CASE 6.2: A SALES CALL GONE WRONG: Brian: As I mentioned earlier, I want a system that provides me with the ability to track inventory A NEED FOR TRAINING? and total sales. Does this system do that? Background Eve: No, it doesn't. We sell systems that can monitor Eve Perplexed joined American Payment Register, inventory, but they are more expensive. You 18 months ago. She was interested in working for a presently have some type of system for tracking progressive company with growth potential. inventory, don't you? American Payment Register, appeared to be such a Brian: Yes, but it is time-consuming and I have company. The company sold a variety of business always been concerned about its accuracy. computing systems. Eve was assigned to sell comput- Eve: We could provide you with an inventory track- erized cash register systems. ing system. But, in your case, it may not be The salesforce was taught to practice adaptive worth the extra cost. selling in which salespeople learned how to probe Brian: I'd really be interested in a system that is for customer needs and respond to customer wants. quicker than my present system and can track sales This method of selling has proven to be very suc- and inventory. I would also like to begin using bar cessful for the company. In fact, the company codes, rather than individually pricing each item. credits its move in market position from number Eve: We carry the CR2500. This system would ive to number three in the last three years to its provide you with the ability to do these things. implementation of adaptive selling and its sales- However, this system runs quite a bit more. force's ability to build strong customer relation- Brian: Will this system allow me to monitor sales ships. hourly? Eve: I believe it will. This is a fairly new system. It's Current Situation an update of an earlier model. Some changes Eve was running behind as usual. She had a major were made, and I'm not sure exactly what has presentation scheduled with a well-qualified prospect been changed. that could bring a substantial payoff to both her and Brian: Can the system break out sales by her company. As a result, she had to cancel her first department? scheduled appointment of the day so that she could Eve: The older version of this system could. I am finish preparing her presentation for this prospect. sure the new version can also. If you would like, This was not the first time she had to cancel an Mr. Wrench, I can write you a proposal for appointment. Just last week she canceled an installing the CR2500. When I finish the pro- appointment because she realized she would be posal we can meet again to further discuss the unable to make it to the client's firm before it closed. CR2500. She had failed to budget enough time into her sched- ale to allow her to travel from one appointment to the next. Eve arrived at Handyman Hardware five minutes Questions late. Luckily for Eve the owner of Handyman, Brian Wrench, had been on an important conference call 1. With regard to Eve, what sales training needs hat ran a little longer than anticipated. Brian was can you identify? hoping to purchase a new cash register system that 2. If you were Eve's sales manager and you discov could track his inventory. He was concerned about ered that several of your salespeople had training Inventory loss, particularly in terms of pilferage and needs similar to those of Eve, what methods the possibility of employees inaccurately (both on would you suggest for training the salesforce to purpose and otherwise) ringing up sales. Moreover, improve in deficient areas? he hoped to implement a system that would allow aim to track sales better, while at the same time 3. What are the effects of sales training on sales- xpedite the checkout process. Currently, he is using force motivation and morale? antiquated equipment that does not provide him with the ability to scan merchandise or systemati- ally track inventory and sales. After introducing herself and her company, Eve got right down to business. She went into a 30- minute presentation explaining the CR2000, a cash egister system she believed would be appropriate or Brian's store. What follows are excerpts from her neeting with Brian: Eve: Although we sell several systems, Mr. Wrench, I believe the CR2000 cash registers would be good for you. They are relatively inexpensive, provide a more rapid system for checking out customers, and are superior to what you now have