SPECTRUM HEALTH, INC. sales. better job communicating with her She had told the
ID: 334084 • Letter: S
Question
SPECTRUM HEALTH, INC. sales. better job communicating with her She had told the executive, "I've eadership in a Crisis Situation v never been kein said out loud to herself. She knew she ut to face the toughest leadership chal. good with that Bokay, we atre now officially in a crisis," Cara people-especially throu Cara also had been told that her she would handle but she was not sure how but Il try to do better es levels were disappointing. Market arch indicated that Spectrum held a 5.2 per After a successful seven year career in t field, Cara now has been district manager for just over two years She cent share of the market in Mai tory reps across her district, well below the company cucrent national aver. age of 8.5 percen t market share. supervises 10 terri What stood out more than anything else was Cara's unit's lack of success in selling the machine. To effectively sell such t complex devices, team selling is required. That , because just the state of Maine. But this is new last week she was the supervisor of 12 reps. Two were laid off by Spectrum as part of its ini- tiative of reducing its U.S sales force by 24 per- mo expensive health care products, such cent. According to Jack Lord, Spectrum's new the beart-lung m CEO, the layoffs wore Decessary to stay compe tiw. This will make us a leaner, more efficient is, Spectrum reps must coordinate the efforts of organixation," Jack wrote in a memu, Cara engincers, cardiopulmonary experts, and other knew that other factors contributed to the deci- high tech colleagues sion to eliminate salespeople. These included a downturn in the economy, specific government Cara knows she is in a very difficult situa tion. She needs to try to improve the morale of eutbacks of health care funding for most of an underachieving group of people who have a Spectrum's customers, and the emergence of a tough foreign competitor long history of not being committed to anything other than their own individual goals. Further Spectrum Health, Ine, is a $3.2 billion med- she has to do this in a tough business climate in ical equipment manufacturer. The company which the company is laying off her salespeople produces a wide range of medical supplies and Commitment to the organization is clearly at an devices for heslth care providers such as physi all-time low among reps. How can she get these cians, hospitals, orpanizations Products range from expensive company goal when they do not trust heart-lung machines to inexpensive stethoscopes, company? thermometers, and wound closure products. and health maintenance reps excited about working toward a commo Even before the announced layoffs, Car Cara Bakelin felt that the morale of her had taken the advice of superiors and bo sakes force was never especially high. The reps more of her work time for individual contac were unique individuals who did not seem to in- with her reps. In fact, she has devoted much with each other. They were each motivated by different goals. She never sensed reps first thing Monday morgin e r any animosity among them and had been hope- sales meeting. She then plans to Spe them i ful that somebow she could make them more of of the week, through Friday, coaching t lest team. But in her first two years on the job, she dividually. She plans on accompany has focused primarily on learning her adminis some of them on sales calls. trative duties, such as quantitative analysis, Her first challenge is to decide w forecasting, and budgeting week exclusively to this. She will a ddress bour rship to provide to-and how mucheExplanation / Answer
1. The goal of this general message to the entire group should be to start the process of improving the group morale among the 10 sales reps in Cara’s district. Low morale is a concern for at least two reasons. First, Cara’s top salespeople are more likely to leave for other, better offers when morale is low. Second, the salespeople are much less likely to work with others in the organization when morale is low. Working together is especially important when selling the more expensive, complicated products (which, of course, Cara’s reps have a disappointing record selling).
To do this, Cara must articulate a vision for the group, and then encourage teamwork among them for the purposes of making the vision a reality. This will include expressing a goal of selling so many big-ticket items, such as the heart-lung machine; and then also maybe suggesting who works together with whom in order to achieve this goal. The challenge will be to present this plan in a way that excites all 10 salespeople.
2. Group 1: High-performing and experienced. Relative to the other groups, these reps require the least amount of leadership. Transactional leadership is essentially not needed. Of course, these reps should be praised from time to time, but extensive verbal feedback on what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong is not necessary. They know the selling process, and should also be informed of basic company rules. As for transformational leadership, they must be reminded / updated on the vision for the organization. They are the one group that is successful in selling the complex, expensive equipment; which suggests they are team-oriented.
Group 2: Solid performers but lone wolves. Cara must convince these reps the importance of working together in order to sell the big-ticket items. Consequently, the key leader behavior for this group is fostering the acceptance of group goals.
Group 3: Low performing rookies. Transactional leadership is required for these reps, who are still learning. The transformational leader behaviors of role modeling and individualized support are also important. Cara should be sure to role model selling technique; perhaps accompanying these reps on actual sales calls with customers qualified to buy the heart-lung machine.
Group 4: Mediocre-performing misfit. Individualized support is likely to be the most important leader behavior for this rep, who is struggling somewhat with her job and is trying to adapt far from home.
Group 5: Low-performing, burned-out rep. The plateaued sales reps need vision, role modeling, and individualized support. Some verbal feedback is also important, but these reps share some similarity to group 1 (i.e., they know the company rules and understand what they should be doing); so, transactional leadership is of secondary importance.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.