How Would You Present the Widget Sales Issue to the CEO and Other Managers - Essay Example

How would you present the widget sales issue to the CEO and other managers? What specific s of action would you recommend with respect to internal actions and customer notification? (3-4 paragraphs) The first thing to do is to bring the issue as an urgent part of the agenda in the meeting. It should be started as an issue that has surfaced when internal records in the company related to customer service has been reviewed. The major issue—wrong widgets have been sold to customers, widgets that do not fit their needs should be brought into discussion as an important matter by reiterating the potential consequences of the issue. These include potential product failure when customers use them and customer dissatisfaction because the widgets do not address their needs. By emphasizing what this issue could bring the company such as dissatisfaction that could impair the relationship with the customers thus affecting long-term profitability of the business, costly product repairs and reimbursements, and negative word of mouth that damages the company’s public image, the issue would come into the CEO and other managers’ attention. However, it would not be so clever a move to put the blame on sales immediately. As discussions about this issue go on, tracking the root of this problem and coming up with a solution can be the subject in the meeting. With this, other managers could be encouraged to give their inputs and what the possible reasons could be the root cause of this problem. Perhaps the problem can be broken down into pieces—firstly the selling process, the customer orders, then the product manufacture process, then distribution to customers. By laying out the process from the time the customer places an order to distribution of the order, potential causes can be spotted as well as areas for improvement and where value can be added can be recognized. Since it is never proven whether this issue is caused by intentionally selling wrong widgets to customers or due to poor knowledge of sales representatives, these issues will suffice along the discussion. In any case, two sets of recommendations can be provided for each scenario. If the company intends to sell wrong widgets to customers just for short-term profitability goals and rapid expansion: it could be communicated to the CEO that such practices by the company, given the sophistication of the market place will lead to the eventual downfall of the company. A company that does not put its customers’ welfare in the heart of its operations will eventually be boycott, and not long will the business stay out of business. In order to repair this damage in the short-term, a company should determine the most cost-efficient way to notify customers and call back its products that are sold wrongly: either through a press release to admit its fault and create an image of being a socially-responsible citizen, thus winning again the trust of customers; or ask the sales department to ask the sales representatives to notify the customers they have sold wrong widgets, but in order to implement it well a reward system to sales representatives that will comply should be setup in cooperation with the HR department. Unless the sales representatives know that they will not be summoned for reprimand, and there is a stimulus to motivate them to do the act, the latter recommendation is less likely to be implemented. If the selling of wrong widgets is a result of poor knowledge on the part of sales representative: the latter recommendation for the first scenario is applicable, which is ask the sales department to ask the sales representatives to notify the customers they have sold wrong widgets, but in order to implement it well a reward system to sales representatives that will comply should be setup in cooperation with the HR department. But again, unless the sales representatives know that they will not be summoned for reprimand, and there is a stimulus to motivate them to do the act, this cannot be implemented. In the longer term, what can be done to ensure that a strong sense of business ethics permeates SWC? Consider aspects of the organization’s structure (such as adding an oversight function) and culture as well as supporting policies and procedures (3-4 paragraphs). This problem lies not just in the structure but in strategic management itself. A strong sense of business ethics should be part of the organizational culture of the company. In this case, a call for a customer-centric philosophy should be adopted in the long run. If the company is to adopt a customer-centric philosophy in doing business, there has to be a department or function to take care of long-term relationship with customers. This could best be handled by a marketing department, of which customer service is part of. Not only will the company address the complaints of customers through its customer service arm, it will be able to prevent such complaints from happening in the first place. This marketing department, because it is responsible for the long-term relationships of the organization, will have to look after the sales department in ensuring that rather than being pushy and emphasize on selling products to customers, sales’ responsibility is to deliver the required solution to the customers’ needs. This is best made with the help of HR department by restructuring the compensation policies for the sales representatives. Being pushy or greater emphasis on selling the product rather than delivering solutions to customers’ needs is not entirely the fault of sales representatives—it has to be considered that they act in such a way in order to promote their interest, which is to gain commissions. If the compensation lies on the emphasis in commissions, this is really likely to result. Compensation policies should be revised according to determined performance measures to deliver customer satisfaction. By creating a marketing department, the objective is to minimize the number of complaints or prevent complaints to happen. When the objective is achieved, the customer service arm could serve other functions, such as entertaining product suggestions in order to improve the product and receive customer feedbacks to determine their changing needs. This is more beneficial to the company in the long-run sustainability and operations of the company. As regards the issue of expansion and CSD in other countries, it is more beneficial to contract local companies to cater to customers in those countries. Since the customer service arm is aimed to provide added value and help to customers rather than receive complaints, the company has to make sure that the local companies have the capability to communicate the solutions that SWC can provide to address the customers’ needs. Also, the complaints, suggestions and all feedback should be forwarded to the customer service arm of the marketing department of the company in order to see if there has been constant improvement in helping customers with their needs. Further action could be brought to the attention of other managers, if indicated by the feedback as problems, in order to address and resolve other issues related to providing customers with the solutions they need. Read More