Situation: Read Case 2.1.
Characters: Salesperson, Schmidt business forms; Jim Adams, purchasing agent, Doctor’s Hospital
Scene: Location Jim Adams, office. Action salesperson stops in to see Adams.
REole play your first sales call with Adams now that you have all the information on why they switched suppliers.
Upon completion of the role play, address the following questions:
1. Should a salesperson have a strategy to go after lost customers? How might this be done?
2. It is easy to pass on the blame to the former salesperson, delivery, and production people. Discuss the pros and cons of this strategy.
Case2.2: Sales Ethics: A Case Study Background
Packaging Systems, Incorporated (PSI), a wholly owned subsidiary of an international oil company, is a major supplier of polyethylene film to various industrial and agricultural markets. In the past, a primary product has been a shredded film that is used for soil erosion control by farmers and commercial landscapers.
In recent years, PSI has become a major supplier in the pallet overwrap market. In this application, film is used to secure a product or products to a pallet for shipping. Compared with PSI’s other markets, growth and profits in the pallet overwrap market have been outstanding. The bright prospects for the pallet overwrap market coupled with the stagnation of the shredded film market has led PSI management to make the following decision: (1) limit production output and marketing activities of shredded film and (2) expand production output and marketing emphasis of pallet overwrap film.
The PSI salesforce was informed of the shift in emphasis in a memo from Bill Chandler, the sales manager for industrial and agricultural products (see Exhibit 2.10).