Selling Performance of Stevens - Case Study Example

Title: Fletcher Electric Case Study Table of Contents Title: Fletcher Electric Case Study 1 Buying behaviors of Tymco according to Stevens 2 Evaluation of the selling performance of Stevens 3 Performance of Steven’s sales manager. 6 Reference 8 Feedback Form 8 Buying behaviors of Tymco according to Stevens The accounts manager, Stevens of Fletcher Company got the wrong impression about the buying behavior and needs of her customer which is Tymco Company. According to her the main priority of the company was to make profits despite the risks and quality of the products. For this reason, reason she had to persuade the sales agent of Tymco to purchase controls and motors from the company instead of buying them from multiple suppliers. This according to her would have reduce the costs by the company and reduce losses from purchasing the products from multiple companies. It is also clear that she did not understand the needs of her customer well enough. She thought that her customer was not more focused on the quality of the products. It is for this reason that she was able to convince the company to purchase all the controls from her company. She even went ahead and convinced the agent of Tymco to purchase motors from her company. However she ignored the fact that Tymco used to purchase some controls and motors from other companies due to the failure of Fletcher’s products to meet some of the company’s quality requirements. This proves that the company was not just focused on purchasing the goods but it was also focused on the quality of the goods. Although she was able to convince the customer to purchase the products from her company, it did not work out quite well with some members of Tymco Company. This is evident that she did not understand the needs of the customers well enough to make the decisions that she had to make. Stevens was also ignorant and she did not make enough consultations before making decisions that she made. During her decision making process she did not put into consideration the needs and objectives of her customers. She also ignored the fact that the customer was making certain decisions due to some reasons that were best meant for the company. She also failed to understand the motivation factor of her customers. The customer did not want to purchase just any equipment but those that will satisfy their needs. It is evident that she did not see the reason why the customer had to purchase certain products from other companies while her company could supply the products. Her main motive was profit making since she even estimated that if the proposal she had could go through, then the company would double its profits. However she did not consider the attributes of her customer concerning her products. Her products could not fully satisfy the needs of the customer. This is an area she had not researched about. The products from her company had a high reject rate as compared to those of other companies that supplied the same products. It is thus evident that she did not understand fully the needs and requirements of her customers well enough. She also did not know the objectives of her customers regarding the products. If she had this knowledge, then it would have been easier for her to make wise decisions. The fact that she did not consult some members of Tymco proves that the customer required a practical approach of issues before implementation. Evaluation of the selling performance of Stevens The selling performance of Stevens is not good enough despite the efforts that she was making to ensure that the company was profitable. She is very aggressive in terms of winning the support of the customers but at the same time she is over ambitious. This led to a lot of ignorance on her part concerning some important considerations in the areas of sales and marketing. It brings down her overall performance despite the good intentions she had. She did not conduct a wide research to establish the true needs and requirements of the customer, instead she made proposals that she thought would work for the company as well as the customers. Her sensitivity to the needs of the customers is also questionable. This is because she made decisions without considering the opinions of the customer or the reasons why the customer is engaged in such decisions. She finds it costly and wasteful for the customer to purchase the products from different suppliers and yet her company has the potential of supplying the customer with the products fully. This is ignorance on her part the customer had their own reasons for making that kind of decision which was mainly for the purpose of quality. The customer considers quality more than the profit and puts more emphasizes in satisfying their own clients. This fact was not put into consideration when she was making her own decisions concerning the sales process. The fact that she did not conduct research to establish the needs of the customers is an example of poor sales traits. A good sales person should make thorough analysis of the market before making proposals to the customer. This will avoid the risk of loosing the support of the customer and hence a loss for the organization. Her account management activity is also poor due to the decisions that she made. She did not consult widely enough before making proposals. The proposal she made was as a result of a suggestion by one of the Engineer at the company. She did not carry out an analysis of the impacts of the success or failure of such a venture. Her interest is mainly based on profit making at all cost. Although the main purpose of the business is to make profits, a sales person should be sensitive enough and employ proper means of doing it. Consultations is very important it is evident that she did not consult the all the technical staff members at Tymco and as a result, some of the Engineers were not satisfied with the earlier decisions of buying motors from the company since it did not meet the required specification. This led to a high rejection rate by the clients compared to those of the other companies. The fact that she did not follow the right procedures before making some of her decisions shows