Selling in India is a complex art and product Distribution is key. Even the best products with Best AD Campaign fail due to Bad distribution. A Live Case study of __ __ Paint Brush's Marketing Plan is presented for viewers to appreciate the challenges involved.

1. A B C Company Nagpur –
Marketed by Payal Enterprises.
Brand Building / Product Promotion / Sales Growth /
Schemes for Selling.
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2. Paint Brushes – A product sold through paint
shops and Hardware shops.
Market Survey feedback on quality expected by
Painters and Paint / Hardware shop dealers.
 Brush Bristles should be fine smooth quality with V Shape.
 Overall Brush design should be Strong with Sturdy handle, preferably
wood finish.
 The Package Design should be durable so as to withstand handling in
transport and shops
 Box Packing with branding to help shops store and retrieve the
brushes quickly at selling counter.
 Consistent Quality to target select customers.
 Low priced brand to target single use customers.
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3. » ABC Company has brushes with different quality
and brand names.
» For Consistency and market identification it is
suggested that
» ABC ZOOM - be used as High end brushes for top of
the range customers.
» ABC Super - Brushes to focus on good and
consistent quality.
» ABC Regular – Brushes will focus on low end
market with lower price and lower quality.
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4.  Demand Created by.
 Customers who want to get their House Painted.
 Builders / Painting Contractors / Customers living in Individual
Houses.
 Marriage Season.
 Festivals – Dassera / Diwali / Sankranti etc.
 Who is the customer
» Paint Brushes is a accessory to Paints and hence sold along with
Paints / wood polish / turpentine to painters.
» End User is the Painter and his comfort decides the brand value
and sales of the Brush.
» Incentive to Painters will help them identify and select ABC Brushs
over other competitors.
» Incentive will not help to sell low quality brushes.
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5. Influencers – Shop Owners, Senior
Painters.
Motivator - Scheme to attract, ( Free gift
pen, pencil, writing pad,
Decider - Customer / Contractor / Painter
Who is Buying the brush.
Final purchaser – Customer / Contractor.
Who uses the product – Painters or
Helpers.
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6. » Painters are regular buyers of Brushes and any quality problem
faced will ensure he will not buy the brush again. Painters reputation
will depend on the brush and any bad Quality will spoil his work and
he will not take risk with his livelihood.
» Painting / Hardware Shop Owners depend on the Painters for
selling their paints and bad quality will spoil the reputation of the
paint, painter, shop and the painting contractor.
» Paint is the final finish of the house / apartment / complex etc
and a good paint, look are important to help the Builders sell their
properties.
» Customer preferences in media – Customer purchase cannot be
influenced by advertisement as quality during use is more important
to decide the brush.
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7. 1 • Customer / Builder decides to paint house / complex etc
• They identify the Painting Contractor/ Painter
2
• Painter recommends the hardware shop, paint brand and brush
brand.
• Customer / Builder enquire’s and decide which Paint to buy.
3
• Rates are compared from 2-3 shops and order is finalised
• Painter checks colour, quantity and quality before taking
delivery.
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8. » Since The Product “Paint Brushes” are sold from
various shops the key is to have a wide range of
distribution.
˃ More No of shops ABC Brushes are available more will be the brand
image and sales growth.
˃ The distribution of Brushes should be proportionate to that of the
paints. Where ever paint is sold ABC brush should be sold.
˃ Hardware shops buy Brushes directly from Brush Marketers /
Wholesalers.
˃ Charminar is the market leader with presence in maximum no.of
outlets.
˃ Amber Brushes has maximum Brand value due to high quality ,
consistent quality and wide distribution reach.
˃ Local Brands, like Nano, Acme etc cater to limited market and play on
price and personal rapport to sell.
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9. » The general perception about ABC Brushes in the
Market is that Quality is not consistent. Some
batches come with good quality and as soon as
sales pickup quality deteriorates.
» Sales Staff are prepared to sacrifice incentive if it
will help improve the quality of the brushes.
