A well-known company with a superior product is suddenly experiencing a low sale

Question

A well-known company with a superior product is suddenly experiencing a low sales performance. A main issue is that there is lack of communication between Regional Managers, the VP of Sales, and the customer service reps.
Other related info: Regional Managers (RMs), customer service reps, and merchandisers each controll their own territories. Managers are compensated on a commission basis, with year-end bonus based on profitability. All expenses, including overhead, for the region were deducted from regional revenues. RMs maintain offices in their homes and receive reports daily and weekly via telephone and email from CSRs and MRs. CSRs who handle the bulk of customer contact report to the VP at the home office while the MRs whose schedules they coordinate report to the regional managers.

Another issue is that the VP of Sales and the company's Regional Managers aren't relating well with their customers. They visit major customers each week, but the reports communicating customer thinking are always week, if not months, old when the VP of Sales receives them. The VP of Sales is unsure of his customers and his people. He wants to improve the company's performance, but doesn't know how since he doesn't have the right facts. What he does know is that it is time for a change, and he needs to take action immediately. Please briefly explain the following.

1. In what ways can the company improve CRM?
2. Would Sales Force automation help? If so, how?
3. How could management change to better communicate and improve?
4. If you were their high paid sales consultant, what recommendation on sales organization would you make?

Explanation / Answer

1 In what ways can the company improve CRM?

First, find out your target customers using the marketing techniques social media, emails, promotion, etc., now find out the customer history with your organization, how much time he is being loyal to your products, how his preferences and choice are, how much they can afford to pay, etc., and how can you improve your service to sustain the relationship. Arrange a mechanism for the quicker response to customer’s complaints as and when received.

2 Would Sales Force automation help? If so, how?

Automation doesn’t work alone; an efficient and effective CRM process helps boosting your sales and here what automation work. Automation is improving the sales progress when a sales representative sends an email, he hardly knows whether customer viewed it or not so here automation work. That cold calls made 100 of customers results in waste of time and efforts can be brought away via auto logging calls. Similarly, voicemail automation sends a precise and relevant message easily. Setting of priority for the leads and fixing the appointment automatically will help reducing the time gap.

3 How could management change to better communicate and improve?

To avoid the gap, move from the emails to face to face meeting every month or in every two month, whichever is suitable, but that schedule must be followed no matter what. This will bring the harmony between the heads of different department and some of them get to know each other to whom they might have only heard till then. You can even organize video conferencing calls whenever needs. Further focus on team collaboration to share more information and problems and for better problem-solving skills. Diversified people will bring new ideas and way of performing the work. Everyone in the company should know everything effecting their performance area. Encouraging open communication, forming of teams, motivating are some important inputs.

4 If you were their high paid sales consultant, what recommendation on sales organization would you make?

Firstly, setting up of the Efficient CRM system which is customer friendly and identifying the target customers and target markets to set the goal to target them only, then, provide necessary tools to sales people like mobile phone, internet facilities, laptops, and an app in their mobiles having the CRM software. This will allow updating of the information right away rather waiting for their comeback in the office and delaying. Provide the necessary training and introduce new training and development programmes updating the trend in the market and how to perform better to keep their moral high. Delegate the task so that they should have time to spend on productive areas then wasting in administrative matters. Performance check and solving their queries must be the continuous process. At last, bonus, ESOP, incentives, recognition to make them motivated at all the stages for better performance.

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