an element of unethical marketing behaviors. This led to the company being branded negatively and the customer expressed concern claiming that the company was not ready for a serious business commitment. The proposal she had made also had a huge impact on the customer and yet the customer had not been involved in the planning process. Although it was meant to attract huge sums of money in terms of profits the proposal was rejected. The presentation part of it was also a problem and thus it contributed to the rejection of the whole proposal. These reasons therefore prove that her management of her account is poor although she is ambitious and good at negotiating with the customers. Poor management of the customer will definitely lead to a poor outcome as was the case with her situation with the customer. Despite the negative outcome, she still has the potential of achieving great results. This is considering her great negotiation skills with the customer that enabled her company to sell other products to the customer. There are some of the issues which she would have done differently and the outcome of her performance would have been positive. Before making any decisions to convince the agent and the customer to buy products from her company, it would have been necessary to conduct an extensive research to establish the reasons why the customer was purchasing the products from different suppliers. An extensive survey of the customer behavior would have formed the basis for her decisions and strategies which would have lead to positive outcome. Since her levels of consultations were very low, she should have made enough consultations before carrying out any task. With proper consultations it would have been easier for her to gain the support of all the members of the technical team and Engineers in the department. Although profit making is a must for any company, she would have shifted her focus and let the profit making exercise be the last priority after establishing the major priorities. As a sales person, Stevens should have put in place more issues regarding the ethics. This would have ensured that she had followed all the correct procedures and win more trust from the customer. All the decisions she made would have been adopted easily by the company and the customers. Performance of Steven’s sales manager. According to the sales performance of Stevens, it is obvious that her sales manager is also a poor performer. The sales manager is also not proactive enough in terms of ensuring proper mechanisms are in place for the purpose of promoting the growth of the company as well as addressing the needs of the customers. Her manager could also be more concerned with making profits and expanding the company in terms of growth. It is for this reason that Stevens had to make a lot of decisions aimed at ensuring that the company emerged profitable. Her manager is also a non performer since it is the responsibility of the sales manager to ensure that accurate information regarding sales is available. This is mainly for the purpose of ensuring that decisions are made based on facts. Stevens is also aggressive in terms of making decisions and ensuring that the products of the company are sold. This shows that her manager trusted her and has given her complete independence to make decisions on her behalf provided it was good for the company. It is evident that most decisions made including the proposal were done without the involvement of the sales manager. This is a proof of poor performance since some limits has to be put in place with the sales manager being involved more actively in such processes. The sales manager also puts a lot of reliance on Stevens for the purpose of achieving the goals and objectives of the company without putting personal efforts to ensure that the company is heading towards the right direction. If the sales manager was actively involved in some of the processes then proper decisions would have been made. If the sales manager was a good performer, several measures would have been put in place to avert the negative outcome that was witnessed. The measures would have included provision of adequate information to regarding the market environment and the needs for the customer. This is mainly because the sales manager should be familiar with the trends in the market and the requirements by the clients. This would have ensured that Stevens does not make the wrong decisions with negative outcome. It is also important to note that research should have been facilitated by the research manager and it would have averted the chances of making wrong decisions. The sales manager should also have taken the opportunity to facilitate consultations with the customer before Stevens could come up with any proposal. This shows that the sales manager did not give adequate information to Stevens and had to relay on her own means to make the decisions. If measures for consultations were in place, then the negative outcome could have been avoided. Ethical measures should have been put in place by the sales manager for the purpose of defining the boundaries which Stevens should observe in the course of operations and making decisions. The negative outcome could also have been avoided if the sales manager could have been proactive enough to ensure that decisions made are after wide consultations. Reference Stanton, W, et al, 1999, Management of a sales force: Fletcher Electric Inc, London: McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0071167676. Feedback Form Student Feedback Strong Agreement Some Agreement Little Agreement No Agreement Don’t Know I’m satisfied with my efforts in this paper I’m satisfied with the way I tacked questions What was set was adequately covered in class Overall mark (out of 10) Teacher Feedback Strong Agreement Some Agreement Little Agreement No Agreement Don’t Know I’m satisfied with the student’s efforts in the paper I’m satisfied with the way questions have been tackled The set questions were adequately covered in class Overall Mark (out of 10) Reference Stanton, W, et al, 1999, Management of a sales force: Fletcher Electric Inc, London: McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0071167676. Read More