Question

read the case ans answer the questions

ALLIANCE ADHESIVES & PLASTICS, INC. Background As one of four regional sales managers for Alliance Adhesives and Plastics, Inc., you have just received summary details from a study of the company's national field salesforce. The study was done at the request of the vice president for sales and marketing and used a variety of assessment tools to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the company's 97 salespeople located across the United States. Based on these results, the vice president for sales and marketing has assigned your four-person regional managers team the task to develop a step by- step program that will move the company forward toward a revitalized and more effective salesforce In response to the company's new marketing strategy designed to "get close to the customer, the salesforce was completely reorganized a little over four years ago, moving from a strictly geographic-based territory system to a specialized selling force organized around the different served markets. As a result of the reorganization and transformation of the company's salespeople into a salesforce specialized around served markets, definite improvements were realized in account penetration and customer retention. Nevertheless, spot checks randomly made across various customers indicate that there is still much room for improvement. Customer satisfaction levels are still low, and the company has some difficulty keeping good accounts Current Situation Customers give Alliance salespeople strong marks for product knowledge-probably a reflection of the existing training program, which has intensive initial and recurrent training on the wide variety of products offered. Surprisingly, while customers rate the salespeople high for their product knowledge, they also indicate that Alliance salespeople appear somewhat arrogant and self-centred. Many of the responses show that, overall, the salesforce does not care about the customer and does not attempt or even take the time to fully explore and understand problems or new applications requiring novel solutions. Instead, the salesforce always seems to have some fixed response and attempt to pressure and persuade buyers rather than offering creative or customized product solutions. Questions 1. Based on the information given, what are the major problems facing the sales organization? 2. What changes in the recruiting and selection of salespeople would you suggest? Why? 3. What changes in sales training would you suggest? Why? 4. What changes in sales management leadership would you suggest? Why?

Answer 1

1. Based on the information given, what are the major problems facing the sales organization?       

        The major problem facing the sales organization is that it salespeople are not customer oriented. While they appear to possess a great deal of expertise, they do not seem to be concerned about engaging the customer in a compatible, customer-oriented manner. This lack of concern for building and managing a successful trust-based relationship with the customer represents a substantial weakness, one that competitors could leverage to take market share away from of the Alliance Adhesives.

2.     What changes in the recruiting and selection of salespeople would you suggest? Why?

        First, I would suggest the company conducted job analysis and re-examine the job qualifications, given the new information about the importance of being compatible and presenting a customer orientation. Second, I would seek to identify and recruit from a pool of candidates who possess a superior understanding of the importance of building and maintaining customer relationships. Hiring people who already possess superior customer relationship management skills would help reduce the need for training in this area. These new hires could then be put through the company's product training program, which is proven to be effective.

3.     What changes in sales training would you suggest? Why?

        The company's product training appears to be quite successful. What the company is lacking is a training program designed to develop and enhance professional selling skills. I would suggest the organization take immediate steps to add a more comprehensive professional selling process training program, one that focuses on initiating, developing, and maintaining customer relationships.

4.     What changes in sales management leadership would you suggest? Why?

        I would suggest a change to a more transformational leadership structure. Members of the current salesforce who are experiencing customer relationship development problems, will need to be motivated and inspired to change their behaviors. It's unlikely that transactional leadership will be effective, at least in bringing about long-term change, in the present situation. I would also suggest that the organization’s sales managers get more actively involved with their salespeople, including increasing the frequency of ride-a-longs and coaching.