Chinese smartphone maker, Lenovo, is going aggressive on all fronts with their new premium and medium-range line they are going to focus on. Lenovo is also a very old player in the market, that enjoys trust from Indian users.
In a first in India, Lenovo has tied-up with Paytm to disburse money to sales representatives for the expenses occurred during sales and marketing. The money will be digitally transferred to Paytm wallet for the distributors and representatives, who can then choose to use them for their bills and transportation.
This will allow instantaneous transfer of money to the sales reps and distributors, who usually had to wait longer to get their expenses reimbursed. Lenovo hopes to attract talent through this and increase the market share gradually.
Lenovo’s model for improving sales
According to Lenovo, they have set up a business account with Paytm to disburse money to sales reps who will get anything between Rs 1,500 to Rs 5,000, depending on their skills and designations.
The money to individual Paytm wallets will be transferred from this business account depending on targets and activities.
The same money can be used to pay for their telephones bills or cab services, like Uber, spent towards attracting consumers to Lenovo’s services. This will also make sure that the money being transferred is ultimately being put to use by the distributors and sales reps.
How Will this Help?
We all know Paytm transactions are mostly online, or offline at some retail stores. However, it is quite possible that the sales rep uses his/her wallet for other expenses, unless everything is tied up by Lenovo in the end, or if their is an audit. Misuse is quite probable, although we’re hoping Lenovo has some strict regulations for that.
Let’s put ourselves in a sales rep’s shoes and think about how we will benefit. For one, money will be flowing in after every target met, allowing us to continue smoothly without any worries. Secondly, I need to own a smartphone for such services, and there are still many feature phone users, simply because a smartphone is not very cheap to own and maintain.
If only Lenovo was also giving out its cheapest smartphone to the sales reps or distributors, things would have been clearer. However, even then it looks like a huge initiative to drive sales.
Lenovo has already registered 350 partners and wishes to reach a target of 5,000 by next year.
Now i got a feeling for lenovo as most of us dnt like paytm.