Case 3.2 Hanover-Bates Chemical Corporation Hanover-Bates Chemical Corporation produces chemicals for the chemical plating industry. It has plants in Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, and Newark. The production process involves taking chemicals purchased from other suppliers and mixing them into user-based formulas. The Hanover-Bates has a strong balance sheet and trades on the over-the-counter market. There are seven sales districts within the organization with a total of forty sales representatives. Each receives a salary, fringe benefits, and commissions of 0.5 percent of their dollar sales volume up to their sales quota. Field sales efforts are extremely important and quality control is critical with supplying the plater with the
Since Carver is the top sales representative in the district, another option would be to meet with him again. However, in this meeting the focus needs to be on the company rather than the employee or management position. He could explain the Carver the reasons he was hired and the things that are expected of District 3 by the national sales manager. Sprague can apologize for his handling of the new information at the dinner, explain that he was not criticizing but only trying to find ways to make things better for the entire district. Explaining how District 3 measures up to the other districts and letting Carver know that if things don’t change upper management will find people that will, might convince Carver to look at the situation in a new light. Once he sees the numbers and what the district is up against, he could begin to give suggestions based on his years of experience in the division. In addition, he could be the person needed to help remove the bitterness from the other sales representatives. Sprague might consider approaching his salesmen in a different style that would benefit the individual salesperson and the company. Meet with entire sales team, explaining what his qualification are for the job and letting them know how valuable their experience will be to him as he tries to improve things for their division. He needs to also explain what