Comparison of the Sales Cultures at Tickford Flexible Products and Samuel Jones Ltd - Case Study Example

Number Subject Name Lecturer’s Name Sales and Distribution: Romano Pitesti Case Due date Date Submitted Sales and Distribution: Romano Pitesti Case Sales and distribution management is one of the important and core functions in any particular organization. It is a key determinant of the success of the organization, in terms of sales of goods and services. Sales refer to the exchange of goods and services with money of goods of equivalent value. It helps the organization in achieving its business goals and objectives. Distribution management on the other hand, as defined by Pelham (2015) implies overseeing the movement of goods and services from the manufacturers or suppliers to the intended point of sales. Rexhausen et al. (2012) further specified that it is an over searching activity, which is composed of various activities and activities, which ranges from product packaging, inventory management, products warehousing as well as the supply chain and logistics. Therefore, the sales and distribution manager ought to be vigilant in management of all these activities, so as to contributes significantly to the success of t5he organization, in terms of growth, profit realization and the general development. They have to ensure motivation of their staff so that they can work towards achievement of the goals of the organization. In relation to this, the present paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the Romano Pitesti case study. The case study involves a company named Tickton-Jones Ltd, which was formed when Tickton Flexible Product Ltd acquired another company named Samuel Jones Ltd. The two companies operated in different industries, which brought issues in their integration. In analysis, the paper compares the sales culture of the two companies before the acquisition, and the performance of the same after the acquisition. The paper will also examine the conversation between David Courtney, who was the sales manager under the consumer products and the Romano Pitesti, who was the sales representative. Lastly, the paper presents a comprehensive action plan for addressing the issues which are identified in the company. Comparison of the sales cultures at Tickford Flexible Products and Samuel Jones Ltd, ‘prior’ to the buyout of Samuel Jones by Tickford Sales culture, as defined by McNeill et al., (2014) refers to the overall behavior and the manner in which sales staff and representative conduct their activities. The sales culture determines the overall performance of the sales department and the overall company, in terms of the amount sales produced by the company and the prospective of future growth. Every organization should therefore work toward having an effective sales culture, which is established through various aspects such as proper aligning of the goals, missions and the values of t6he organization. Rodrigues, (2014) indicated that before performance of any buyout or acquisition, is very significant to consider the incompatibility of the different cultures of the firms involved. The effectiveness in the compatibility of these cultures determines the success of the resultant new firm. One of them, which needs a comprehensive analysis before merger is the sales culture. Further, inferring from Sala, Ballesteros, Dendrinos, Di Franco, Ferretti, Fole & Zabala (2012), it is significant to consider the compatibility of their sales structure. In this case, there was a buyout of Samuel Jones Ltd by the Tickford Flexible Products. From their close analysis, it is clear that the two companies had completely different sales culture as well as sales cultures. One of the reason why the two had different sales structure is that they operated in quite different industries. As well, their operations were quite different. Tickton Company specialized in production and sales of the polyurethane and rubber materials. It had already established its production facility for the production of wide range industrial components. Jones Company on the other hand operated as a manufacturer of the different kinds of shoes, travel goods, and handbags. The company had also incorporated the production of the sport shoes, and had a great impact in the market. As stated by Tsai (2013), different industries carrying on different activities have different sales structure, in their distribution marketing and sales techniques. The same case applies their sales culture-different sales structure implies different sales culture. As a result, any merger or buyout between them, as advised by Chaharsoughi and Yasory (2012), needs to be effectively planned, particularly with regard to the integration of their sales activities. Further, as illustrated in the case, it is evident that were completely different procedure in monitoring of the sales representatives activities. For Jones Company, there overall sales manager gave them freedom, and questioned little about the expenditure receipts. There was no formal procedure of handling activities. At the same time, the workers were given both salary and commission, depending on their performance. However, this was different in the case of the Tickford Flexible Products. There was a strict and formal procedure of tending to activities. At the same time, the company only paid their staff on salary basis only. Further, the former employees of the Jones Company were demoted and forced to report to lower level. Therefore, it is clear from this discussion that the new sales structure formed under the new organization was not effective. One of the reason for this is that it amounted to a major diversification of different fields. As a result, there was no synergy, which could result from the new structure. As a result, most of the workers of the Jones Company Feld quite demotivated. Therefore, the best way to operate was maintain the status qu0o of sales structures of these companies, though under single overall management. Examination of the conversations between David Courtney and Romano Pitesti After the formation of the new sales structure for the Tickton-Ones Ltd, everyone from the Samuel Jones Ltd assumed a different role. For David Cortney, he was became the sales manager of the consumer products. Previously, he was a field sales manager, whose responsibility involved the usual sales management tasks, forecasting and budgeting. He spent most of his time dealing with new accounts, or travelling to build new accounts. Romano Pitesti was a sales representative, the position he maintained even in the new company. Behavior Issues and actions for each of them There were several issues and actions, which were associated with the two sales staff. For David Cortney, the marketing manager summoned him; regarding the how he managed his sales staff. The case involved the behavior of Romano Pitesti, as complained by other collogues. In an attempt to address the situation, he called a meeting with Romano Pitesti, to address some of the complaints, which were raised concerning his behavior. In the previous company, he is demonstrated as a hardworking individual, as he devoted his time in expanding the sales performance of the company, through creation of new accounts. Romano Pitesti on the other hand quite an individualistic behaviors. First, as presented in the case, he demonstrated an individualistic behavior by proving quite disruptive on formal group situations. Another issue associated with Romano was his time management. He was accused of wasting time on other