Marilyn Fowler recently became a sales representative for the California Adhesives Corporation and covers the states of Oregon and Washington. After completing a three-week training program, Marilyn was excited about the responsibility of reversing a downward sales trend in her territory, which had been without a salesperson for several months. The previous salesperson was fired due to poor sales performance and had not left behind any information regarding accounts. After contacting her first 20 or so customers, Marilyn came to a major conclusion: None of these customers had seen a CAC salesperson for six to nine months; they had CAC merchandise, which was not selling, and they had damaged merchandise to return. These customers were hostile toward Marilyn because the previous salesperson had used high-pressure tactics to force them to buy, and as one person said, "Your predecessor killed your sales in my business. You said you would provide service and call on me regularly, but I don't care about service. In fact, it's OK with me if I never see anyone from your company again. Your competition's products are much better than yours, and their salespeople have been calling in this area for years trying to get my business." Marilyn was wondering if she had gone to work for the right company.
Questions
1. If you were Marilyn, what would you do to improve the sales in your territory?
2. How long would your effort take to improve sales, and would you sell it to your sales manager?