Read Company Case: Proctor and Gamble Selling Through Customer Business Development, and answer the following questions:

1. From the perspective of team selling, discuss the positive as well as some possible negative aspects to the customer business development sales organization.
2. Discuss some ways that the CBD structure may be more effective than a single sales rep for each step in the personal selling process.
3. It seems that P&G has the most effective sales force structure of any company in its industry. Why have competitors not been able to match it?

Company Case: Procter 8: Gamble: Selling through Customer Business Development When it comes to personal selling, the term winwin gets thrown around so much that it has become a cliche. But at Procter IS: Gamble, the selling concept that the company benets only if the customer benets has long been a way of life. Since William Procter and James Gamble formed a familyoperated soap and. candle company in 183?, P&G has understood that if the customer doesn't do well, neither will the company. So although P&G boasts a sales force of more than 3,000 employees in the United States alone, P&Gers rarely utter the term sales. Instead, at PtG, they call it customer business development, or CED. The title pretty much says it all. Rather than just selling detergent or toothpaste, P&G's philosophy is to grow its own business by growing the business of its customers, the thousands of retailers and wholesalers that distribute P-SzG's brands throughout the world. To these customers, P&G isn't just a supplier. It's a strategic business partner. \"We depend on them as much as they depend on us,\" says Jeff Weedman, a CED manager. The Core Competency of Customer Business Development As today's big retailers get bigger and bigger, they also grow more complex. Take companies such as Walmart, Kroger, or Amazon. How can a vendor like 1'}!th ever fully understand such giant customers? These complex organizations have so many arms and legs that it becomes nearly impossible to get a full and rm grasp on their operations and needs. To deal with such customer complexities, PtG organizes its sales representatives into customer business development teams. Rather than assigning reps to specific geographic regions or products, it assigns each CED team to a P&G customer. For the company' 5 biggest customer, Walmart {which accounts for 16 percent of all P&G sales), the CED team consists of more than 300 employees. For a customer such as Family Dollar, the naon's second Iargest dollar store chain, the CED team has a comparatively few 30 employees. Regardless of the team's size, the strength of the CED concept derives from the fact that each team, in and of itself, is a complete customerservice unit, containing at least one support specialist for every important business function. In addition to an overall CED manager and several sales account executives {each responsible for a specic category of P&:G products}, each CED team includes specialists in marketing strategy, operations, information systems, logistics, finance, and human resources- This multifunctional structure enables each team to meet the multiple and vast needs of its customer, whether the needs revolve around those of a chief nance ofcer or an entire IT department. t'l'Tl] HBVIE'WIFIQ anu manulng HIE LDI'IDB'PIEI Personal ballll'lg anu MISS HDITIDIIDI'I A real strength of the CED teams is that team members function as a collaborative whole rather than as individuals performing their own tasks in isolation. Team members share information, organizational capabilities, and technologies. \"I have all the resources I need right here,\" says Amy Fuschino, a HealthCare and Cosmetics account executive. \"If I need to, I can go right down the hall and talk with someone in marketing about doing some kind of promotional deal. It's that simple.\" But the multifunctional nature of the CED team also means that collaboration extends far beyond internal interactions. Each time a CED team member contacts the customer, he or she represents the entire team. For example, if during a customer call a CED account executive receives a question about a promotional, logistical, or financial matter, the account executive acts as the liaison with the appropriate CED specialist. So, although not each CED member has specialized knowledge in every area, the CED team as a unit does. Competitors have attempted to implement some aspects of P&G"s multifunctional approach. However, P&G pioneered the CED structure. And it has built in some unique characteristics that have allowed it to leverage more power from its team structure than its rivals can. The True Advantage For starters, P&G's CED structure is broader and more comprehensive, making it more multifunctional than similar team structures employed by other companies. But perhaps more important, P&G"s structure is designed to accomplish four key objectives. So important are these objectives that they are referred to internally as the \"core work\" of CED. These four objectives are: - Align strategy: To create opportunities for both P826. and the customer to benefit by collaborating in strategy development. - Create demand: To build protable sales volume for Pch and the customer through