Campbell and Bailyn’s Boston Office: Managing the Reorganization

Although the company did show an increased gross profit of $8,255,000 with $6,358,000 less Net Sales in 2013 versus 2012, that increase is due to the reduction in product Cost of Goods Sold by $14,613,000. Since increases in product price will negatively affect sales, one of management’s primary goals is to keep prices stable. This objective is achieved through implementation of cost cutting programs, investing in more efficient equipment, and automation of more steps in the production process.

Thank you for the opportunity to assess your sales data in order to provide recommendations for increasing your sales. The analysis and recommendations below are based on the data you provided, which covers a period from May 2004 through June 2006. The analysis below is based on this data alone. Therefore, our recommendations should be tempered by your knowledge of business realities and your market. Please let us know if we can answer any questions concerning the analysis or the recommendations provided.

Comparing the afterwards performance to our objectives and chart 03 in Market Analyze section, our group found out that: speaking of our main goal: No.1 seller of 1L&500mL ClearPure products; we only achieved it during quarter 2 (without knowing how much importers sold in quarter 2), but failed on overall, and totally failed on the goal of financial objective to keep 7% gross margin after 3 quarters due to the negative net loss we have. So how and why we come to this situation, what kinds of mistakes we made affected our company’s performance? Are there any good methods leftimprovements we could make if there is another chance?

The motivation of the sales force is so low that they think that the district managers are no more that the baby sitters. No right schedule is being released by the management, there is no sales management planning in the organization. The leadership runs from the top. The employees just want to make sales without having concern about the company in that they work. Moreover, the uncertain night calls and long distance travels for the reps and frequent changes in the sales organizational structure has made problem even worse.

Operating profit margin figures in the table above show the return from net sales[13]. However profit margin ratios are high enough for the 3 years, there is a fall from 12.86% to 11.26% during 2011-12. Sales revenue increases with a higher rate than gross profit so there is a poor

I don’t think that I need to have an extensive sales force in order to be successful. I think the biggest decision that I made in 2015 Q2 was increasing the large customer discounts for segments B and D from 12% discount up to 14% discount. I noticed that last quarter both of these segments expressed their concern that they were not getting the additional discounts that they should for being such long time customers.

After analyzing the results from the previous quarter, it was determined that the prices set for each segment were not sufficient. Product sales priority were also not properly adjusted. With the R&D investments, sales priorities needed to be changed for the main focus to become the most profitable market segments. Prices were not competitive which in turned decreased revenue, market share, and profitability. To become more competitive we altered the prices in each market segment. The Workhorse product was the first to change, the price was lowered to $2500 in an attempt to increase sales; at this price Team 4 was still making a profit on this product, as well as making the price much more competitive. The Workhorse sales priority was also lowered to 3rd in Americas and 4th in APAC and EMEA. This product was not selling as well as we had hoped, and was no longer as profitable as it once was which led to this decision. Next, the Innovator product’s price was adjusted; this involved a price increase to $4100. This price was adjusted to include the new

While my effort was to ensure that I marry the product attributes and increase points of difference with increasing customer knowledge of the product – the reduction in sales volume and profitability impacted the spends on communication and training of sales force who could have helped bring in the points of differentiation.

These transformative changes to the selling environment are ultimately forcing the salesperson to reengineer and rethink how they approach their business accounts. Failure in adapting to these changes can result in many adverse situations but ultimately revolves around ineffective team selling.

Campbell and Bailyn’s (C&B) Boston Office has long been the leader in market share and sales. This office was also used as a testing location for new organizational structures and new products and services. Changes in customer demand have decreased market share based, so the office needs a restructure. In June of 2007 the Boston office is reorganized under Ken Winston, the regional sales manager into “key account teams” (KAT). Concurrently, the review process is altered in a very odd fashion and Winston does not seem too enthusiastic about this change. Winston is preparing a presentation for the division leadership team and will discuss the effectiveness of the new

One major problem was the resignation of one of the company’s top salesmen who had the most difficult territory (9963), effective at the end of the year. If he shifts one of the more experiences salesmen into that area, it would disrupt service in an additional territory, which was undesirable because it took several months for a salesman to build up a good rapport with customers. This decision would affect the

Assessing the pre-existing organization – Describe the strengths and weakness of the C&B Brokerage division prior to the two changes explained in the case. • The interactions of the New York Office with the regional sales teams • Whether there are misalignments in incentives between these functions. – Salespeople aim to maximize dollar value of sales (hence commission) while product managers aim to maximize profit of sales (overall firm objective as well). – How important is the regional sales manager to the success of the regional office?

Jacobson first consulted Dan Gunther who was in charge of the Boston Division. Jacobson consulted Gunther due to his fifteen-year experience with the company. He figured he would have the best insight to the sales were stagnant because of his wisdom and experience. Jacobson found out that the flat sales of the Boston branch was due to the irrational/unreasonable demands of their client. Then he contacted the Philadelphia branch. Carol Klein, the key account manager, told Jacobson that the reason of her flat sales was due to personal reasons that were going on in her life. She was having issues juggling her stressful job and taking care of her family as well. Although this is a valid excuse of something that many people struggle with, it should not be negatively affected her work performance. The next sales representative that Jacobson consulted was Mike Wagner in Washington DC. Wagner claimed that he is having a hard time on finding information regarding the present condition of the competition in the market, making it harder for him to compete with the others. This is not only Wagner’s fault for not doing the research, but also upper management’s fault for not informing the employee’s of how to compete with

Quarter 6 was my biggest change in terms of strategy, priority, and sales. Thankfully, to begin with, my balanced scorecard score for quarter 5 shot up pretty drastically landing at 71.624 for my total performance. I thought that was a pretty good jump from 45.820 in the last quarter, so clearly I was doing alright. In terms of market share, I went from only controlling 24% of the total to having the largest at 41%. In both the Workhorse and Traveler market I was in first place for Market Demand. But, I was doing quite poorly in the Mercedes segment for Market Demand, landing myself in the 4th position, out of 5. This caused me to rethink my sales priority.

I realized there are several steps an Organization Developer must consider in order for a company to have a successful outcome when they go through a transition. The OD must be able to identify several different components to produce a positive outcome. For instance, the OD must identify what needs to change with the company and communicate the problem in a clear and concise manner. It is also important to put together a team that can help with the process to ensure that everything goes accordingly. Also, if additional training is necessary then that must be factored in for others to understand the different aspects of someone else’s job. Employees must also understand why the change was necessary; therefore, the OD must be the one to convey that message in order for employees to understand the process of reorganizing. Once employees understand why the change is taking place, they must understand the new plans and goals