peoples, and arriving late for work. He was left the job to go and play golf on Friday. Further, he had the highest replacement level for the damaged clothes. He also exercised poor management of the company he was using, and used it to ferry the voters to the local council elections. However, at the same time, Romano performed extemporary in sales, and he marked highest level of sales in the company. David Courtney’s Sales Management Capabilities These issues portrayed both strengths and weaknesses of the sales management capabilities. First, Courtney allowed enough freedom to those under his supervision. It implied that he extended the culture Samuel Jones Company to the new company. Despite having identified the issues associated with Romano, he did not hold a meeting to address them, until the marketing manager questioned him. To some extent, he was quite lenient in adjusting the behavior of the employees. However, his ability to maintain the records of performance of all the workers under his supervision was quite commendable. He kept track of all the performance and activities of those under him. For instance, he questioned Romano about the issue of going to play golf on Friday, and his highest replacement request records. Further, David emphasized on typed report, on which Romano was accused of spending much time on. During the conversation between the two, David seemed to understand the importance of maintaining a close relationship between the customers and the sales representative. For instance, he accepted the explanation regarding the clothing and replacement behavior, as well as golf playing with a major client of their company. Therefore, David exercised recommendable sales management capabilities, though he needed to improve on some aspects. Romano’s Pitesti Salesperson Abilities Roman had great and effective sales capability. One of the reason is that he realized the importance of maintaining a close relationship with his customers. As suggested by Cron and DeCarlo, Dalrymple’s (2009), customer relationship is one of the most important factor, of winning and maintaining their royalty. Further, he made himself available through phone all the time, whenever their customers called. This was demonstrated when he received his customers calls, during their conversation with David, and extended the call for more than 20 minutes. Further, he clad decently to be accepted by his customers. In addition, he went to play golf with his client, and visited some in the morning, which made him report to the job late. Though most of these behaviors were being criticized, they are some of the practical factors, which increase the sales performance of sales representatives. As a result, Romano has effective and great abilities as salesperson. Therefore, he managed to be the most effectively performing salesperson in the company. He never failed to meet his target, and the company had never received complaint regarding him. Further, he was the one who secured the most beneficial Milan export order. Possible Implications to the organization There are both positive and negative implications of these behaviors and actions. First, most of close relationship and support maintained by Romano and his customers would increase the customer’s royalty and eventually promote sales. At the same time, the close monitoring of the sales representative activities by David Courtney would ensure efficient sales performance of the overall company. However, David Courtney did not hold regular meetings with his sales representatives to address the poor behavior issues he has realized. He was satisfied once the sale representatives met their sales target. As a result, this could cause poor ethical practices by the sales representatives, as one observed in Romano. In addition, the behavior of Romano could cause chaos and lack of cooperation in the company. Romano was more individualistic, and tended to disagree in formal meeting. This would lead to disagreements and waste of time in the company. Further, improper use of the company’s properties such as company car could lead to the company incurring huge losses. Further, lateness would be an indication that the company has no code of conduct, which would deteriorate its performance. Action Plan For better performance of the company in future, several strategies needs to be implemented to address the current issues associated with David Courtney and Romano. The first thing that should be addressed is evaluation of the positive and negative effects associated with each behavior. For instance, Courtney has given much freedom to the sales representatives, which is not good to some extent. Though freedom is encouraged as a way of motivating the employees, Courtney should draft a code of conduct regarding the acceptable behavior. Further, he should hold formal meeting with the staff, to point on areas that need improvement. Therefore, the sales department manager should inform all the employees, particularly Romano that apart from excellent performance in meeting the targets, it is important have courtesy throughout the organization. Another action that needs to be done is to summon Romano for his mischievous behavior, as well as recommend him for excellent sales performance. As suggested by Tsai (2013), the best way of solving a problem focusing on strategies, which could improve the negative areas, while recommending the positive effects. Therefore, the first action should be recommending Romano for his excellent sales performance, as well as his contribution to the growth of the company, by winning several clients. Further, the managers should recognize his effort to maintain close relationship with his clients, to the extent of playing golf together. However, he would be requested to improve on those minor issues, for the betterment of the whole organization. For instance, he should park his car well to avoid conflict with the security officers. At the same time, he should be requested to be accountable for his expenses, as a way of maintaining transparency. He should also be requested to minimize his expenditure as much as possible, as a way of protecting the earning of the organization. As suggested by Ageron et al., (2012), maintain good customer relationship is one of the contributing factors towards gaining a competitive advantage. Romano openly exhibited this character. Therefore, it would be advisable to remain him in the company, and work towards improving his negative side. Bibliography Ageron, B., Gunasekaran, A., & Spalanzani, A. 2012. Sustainable supply management: An empirical study. International Journal of Production Economics, 140(1), 168-182. Cron, William L. and DeCarlo, Thomas E. Dalrymple’s Sales Management. 10th Edition. 2009 John Wiley and Sons. Hoboken NJ. pp. 451-454.  Chaharsoughi, S. A., & Yasory, T. H. 2012. Effect of sales promotion on consumer behavior based on culture. African Journal of Business Management, 6(1), 98-102. McNeill, L. S., Fam, K. S., & Chung, K. 2014. Applying transaction utility theory to sales promotion–the impact of culture on consumer satisfaction. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 24(2), 166-185 Pelham, A. M. 2015. The Influence of Consulting Oriented Sales Management Programs on Customer Retention and Long-Term Profit Growth. 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International Journal of Business, Humanities and Technology, 2(1), 32-41. Tsai, C. C. 2013. The Study of Transformation Strategy for Sales Structure–The Case Study of Long Dar Plastic Co., Ltd. Read More