consumer value and shopper satisfaction. - Optimize supply: To maximize the efciency of the supply chain from PEZG to the point of purchase to optimize cost and responsiveness. - Enable the organizatisn: To develop capabilities to maximize business results by creating the capacity for frequent breakthrough. More than just corporate catchphrases jotted down in an employee handbook, these are words to live by for CED employees. P&G trains sales employees in methods of achieving each objective and evaluates their effectiveness in meeting the objectives. In fact, the CED concept came about through the recognition that, in order to develop true winwin relationships with each customer, P152113 would need to accomplish the first objective. According to Bill Warren, a CED senior account executive, \"The true competitive advantage is achieved by taking a multifunctional approach from basic selling to strategic customer collaboration!\" Strategic collaboration starts with annual joint business planning. Both the PdtG team and the customer come to the table focused on the most important thing: How can each best provide value for the final consumer? The team and customer give much attention during this planning phase to how products can best be presented and placed in the retail setting. This is because Paint] and its customers know that the end consumer assesses value within the first three to seven seconds of seeing that product on the shelf. At PISIG, this is known as \"wirming the first moment of truth.\" If customers quickly perceive that a product will meet their needs, they will likely purchase it. CED team members are very good at demonstrating to the retailer that the best way to win the rst moment of truth is most often with a P&G product. But PStG is so committed to developing the customer's business as a means of developing its own that it is open to the possibility that the best way to serve the customer may be through a competitor\" s product. The CED team's primary goal is to help the customer win in each product category. Sometimes, analysis shows that the best solution for the customer is "the other guy's product.\" For PtG, that's OK. PtG knows that creating the best situation for the retailer ultimately brings in more customer traffic, which in turn will likely result in increased sales for other RSIG products in the same category. Because most of PStG's brands are market leaders, P&G stands to benefit more from the increased traffic than competitors. Again, it's a winwin situation. This type of honesty also helps to build trust and strengthen the companyfcustomer relationships. The collaborative efforts between P&G and each of its customers often involve more than joint plarmmg and the sharing of information. They may also involve cooperative efforts to share the costs of different activities. \"We'll help customers run these commercials or do those merchandising events, but there has to be a returnoninvestment,\" explains Amy Fuschino. \"heiaybe it's helping us with a new distribution or increasing space for fabric care. We're very willing if the effort creates value for us in addition to creating value for the customer and the consumer.\" If the CED team can effectively accomplish the first objective of aligning strategy and collaborating on strategic development, accomplishing the other three objectives will follow more easily. For example, if strategic planning leads to winning the first moment of truth, not only does the consumer benefit, but both the retailer and FEES achieve higher revenues and prots as well. Through proper strategic planning, it is also more likely that both Pilaf} and the customer will create greater efficiencies in the supply chain. It's Better to Give . . . Then to Receive Ey collaborating with customers, P&G receives as much as or more than it gives. Among other things, P&G receives information that helps in achieving the fourth CED objective, enabling the organization to achieve innovation. So far as the research and development process is concerned, this means creating better products. This is one reason why, at the 2019 Product of the Year awards held in New York City, P&G cleaned up, winning four of the categories in which it competes. In recent years, the consumer products industry has been hit hard by tough economic times and a rise in popularity of store brands. But P&G has weathered the storm. Over the past few years, P&G has divested many low performing brands in order to strengthen its best brands. PEIG remains the world's largest consumer products firm with $6? billion in revenues and more brands that bring in more than $1 billion every year than any other company. Last year, Pampers sales alone exceeded $3.5 billion, a figure that by itself would have made the leading diaper brand number 35? on the prestigious Fortune 500 list. Many factors have contributed to P&G's growth and success. But the role that CED plays can't be overestimated. And as 13:th moves forward, Ivir. Weedman's words that \"We depend on them as much as they depend on us" ring ever more true. As P&G's megacustomers grow in size and power, developing PrStG's business means first developing its customers' businesses. And the CED sales organization lies at the heart of that effort5'13