Sales Management 2
Directions: Be sure to save an electronic copy of your answer before submitting it for grading. Unless otherwise stated, answer in complete sentences, and be sure to use correct English, spelling and grammar. Sources must be cited in APA format. Your response should be four (4) double-spaced pages; refer to the "Assignment Format" page located on the Course Home page for specific format requirements. Part A: You were recently promoted to a sales manager position for ABC Company, which offers customized software for physicians, dentists, and veterinarians. Unfortunately, you are now the sales manager for one of your company’s least productive regions. After several weeks on the job, you become concerned about the high rate of turnover. Three salespeople have resigned within the last two months. Replacements are needed and there is little time to hire, train, and deploy them in the field. Upon further review of the situation, you discover that two of the salespeople resigned because they felt the sales organization was structured unfairly. They had been assigned to geographical areas that were difficult, and their sales quotas were not adjusted accordingly. You know quite well that replacing a sales person can be costly. In fact, the cost to the company can be as high as $300,000 per bad hire because time and money are lost in the process of recruiting, hiring, training, missed sales, bad relationships, and firing. Before you begin your search, you want to be certain that you have a well thought-out organizational plan and that you attract the right people for these positions. To help you prepare your hiring plan, answer the following questions. 1. Describe two (2) reasons why it is important for firms to organize their sales activities into a specific structure. 2. Describe one (1) disadvantage of the current structure. Describe one (1) advantage and one (1) disadvantage of a geographical sales structure. 3. Which sales structure do you recommend and why? Provide two (2) supporting facts. Part B: Realizing that the right people for these positions could come from a variety of places, you decide to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of hiring from within the organization, through referrals, and by using advertising methods. What are your opinions on the following? 1. What are two (2) advantages and two (2) disadvantages of hiring internal candidates for sales positions? 2. What are two (2) benefits of hiring people referred to the company by friends or relatives? 3. Discuss one (1) difference between the kinds of applicants that will come in from a newspaper ad versus postings on online job boards. Does this difference indicate anything about future job performance? Part C: You have just finished a series of interviews with a person who you feel is an excellent candidate for one of your firm’s open sales position. She has a 3.4 grade point average and a marketing degree. The candidate has excellent communication skills, held a part-time sales job throughout college to help pay for school, and was an officer in the sales fraternity on campus. She will definitely make a great entry-level salesperson at your company. Your only concern is that another company will offer her a job before you do! Before the candidate is offered a job, your company requires that a few of the applicant’s references be checked. During the process, you discover that your ideal candidate lied on her resume and application. She was never an officer in the sales fraternity; she was only a member. 1. Given the difficulty in finding excellent candidates, would you hire this candidate? Provide two (2) supporting facts to justify your position. 2. Would your decision change if you also find out this candidate has several speeding tickets? Why or why not?
Sales Management
Name:
Institution:
Candidates, who are looking for a job, feel that it is a tough call. For the hiring managers, it is even harder given the number of risks that are at stake. The two parties have to be very cautious that they do not fall for the wrong impressions. The cost of hiring a new candidate to any of the firms is very high and any mistakes that are committed during the hiring process multiply over the time that the candidate is going to be working for the company. If the hiring manager makes the blunder and brings on board some one that is not competent enough and results the need for a replacement, the cost of having a new replacement can easily escalate to $300,000 US dollars. This is because there are costs accrued from the hiring process, training, missed sales, salaries, poor relationships that the said candidate establishes and then at the end, firing the candidate (Bell, 2012).
Most of the sales organizations have clear sales activities organized into structures. There are various reasons that the sale organizations have these structures, but among the most crucial ones, is to establish clear lines of authority. This means that every other activity is assigned to a specific person and there is a clear line of responsibility and accountability. If a certain line is not performing, it is easier to tell what the issue is as the sales managers can follow up with the sales person assigned to the area. Accountability is pivotal to these structures as it makes follow up and mitigation strategies very specific, instead of having generalized solutions, for the different area that are unique in their own way. The other advantage relates to the ease of communication within the different levels and between the levels of management present. While it is easy to assume that the lines of authority are synonymous with those of communication, they are quite different especially because as companies grow their communication protocols also change (Falcone, Baker & Taylor, Inc., 2002).
One of the main disadvantages of the current structures is due to the division and the allocation of the various areas. Most of the sales persons that have left the company complained of assignment to difficult areas, to individuals and the payment remaining the same across board. There must be division if the difficult areas to more people compared to the easier regions if the pay has to be the same across board. Failure to the division, the sales persons assigned to the areas have their pay increased (Bell, 2012).
On the other hand, the main advantages that are commensurate with the geographical sale structure is that the sales persons do not have to travel for long distances to cover their areas. This also means that they have more time to handle their areas and dedicate their energies towards more productive sales (Bell, 2012). However, there is also the aspect of the ambitious sales persons having difficulty with their allocated area due to size, as they are limited and their potential is not fully utilized. Some of the sales persons have the ability to handle larger areas, but because they have to be confined to, the smaller regions, they do not have a way of exploiting their potential and may end up feeling that the company or the strategy is inhibiting their growth.
Candidates hired internally feel that their company cares and appreciates their hard work. This also means that they are going to be very motivated to work for the company, as the act of hiring from within is taken to mean that they have been rewarded. Other employees will also strive for re...