» Horror stories of Bristles coming out when pulled
are managed by requesting the shop owner to
consider.
» Delivery Boys face the brunt of frustration when
they are forced to take back the material due to
Bad quality.
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10. » Painters are the main users and customers for paint brushes.
» Rewarding painters for choosing ABC Brushes is important as
a token of appreciation, support, motivation and
encouragement to buy more, recommend ABC to other
painters.
» Gift such as pens, markers, T-shirts, Caps, Writing Pads,
Pocket diary, Printed visiting cards with Name and Tel No
blank so that they can write and give to customers.
» Painters Meeting should be conducted to motivate them,
explain about the product. This help them remember the
Brand Name ABC Brushes and buy for next painting job.
» A Typical Painters meeting will consist of a gift pack with T
shirts, one brush, writing pad and pen along with some
snacks, Tea coffee for 50 people.
» Meeting can be conducted opp the paint shop itself by
putting a small tent and chairs and explain about ABC
brushes, models etc start at 5.00 pm close at 6.30 pm.
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11. » Recent Competitor Acme Brushes is started by Ex-Employee of ABC
Brushes and is slowly expanding his network.
» This person has learned what is important in the market in terms of
Quality, packing, Bristles smoothness, V – Shape, Price, Painter
Scheme such as Pen free with every brush and using his knowledge
to gain market share.
» Best companies learn from customers, Some companies learn from
competitors mistakes, Some from own mistakes. Some companies
do not learn at all.
» Sachin Tendulkar is the greatest Batsmen because he has not
changed his style of batting in last 20 years. Market respects
consistency. Sell one quality and stick to it forever.
» India is a huge market where every thing sells. Even a low quality
brush. There are villagers who want a low quality brush for single
one time use and throw. A low quality brush can be sold to them.
» There are painters such as wood polishers who use the brush
repeatedly until it is useless. They require a high quality multiple use
brush.
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12. » The challenge is to increase availability of ABC Brushes in
every pain shop / hardware shop.
» Distribution can be expanded by tying up with a paint
company and giving one brush free with every 20 kg of their
paint bucket.
» Such tie up can be made with Sai Coat wood polish / MC
Thinner. These Brands are available in every paint shop and
hardware shop. Many shops stock only 1-2 brands of paints
but every shop will stock wood polish / MC thinner.
» Once Brand is introduced, repetitive sales can be followed up
by sales team to get new orders.
» Strong office back end support is required to ensure every call
is attended and recorded with a call back message, call
forwarding to ensure customer service.
» Calls received after office hours are checked next day morning
and followed up.
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13. » The challenge is to increase availability of ABC Brushes in every pain shop /
hardware shop.
» Distribution can be expanded by CO-Marketing ABC Brush sales along with
other company and sharing a percentage with them.
» For E.g MC Thinner company can be approached to sell ABC Brushes
through their sales team and any sales happening a 5% commission will be
given. There is no investment of MC Thinner company in stocks, in credit etc.
Sales Executives of MC Thinner will book orders and pass on the same to
ABC Brush company and ABC will deliver and collect money on its own if
sales is within Hyd and nearby areas.
» For Up country sales MC thinner executive will collect and remit money to
bank a/c directly.
» The Sales Executive of MC Thinner will be paid a fixed travel / DA allowance
of Rs.5000/- per month and a commission of 1 % on sales and 2% on
collections. One executive will cover at least 50 shops and sell Rs.5 Lacs
worth of brushes.
» The total cost for 5 Lacs sales will be 5% = 1% + 2% + 5000/- = 20000 = 9% of
Total sales.
» Benefit to MC Thinner they can pay less money to their sales staff. Their staff
will have more work to do cover more area and develop rapport with more
dealers etc and also get 5% without any risk.
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14. » The challenge is to increase availability of ABC Brushes in
every pain shop / hardware shop.
» Distribution can be expanded by selling to Wholesalers.
» Wholesalers typically buy large quantities at a very low price
and distribute it to smaller retailers on cash or credit.
