I. Problem National Mutual Funds (NMF), founded in the 1940s, is one of the most important mutual fund companies in the brokerage industry in the United States. The company has extended from a mutual fund company to a financial center offering mutual funds, brokerage products including stocks and bonds, insurance products, and a variety of planning tools to help customers save for major life needs. However, since the market downturn, which is hurting many brokerage and mutual fund houses, NMF’s profits and operations have been affected significantly. To respond to the market slowdown, Harry Smallwood, President of NMF Retail Services, has come up with a directive to reorganize the call centers in the Retail Services Division in an effort …show more content…
V. Plan of Action First of all, NMF needs to assign members to each team which consists of both traders and sales representatives. I would suggest that each team have 9 sales representatives and 20 traders. Each team will be responsible for one of four segments of customers. The most profitable segment will have the most teams assigned. Another important issue is chain of command. The company should make it clear to whom each team needs to report. After that, the company is required to adjust the trader’s job description to make sure that it covers all responsibilities needed. One of the most important new responsibilities is making outbound calls to identify new customers in order to gaining more revenue from them. Moreover, the company needs to adjust the compensation plan to fit the new business model. Team-based compensation is recommended for this situation because it will encourage the coordination between traders and sales representatives. Then, NMF needs to design and implement training programs for traders to make sure that they can cover the new responsibilities. Training programs should include how to identify a potential prospect, how to deal with customers’ questions, and how to transfer a job to a sales representative smoothly. Moreover, the company should educate their employees about teamwork and how it will benefit them and the company in the