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THIS IS A MARKETING CLASS AND NOT OPS MANAGEMENT. PLEASE BE AWARE OF THIS! I AM PAYING FOR AUTHENTIC ANSWERS. PLEASE ASSIST..
MedTech is a company that makes inventory and re-orders as necessary. Recently, the company added purchasing consulting services to the product mix. These services are designed to help hospitals create inventory tracking and purchasing systems that manage expenses more effectively, as well as train staff in inventory control.
After three months of trying, though, Molly Malloy, salesperson for northern California, had sold only one consulting contract. The pressure to sell more contracts was becoming unbearable, and she wondered if it was time to look for another job.
“I can’t believe it!” she exclaimed to a friend. “I was the top rep last year, and this year, they treat me like I’m dirt! And I’m still the top scanner system rep!” Molly wasn’t alone in her feelings. Although a few reps had done very well in selling the new service, most were languishing with sales of only one or no contracts and few prospects. “It’s a different sales process to sell a service than a product,” she said. “Just because it is sold to the same hospital doesn’t mean the buying center is the same. Why they thought this was a good idea, I’ll never know!”
Assume that Molly is correct in assessing the problem. What should the company have done differently?
Assume Molly is incorrect in assessing the problem, and that, in reality, the buying center is exactly the same but the skills and information needed to sell the service are very different. What are two strategies the company could have taken?
This should be roughly 2-3 pages long (or 600-800 words; Times New Roman, 12 pt font); try to make your paper concise. Submit your finished case study assignment as an attachment through this dropbox.
Expert Answer
Case I – It is assumed that Molly was right in assessing the pproblem with the consulting product. There can be different reasons responsible for poor sales as cited below.
(i) The product does not suit the need of the hospitals. It may be due to limited applications, outdated features, cost issues, incompatibility with hospital systems or irrelavance.
(ii) More superior products are available in the market that are cost effective and integrate better with the hospital’s systems and cater to the intended use.
(iii) Hospitals don’t find such products feasible after doing cost benefit analysis.
(iv) The sales team is not trained enough to convince the customers of the benefits of the product in the long run or the hosipitals are unable to realize them
(v) Previous bad experiece of the hospitals with such products.
Whatever the cause may be, the case requires in depth analysis of the matter as to what stops the hospitals from buying them. The strategy should be to find out the root cause by conducting a market research. It should start from the most loyal customers of the company’s products to the others. The research should investigate the cause of low interest and the expectations of customers from such a product so that the product can be redesigned if necessary. If nothing comes out of it, sales training should be improved.
Case II – If Molly has diagnosed the problem wrongly, i.e. the buying circle is the same but skills and competency levels for selling such products are different, the company should take following actions.
(i) It should be found out if there is some technical detail involved in the sales process that is troubling the non technical sales team in convincing the customers of the product benefits and clsoing the deal. If so, they should be trained accordingly. If advanced technical know how is needed for the salesperson, specialized sales team should be recruited.
(ii) To see if product promotional material / presentation or information is not connecting with the customers and fails to convey the intended benefits of the product. If so, it should be redesigned and made more interactive and simple to understand.
(iii) To see if the sales team needs support of experts while demonstrating certain features of the service plan.
I would not advice to fire the sales person in this case, as she has been a performer. She can do better if helped in one of the ways listed above.