» Wholesalers help manufacturers to reach those small retailers
who are in remote location / buy small quantities / credit
history is bad / are unknown.
» Wholesalers have to be dealt with by the Owner directly as
margins / delivery schedules are very tight. The quality
commitments have to be made by owner of ABC company /
Payal Enterprises. Incase of Bad quality they should directly
deal with wholesalers. Also regarding payment terms only
owners can take decisions.
» The trick is to not depend on one wholesaler always and keep
changing the wholesaler frequently to ensure the product
moves to newer counters every month.
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15. » The challenge is to increase sales without increasing
credit. Collect credit faster and rotate money quickly.
» Each shop can buy brushes normally as per present
procedure. As soon as a shop makes a payment of
2000/- in one installment or 2-3 installments he gets
a scratch card. As he scratches the card he gets a gift
printed on the card.
» The dealer will be worried that if he does not pay
quickly he will loose the high price scratch card. He
cannot blame anyone as he can choose any card
from the bunch the collection boy is having.
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0% 2% 5% 7.50% 10% 15% 20%
One Scratch Card for
Rs.2000/- purchase 0 40 100 150 200 300 400
Total Sales under
Scheme =
Rs.10,00,000 125 200 100 50 25 10 5
Total Prize
money
Total No of Scratch
Cards distributed =
500 nos 0 8000 10000 7500 5000 3000 2000 35500
Total cost in %
age= 3.6%

17. Sales Manager
Sal – Rs.25000/-
Sales Executive
Hyderabad / Ranga
Reddy Rs.10,000/-
Sales Executive
Telangana Districts
HQ Hyderabad
Sales Executive
Andhra Dist
HQ Vijayawada
Sales Executive
Rayalaseema
HQ Tirupati
Sales Coordinator
Sal – Rs.10000/-
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Sales Staff should be neatly dressed with in shirt. Preferably A uniform
with ABC Brush Logo can be given to create Brand Image at every shop
they visit.
Delivery Boys / Collection Boys should have a dress code. Jeans with
Company T shirt similar to Courier boys to create a Brand image and
identity in the market.
A Dress code will create a discipline/pride in staff and image for the
company.

18. » Sales Staff – Salary Rs.9000/- per month.
» Mobile Reimbursement Rs.500/- per month.
» Travel allowance Rs.2.50 per Km, Daily allowance
Rs.50/- per day for working on field.
» Working Hrs 10.00 am to 7.00 pm. Lunch 1.30 pm
to 2.00 pm. Sunday Holiday.
» Incentive 1% of Sales generated all products.
» Collection 2% of collection generated.
» Quality Complaints handled – Rs.500/- per
Complaint if proved correct.
» New Outlet added – Rs.100/- per outlet.
» Painter meeting conducted – Rs.1000/- per
meeting.
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19. » Sales Manager – Salary Rs.17000/- per month.
» Mobile Reimbursement Rs.1000/- per month.
» Travel allowance Rs.3.00 per Km, Daily allowance
Rs.75/- per day for working on field.
» Working Hrs 10.00 am to 7.00 pm. Lunch 1.30 pm
to 2.00 pm. Sunday Holiday.
» Incentive 0.5% of Sales generated all products.
» Collection 1% of collection generated.
» Quality Complaints handled – Rs.50/- per
Complaint if proved correct.
» New Outlet added – Rs.10/- per outlet.
» Painter meeting conducted – Rs.100/- per meeting.
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20. » Quality commitment
» There should not be any quality complaints in Zoom Brushes and
ABC Super grade Brushes.
» ABC Regular Grade brushes can have quality complaints maximum
10% Brushes.
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21. » Unisun will guide sales manager / executive on field
related issues.
» Unisun review the sales with Payal enterprises
Management will suggest changes in planning every month
1st week.
» Unisun will design schemes suited to the market and guide
sales staff in implementing them.
» Unisun will take inputs about competitor activity and plan
counter moves to protect market share / collections etc.
» Unisun will participate in discussions with other
companies for Tie –ups in marketing, product sampling .
Sharing expenses on selling etc.
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