Cross selling case

Summary:
After the merging of Top tek and Rossberg lee, the management team from the two companies have different opinions on what kind of compensation should go to the sales team and go to which member. From Peter's point, who was a former Rossberg lee employee, the company makes the sale people unhappy because a portion of the sales compensation goes to consultants who helped initialized the sales but never participated in any real sales. However, from Ron's view, the compensation to the consulting people is absolutely necessary because those people helped established the relationship.The real issue that lies here is the ideology difference between two new married organizations.

Key reasons:
The two organizations have different compensation principles before. Therefore some people are unstatisfied with the current compensation system because they think it is giving the consulting people what they do not deserve.

1.The consultants feel bad because commissions go to the sales force.
The consultants feel that they are the real force who initiate and win the sale. It is unfair for sales force just get the benefit.

2 The sales force regard consultants as not trustworthy
The sales force think that they are the people who do the talking job after the initiation by the consultants. The consultants shouldn't get paid for what they haven't been involved in.

3. Customer is happy with the merge.
The customer enjoys the conveniences after the two company merge.

4. The two teams need to work together better. They have proven that before.
The two teams seem to work better as partners, not co-workers inside one company.

Key solutions:
There are no real solutions yet. Anna is trying to bridge the two different company. it could be an overhaul of the entire system.The two company are still two companies after the merge. In order to become a successful company, it needs to establish a common culture and train the employees.

Buyer's Point:
I am a buyer who loved the products and services of Top tek. With its new acquisition of Rossberg, the company is able to provide a more complete service to me. However, I do notice some issues they have now, such as a slower response. I heard that their management level is fighting each other. I hope this fight will not affect the quality of their product.

The Sales Learning Curve

Summary: 

For new products that just hit the market, it takes time for the products to be mature. Scalix is a company that just launched its new product based on Open mail systems. Unexpectedly, the product didn't get sold as good as Scalix thinks it will be. The reason include that the CIO of a company is not the one to make decisions, large companies need to adapt to linux, and that the product is not in its prime time. These reasons introduced the notioin of sales learning curve. The solutions to the problem lies in a new marketing strategy, which includes hitting linux users first and so on. The company ended up succesful with its new strategy. 

Key reason for failure:

1. CIO is not the primary decision maker for purchasing email systems even if he appreciate it.
The CIO is not the right person to talk to when the company wants to make a decision. They need to talk to the person who has the money and the authority to make the purchase. 

2. Many large companies need time to adapt to Linux systems
Linux is a system that works differently from Windows and needs time to adapt to the change. The company should work on the Linux community first and help teach people use Linux. 

3. The software is not ready for its prime time.
The prime time for the software is not now. The software is not really of great need now. In a few years, people will realize that need more and that is when the software should be put into market extensively. 

Solutions:

1. hit linux users first

2. Hire two in-house telesales people to lead sales . 

3. Save scare resources and focus on smaller market first. 

Seller's Point 

We have this awesome product which is technicallly advanced. However, it cannot get sold as we want it to be. The reasons are that the sales learning curve makes it slow for a new product to hit market successfully. Thus, we focus on what we can do and what we have. Start smalll and grow gradually. 

Buyer's Point

This email product is great but it could take too long for us to adapt into the system. Linux system is too novel for our employees. CIO's opinion matters but could not convince us to use this product when it take so much effort to implement. We may hold on for now and see if people with linux background can use it well and use the product when the time is right. 

Airwide international Case

Summary:
      The Airwide international case discussed the stagnation of sales in eastern China. In the last few years, Chinese market for air-conditioning service has grew significantly and consistently. However, the Airwide company was unable to catch up with the growth. Several company managers participated in a talk about the possible reasons for such failure and possible solutions. From their discussions, we can see that Airwide international needs to provide better training to the sales force, reorient strategy to a market-driven one, adapt to the change of management structures in customers, and get in touch with potential buyers faster.

Key Concerns:

    There are multiple reasons for the failure.

• The sales force feel powerless in this situation; the sales people cannot be stimulated by prizes to get better results. Solution: the sales force should participate in a training program about the new sales techniques. 
• The company lost previous customers due to various reasons. Solution: get familiar with the change in the customer's company. Get used to talk to the internal structures in customer's company, which involves more than one person. 
• The company is unable to get new customers. Solution: get in touch with potential customers faster before they have gone for other options. Use new tools to reach customers, such as Internet and social media. 

Seller's Point:

 The company, as the seller, views the market failure from several perspectives, including the sales force, the customer company structure, and potential market. The company realized that it fails to behave well in any of these three areas and this could be the reasons why the stagnation happens. Therefore, the company plans to get out of the stagnation by tackling each of these problems in ways described above in the blog. The company looks forward to regain its reputation and honor in such a fast growing marketing environment. The several managers look very hopeful about the future.