Meaning of marketing control, Features, Advantages and PRocess of mArketing Control.

1. MARKETING
CONTROL
Asst. Prof. Parasmani Jangid
SDJ International College

2. Meaning of Marketing Control
• Marketing control includes control over all activities related to marketing to see whether they
are going on as planned or not. To be more precise, Marketing Control refers to the control of
every activity related to marketing.”

3. Marketing Audit
• To keep control over marketing, it is necessary to exercise control over marketing strategy
entirely & evaluate it thoroughly. The method used for controlling marketing in its totality,
instead of controlling its components separately one by one is called “Marketing Audit.”

4. Utility/need/objectives of Marketing
Control
• Control over selling costs: Due to competition, selling costs in most organisations have gone up.
It is estimated that S& D cost accounts for 25% of market price. In luxury items, it accounts for
50 to 60% of market price. These costs can be controlled by i) Negative measures which aim at
reducing selling costs, keeping sales constant. ii) Positive measures which aim at increasing total
sales, keeping selling costs constant.
• To maintain equilibrium in marketing activities: In absence of marketing control, sales of only
those products will be high which do not require much marketing efforts. On the other hand,
there are some products which a company can produce most efficiently & therefore must be
produced compulsorily for technical reseaons. But if its marketing is too tough, the products
may not be sold & there will be disequilibrium.

5. • To maintain equilibrium among different sales area: In absence of marketing control, salesmen
will prefer to go to only areas where products are easily sold out without much marketing
efforts. In this case sales will be limited only to only some areas which will lead to disequilibrium.
So Market Control is a must.
• Control over performance of salesmen: It is necessary that salesmen are sincere, honest, hard
working, etc. it is also necessary that there are given different regions in correct proportion. For
their performance evaluation, it is necessary to fix their sales quota, to demand weekly reports,
etc. Marketing Control makes corrective measures if needed.
• To make sales planning effective: If actual sales is not as per anticipated sales, sales planning has
no meaning. To ensure that this doesn,t happen, Marketing control exercise control over sales
plan.

6. Advantages of Marketing Control
• Sales Activity can be undertaken as per schedule thereby ensuring good profits.
• Once sales quota is fixed, it is possible to check the progress of sales by comparing with the
targets.
• Marketing Control requires strict control over activities of salesmen.
• Marketing Control increase in the efficiency of whole organisation.
• Due to Marketing Control, control over salesmen is possible so they are tend to deal politely with
customers which increases goodwill & prestige of firm.
• Marketing Control shows the proper distribution channels based on type of product & market
condition.
• Due to Marketing control, sales target can be achieved as per the plans in the schedule.
• Through Marketing Control, useful information can be availed of, making necessary changes in
price, etc.

7. Process of Marketing Control
1. Establishing standards of performance: Actual performance has to be compared with
standards. For that standards are needed which will be a base for comparing actual performance
with standards & ensuring whether performance is upto the mark or not. There can be different
standards like-
• Standards for sales volume- volume of sales for coming period can be fixed in sales budget
• Standards for sales expenditure- by dividing total cost into selling & distribution costs
• Standards for market share- higher the share, better it is
• Standards for profits- which makes easy to lay down standard of profit per unit.

8. 2. Gathering data on performance: TO compare actual results, it is necessary to gather or
collectall relevant data. For this 3 methods are used-
1. Personal Observation- sales managers or supervisors obtain data by observation
2. Oral reports- by organising meetings or conference
3. Written reports- by obtaining reports from salesmen. This is the best method.

9. 3. Analysing performance: Now the actual performance is compared with standards. If there is a
wide difference between them, attempt should be made to find out causes for deviations.
Causes could be laziness of salesmen, changes in consumers’ tastes, etc.
4. Taking corrective measures: Once the causes are found out, actions must be taken to remove
them. There are 3 types of corrective measures which are-
1. Changes in sales efforts
2. Increasing resources of HR
3. Changes in standards

10. Thank You