Grad Student

MKT 257K

Case Analysis #4

General Electric (GE) Appliances

Definition of Problem(s)

Larry Barr was recently promoted to district sales manager of CAMCO, a division of GE based out of Canada. There are 3 divisions within CAMCO: Hotpoint, GE Appliance division and GSW appliance division. Barr's new position was responsible for allocating the sales quota/bonus among his team, which is received 3 months (October) before that start of the next year (January) and throughout the end id the year (December). He had two weeks to complete this task in five territories. This job is important because Barr must allocate appropriate so that each salesperson can top there potential. If salespeople do not reach their goal then, they can face up to a 25% decrease in salary and the company could lose significant market share. Each salesperson is promised 75% of there total salary as base; the rest is compensated based on sales performance. Another main issue is that due to Barr's newness to the job, he was not confident as how to allocate correctly. Barr used the sales reports from the previous year to properly allocate. Barr was also faced with 2 major challenges that would change the sales team, First, Mr. Block, one of his experienced and best sellers, was leaving the sales team. Barr had to come up with a plan to replace him without losing the relationship with current customers. Barr came up with a plan to allocate contracted sales first; those included sales in bulk lots to builders and developers who used appliances in housing units. Second, Mr. Rizzuto, another experience salesperson was at risk of losing his customers because one of his national accounts was at risk of becoming delisted. On top of all this, general economic outlook was poor; the Canadian dollar had fallen and unemployment in the US was up.

Alternatives to Solution

Barr's allocations took into account all key factors except, untapped potential, new franchises, store openings and buying group activity. Since changes were being made in the economy and personnel, Barr should have researched new potential markets to compensate for lost sales from losing national accounts. Since training sessions for the sales team did not include sales techniques, Barr could've initiated sessions to educate both product and sales knowledge. Or, he could have simply put an experienced salesperson in the place of Block and hired a new salesperson to cover a small established territory where sales have matured and had less risk to the company's market share. If Barr