What Are The Problems in StepSmart

1. What are the problems in StepSmart’s New England district?
StepSmart’s New England district is having an underperformance problem. StepSmart

Fitness is a manufacturer of equipment for exercise. Mark Wallace, C.E.O of StepSmart, was
dissatisfied with the underperformance and the sales force management strategies in the New
England district. New England’s sales growth from the year 2009 to 2010 was 7%, and not as
high as the region’s sales growth of 9.8%. from 2010 to 2011, New England’s sales growth
was 5.9%, and
the nation was 12.3%. Mark believes that the sales force heavily dependent on past
performance, habit, and instinct so that they were not able to achieve specific targets. Ben
Cooper, the previous employee, was promoted as the vice president of sales for the Northeast
district. The company demanded that Cooper lead the New England district and increase
sales and revenue targets. With this new promotion, there was a challenge for Cooper, if the
New England district was not able to achieve the target, then 50% of the team would be
terminated. The New England District is now having the challenge of changing leadership.
2. Which salespeople are not performing as they should and why?
After the evaluation of each member in the district sales force, the whole sales team have
different performance trouble. Some specific salespeople should be placed on probation due to
unsatisfactory performances. Each salesperson’s performance was evaluated based on both
quantitative and qualitative factors.
The quantitative factor is evaluated based on the provided sale performance of the individual and
the whole team. Base on the “Buying Power Index,” Concetta and Avery have very poor
performance. In table 1, a comparing of active client accounts to the potential accounts is
presented. The percentage of the active account to the market potential for each salesperson
indicates what degree each salesperson realized the market potential. Through this, the
underperformers include were Gibbons (31.11%) and Concetta (35.00%)
Table 1: Salesperson’s market potential management
Salesperson Calls Active Potential % of Active

per Accts Accts to Potential
year
Ellis 830 215 421 51.07%
Barrow 1,370 275 515 53.40%
This study source was downloaded by 100000829842835 from CourseHero.com on 02-07-2022 00:46:35 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/64329306/What-are-the-problems-in-StepSmartdocx/
Hammond 1,400 230 250 92.00%
Foster 902 230 475 48.42%
Gibbons 955 140 450 31.11%
Concetta 820 210 600 35.00%
Avery 1,158 304 560 54.29%
When qualitative factors are evaluated, Gibbons and Foster should be given a warning for both
professional and ethical reasons. Although Foster is an above average performer with good sales
figures. However, his marriage problems along with his financial problems, have taken effect on
his performance in the last year. The fact that a client complained of “inappropriate behavior”
during a dinner meeting in 2009 and closed the account shows that he may be unable to take the
job seriously. Taking these into account, it seems necessary to inform Foster of his problems and
give him a warning. Incase of Gibbons, he has an ethical problem. He is a hard worker; however,
he takes the clients out to his restaurant, then he uses the company expenses. He abuses the
power of spending company resources. He will need to adjust the expenses properly.
The other sales personnel also have a problem to improve their quality. Barrow resisted sales
coaching, imperative to learning updates on the job; and Concetta avoided onsite training for
clients.
3. Is the sales force organized and deployed properly?
The sales force is not organized and deployed properly. Base on table 1, the market has very
high potential, but the team did not control half of its market potential. Only Hammond could
get close to the market potential. The evaluation depended on past performance is not
properly evaluate the current performance of the team member.
4. What should Cooper do, as he takes over the district, to address these problems?
There are many changes that Cooper should make to improve sale performance. There are
three steps that he needs to do now. The first step is to hide new salespersons. the new
employees can be coached by the “best” current employees at first to learn more about the
company and how to do business. The coaching can last 3 or 4 weeks, then the new
employees can be assigned to a part of the NE district, which would cover the underserviced
area. Also hiring new salespersons can increase productivity and sales. It will bring new ideas
to the team. The second change is to discuss the solution to the current team member’s
problem. Cooper needs to place some of his salespeople on probation, such as Grant Foster.
Foster would be able to take that as a warning and change things in his life to make sure to
keep his job. The third change is to make a regular meeting of the whole team, in which some
of the high performers of the district speak about selling experience. The knowledge and real
experience in the field can help the other team member to improve their performance.
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

What Are The Problems in StepSmart

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

What Are The Problems in StepSmart

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

What Are The Problems in StepSmart

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

1. What are the problems in StepSmart’s New England district?

StepSmart’s New England district is having an underperformance problem. StepSmart

2. Which salespeople are not performing as they should and why?

Table 1: Salesperson’s market potential management

Salesperson Calls Active Potential % of Active

Ellis 830 215 421 51.07%

Barrow 1,370 275 515 53.40%

Foster 902 230 475 48.42%

Gibbons 955 140 450 31.11%

Concetta 820 210 600 35.00%

Avery 1,158 304 560 54.29%

3. Is the sales force organized and deployed properly?

You might also like