Case 3.2: “Global Positioning Products”
1. Should Andy request a revision of the 5 percent cost-of-sales target? If so, what sort of information would he need to convince his CEO?
Yes, Andy should request a revision of the 5% target because according to the information provided in the case study, Andy has taken several, if not, all the possible ways of reducing direct cost of sales whether it would be through email and texting, staying in budget motels and cutting overnight travel to a minimum, which resulted in a 7% direct cost of sales. In order to convince the CEO, Andy needs to show the current sales information made, as opposed to the cost of goods sold as well as to have several financial documents detailing the projections of future …show more content…
There are various customer types, which is more than the product lines of IPI. Also, organizing by product line will cause high costs on salaries for sales people because IPI need more salespeople to deal with numerous customer types. In addition, this will lead duplication of sales effort because many salespeople are doing the same work. Besides, according to the case, many of the grocery chain buyers and paper and plastic distributors complained about the amount of time it takes for them to see several IPI salespeople. They prefer to deal with a single IPI representative rather than one from each product line. Therefore, IPI should reconsider its salesforce organizing by product …show more content…
Should Rowland be concerned about the present composition of the sales force?
The current sales force has a wealth of knowledge about the company and selling, that they could pass onto younger employees through training. However Rowland doesn’t have enough of these younger employees, as part of his sales team, and so much of the knowledge is likely to retire with the men.
Rowland should also be concerned about the lack of diversity in his sales force. Often having more minorities in your work force can be a strategic advantage to the company. This is because it often means that you have greater access to more diverse talent, who can offer different prospects on the situation, as well as talents, which other members of the team lack, especially if there is little diversity.
Having a wider range of ethnicities can help the sales force to better target their sales initiatives at wider groups of people. Diversity would increase Rowland’s competitive advantage because he would have a sales force that could better identify with their respective ethnic and age groups. It could potentially lead to more sales success if Rowland’s team had more innovative potential, which arises from a wider range of ideas and
1. Should Andy request a revision of the 5 percent cost-of-sales target? If so, what sort of information would he need to convince his CEO?
Yes, Andy should request a revision of the 5% target because according to the information provided in the case study, Andy has taken several, if not, all the possible ways of reducing direct cost of sales whether it would be through email and texting, staying in budget motels and cutting overnight travel to a minimum, which resulted in a 7% direct cost of sales. In order to convince the CEO, Andy needs to show the current sales information made, as opposed to the cost of goods sold as well as to have several financial documents detailing the projections of future …show more content…
There are various customer types, which is more than the product lines of IPI. Also, organizing by product line will cause high costs on salaries for sales people because IPI need more salespeople to deal with numerous customer types. In addition, this will lead duplication of sales effort because many salespeople are doing the same work. Besides, according to the case, many of the grocery chain buyers and paper and plastic distributors complained about the amount of time it takes for them to see several IPI salespeople. They prefer to deal with a single IPI representative rather than one from each product line. Therefore, IPI should reconsider its salesforce organizing by product …show more content…
Should Rowland be concerned about the present composition of the sales force?
The current sales force has a wealth of knowledge about the company and selling, that they could pass onto younger employees through training. However Rowland doesn’t have enough of these younger employees, as part of his sales team, and so much of the knowledge is likely to retire with the men.
Rowland should also be concerned about the lack of diversity in his sales force. Often having more minorities in your work force can be a strategic advantage to the company. This is because it often means that you have greater access to more diverse talent, who can offer different prospects on the situation, as well as talents, which other members of the team lack, especially if there is little diversity.
Having a wider range of ethnicities can help the sales force to better target their sales initiatives at wider groups of people. Diversity would increase Rowland’s competitive advantage because he would have a sales force that could better identify with their respective ethnic and age groups. It could potentially lead to more sales success if Rowland’s team had more innovative potential, which arises from a wider range of ideas and