Sales Management
Case 6 Arapahoe Pharmaceutical (pg. 371)

John Zeigler faced several new challenges and opportunities with his promotion to the Dallas district. John realized the duality of his role as a member of management and of the field sales force. Luckily, Johns new district was productive, operating efficiently, and staffed with well-trained sales reps, and he was not expected to “sweep the district clean” and make radical changes. The biggest challenge he faced was the learning curve with transitioning from a sales rep to regional sales manager. Correspondence and appraisal reports proved to John that communications were going to be a bigger part of his job than he realized. He would have to learn how to use the computerized information system in a more effective and efficient manner if he were to have the necessary time for his other responsibilities. Time management is also a problem John faced. He spent far too much time in the recruiting process and trying to force Larry into a good sales rep. He needed to give more time and attention to reps like Jared who showed potential but were struggling and needed guidance. John noted “he had several challenges with sales reps and the logjam he had created as a result of his recruiting activities. He saw his problems as people problems and people opportunities, and their interaction and interdependence were what made his job both challenging and fun”. Overall, John did a good job at coming in and adapting to his new job. He will learn from the mistakes he made in his first year and become a better regional sales manager with time.
Originally Dick and John did not work well together. Dick McClure, an above-average producer, age 50, had twelve years experience. He was the senior man in the district was curt with John. He was jealous he didn’t get promoted. But John brought it up in the best way possible and they worked it out. He highly exceeded his current sales quota by almost $50,000. While his expenses are high he is making more calls than everyone but Nakai so his high expenses should be expected. His territory has the second highest amount of physicians so he should be kept in this territory.
John described Larry Palmer as a big mistake. He was the first sales rep he had recruited. While Larry’s customers liked him, he couldn’t sell. He didn’t understand the necessary product knowledge and his scientific communication skills were marginal at best. John spent too much time trying to get Larry up to speed and it was at the expense of the time and effort he should have spent with his more productive sales reps. He carried Larry longer than he should have. He was almost $100,000 short of his sales quota for the year and had to be let go. Compared to other sales reps he was drastically underperforming. He was very far behind the second to last performer.
Peggy Doyle is new sales trainee and replacement for Larry. Peggy has only been in the territory for four months and is doing terrific. While he numbers do not show it she has taken a noticeable increase, and her enthusiasm was infecting other sales reps in the district. She, like John, has a learning curve in developing her selling skills. While she has only sold $120,000 she has only made 400 calls to physicians. That is almost a fourth of the calls that Dick McClure has made. Therefore, her per call performance is impressive. Additionally, with proper training and guidance she will continue to grow.
Tom Jones, Bill Morrison, and Sam Hanna all have pretty similar numbers. They are the middle-of-the-pack sales reps. All of them exceeded their sales quotas for the current year but, only by a small margin ($5,000 - $10,000). They could benefit a lot from John and management to help move them from mediocre to elite sales reps. Overall; their numbers are anticipated and appreciated.
Jared Murphy presented a problem to John and can be considered the weakest sales rep in the district. He had been in the training class