After having viewed the video clips and worked through the extended reading, please respond to the below discussion prompt. You should post your initial response by the date indicated in the module calendar. Please be sure to reference your sources in appropriate Harvard formatting and to provide substantive evidence of any claims that you make. Where appropriate, include personal anecdotes, statistics, and references to additional reading or materials.

After you have posted your initial response, visit the forum again over the coming days to read the responses of your peers. You should respond to at least two other students by asking them to elaborate on a point, providing a counter-argument, suggesting a topic for debate, or referring to the extended reading or video clips. Discussion

question 1: Meet the Avon Reps! DQ 1 – Meet the Avon Reps!.jpg Figure 2 Avon Ladies (Nostalgia Central, n.d) For those of you thinking that the kitsch Avon lady is a thing of the past, think again. Many ladies with an entrepreneurial spark and access to the right connections are still making a handsome living from a role that entails selling Avon cosmetic products directly to the public.

Read the following story about Gail Reynolds from the West Midlands in the UK, who claims to earn £170,000 per year by putting in a 20-hour week as an Avon lady: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/11574329/Who-on-earth-keeps-the-Avon-Lady-in-business.html (Links to an external site.)

Now, reflect on Gail’s success in light of some of the key messages emerging from this conference paper which was presented at the end of 2016: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308940401_When_Sales_Meet_Process_Mining_A_Scientific_Approach_to_Sales_Process_and_Performance_Management_Research-in-Progress (Links to an external site.) The paper was delivered by four academics, who question the premise that effective business development is an art form delivered by wily practitioners.

There are two main strands to the study: the first focuses on some of the current challenges in managing sales processes, and the second investigates how process mining could be leveraged to address some of these issues. You don’t need to go into too much depth in terms of the methodology employed by the study; more accessible sections include the abstract and the literature review, which offers an interesting overview of how a more scientific approach to sales has evolved over the years.

For example, the study traces the evolution of SPIN selling in the ’80s. In particular, a more scientific approach considers: A structured sales approach The use of key indicators Support by means of sales tools Imagine that you are giving some consultancy support to Avon, who would like, in turn, to offer better support to its team of field consultants. In a brief report to Avon’s senior management team:

Outline how the adoption of more scientific approaches to sales – by utilising process mining techniques, CRM systems, and new tools such as smartwatches – can benefit both the organisation and individual Avon consultants.

Critically assess whether you think that the success of the best performing Avon sales representatives – such as Gail Reynolds — is attributable more to ‘art’ driven by personal intuition and native sales talent, or more to ‘science’ and scientific processes in the modern sales environment.