the Ba these tasks sound similar to "cleaning the house and keeping things in place". What they dont understand is that product placement at eye level effects customer decison making and that effects sale which directly affects achievment of sales target and thereby incentives :)

That is product placement==>customer purchase==>better sales==>achieve target==>get incentive.

This logic has to be explained to the BA. But ah...the jobs not easy and not enough to convince the BA. You have to prove th logic!!! only then does the BA realize the logic.

That was just an example. I am sure most cosmetic companies would agree with me that the BA is a powerhouse of information and possibilities. Getting them to invlve actively in the selling process and providing market inteligence is a massive task. one can only expect this as that is the possibilities of such an involvement by the BA!!

Any way am planning to do some innovations, but my BA's are resigning left right and center so i need some time to set things right:)

till then friends

cheers!!!

Dec 6, 2007

the LOREAL experience-BA management

The last 4 days has been very busy with meetings and meetings. It has been fantastic, tiring and most inspiring. I have come to know what really a team means, how targets work and how subtle things can be in an environment which is full of targets, managing people and enjoying the process...


Today i thought i would say something about BA management. BA as in Beauty Advisors. For those in the sales field these terms would be similar to sales reps, sales promoters etc. But when we speak of Beauty advisors in a cosmetic company we mean more of a permanent nature of advisors who are there at LOREAL or maybelline counters who are present to explain to the customers about the products, new launches and offers. As an employee who has to manage these BA's I found a lack of information regarding the same on the net.

Managing BA's is not as simple as handling sales reps. A BA has to be checked on many fronts. first and foremost, for a Brand like LOREAL its important that our BA at all time has to be very well presented, because she is a reprsentative of the company and an ambassador to the customer. Second how she attends to the custome and whether she is able to fulfill needs afte identifying them. Third is whether the BA is actually present at the counter, or is busy makng up reasons and not coming to the counter.

It is also very difficult to enforce the rules and policies of the company because it takes a great deal to keep the discipline alive in a BA because over a period these things get monotonous. For a BA who has to be at the counter for 9 hours standing and doing the same things day after day, motivation and energy levels tend to die down.

So how does one keep the BA going and still motivate her to go for her targets??

Well the trick is to build relations or like my boss says PR. Personal relations. Suboordinates usually see their superiors as people who are out to make their lifes miserable (if not hard) to achieve their goals. This is where the imediate superior has to build bridges ( "connect") as my boss says.. and he is as usual right on. For any relation to build there has to be two things...trust/faith and confidence. When you have confidence in the superior you tend to accept their guidance and ensure excellence. And when you have faith in your superior you know that come what may he will always stand by you and help you.

Building this relation is the essence of handling BAs, Sales teams and people......


Cheers!!!