CASE STUDY 10

THE SARASOTA JOURNAL

Inevitable Change and the Restructuring of the Sales Force

LAKSHMI R. NAIR
ROLL NO. 027A

1. Is Wilma Collins the right person for the sales manager position at the Sarasota Journal? Given her
background, health issues, and age, does she have the qualifications and energy to identify what
changes need to be made and to implement them within the sales department?

Inspite of her health issues and age, Wilma is still a very good, hardworking and dedicated sales
manager. Her spinster status reaffirms her dedication to the company as she says that her workplace is
her family. This kind of dedication and passion for one’s work is not common among youngsters. Also,
Wilma has worked at Sarasota Journal for many a years now – at this difficult time her work experience
and contacts are vital for the company.

Though there is no questioning of her abilities as the sales manager of the newspaper, her performance
in the digital front is not convincing. It has to be recognized that the new media is well understood by
younger people.

What Sarasota Journal should immediately do is creating a new portfolio of a sales manager for internet
advertising on their website. This person can report to Wilma who has good knowledge about the new
technologies. As the new recruit will be a young person he won’t have an issue reporting to Wilma even
if she is not as knowledgeable as he is in internet advertising. He’ll respect her age. The recruiting of the
new guy should be rigorous. A work experience with some competitor should be appreciated.

2. Compare Bob Bowen’s optimism and leadership to that of Wilma Collins. How important is it for a
sales manager to provide a positive outlook when leading a sales team? Explain.

Bob Bowen is a very optimistic manager. In the Monday Morning meeting, he first gives a series of
figures showing the distress in the newspaper industry but follows it up with a collection of data which
is strong enough to instill hope in his workforce.

Wilma doesn’t seem this optimistic. This could be because we are reading the case from her point of
view. She is worried about the hard facts. And she is rightly worried because the figures are not
promising. Also she is constantly scared about she and her colleagues losing their jobs which is making it
hard for her to be optmimistic.

Both Bob and Wilma are aged and experienced people in the industry. Bob comes across as a more
charismatic leader who is loved by his employees inspite of their turmoil. Wilma leads a team of eight
sales consultants. She is at the helm of the sales of a newspaper which is struggling to break even. Still
she is composed and calm. She knows a lot of things including her job is at stake. Her energy and
enthusiasm even at this age is commendable. The way she keeps herself abreast with all the changes
happening in the industry, competition, technology etc is worth of special mentioning.

Wilma and Bob are different individuals, with different capacities but both good leaders.

3. If you were Wilma, explain how you would stay focused on your job knowing you had a better job
offer on the table with another organization not in turmoil.

Though the job offered promises tension free work atmosphere when compared to Sarasota Journal
where any day I may lose my job, I will look at the various other facts which makes the offer less
glamorous. With the arthritis which has become an old-age companion it will be impossible for me to
travel so much for work. Also, though a small firm the competition there will be cut-throat and in this
age it will be impossible for me to catch up. It is not to be forgotten that Sarasota Journal has been my
employer for so many years now and my loyalty lies there. I will feel that its immoral to leave my
employer in it’s times of distress.

It has to be noted that the job offer has been left at my table and it can now act as my back up option if
things go wrong for me at Sarasota Journal. This will only create a positive energy in my mind.

4. If you were Wilma, what organizations changes would you present to Bob? Make your suggestion
based on the sales staff performance data shown in Exhibit 1. What other information about the staff
might be beneficial for you to know before making your recommendations?

The online advertising of the Journal is 20% of its total advertising pie. And it definitely is going to grow.
As Wilma, I would recommend division of labour – creation of a post of Sales Manager (Online
Advertisement). I would do the recruiting process too, looking for the best talent in the market. This is
very important because: 1) As I am retiring in the next three years, I have to train a young mind to take
up the responsibility and 2) Small online advertising agencies opened by young and freshly out of college
people are running much more successfully than an established website like that of the Sarasota
Journal. So may be if I bring in young talented minds, the online advertising will pick up.

Also, I would recommend that Francis Rosen be allotted one more portfolio, may be one more location
can be allotted to him for making calls or he can help Betty Freeman with the Services Business account
as very soon the Services industry will be booming.

Other information required:

 Last year’s performances of these sales consultants.
 The split up of the performance of Joan Archer, Carrie Wilson and Ann Carter.

5. What impact does the internet have on the sales profession? Are all old market organizations (like
newspapers) going to become obsolete? Who needs to drive the need for cultural change within an
organization?

Newspapers have always been a very expensive medium for advertising. It is only natural that
technology like Internet is taking a beating on newspapers and similar old market organizations. If these
organizations does not look out for the changes in the industry and change themselves accordingly, they
definitely will become obsolete.

Newspapers have to become experts in the medium of internet. They already have needed resources
for content generation, space selling etc. These require only a fine tuning to adjust them to the new
media. The business can no longer be treated as an arrogant public firm. There should be no
complacency. The market should be closely watched and even the minute changes in the consumer and
competition noted and according steps taken. Laying of workforce is not the solution for every problem.
Rather all the resources should be utilized optimally.

Internet should not be looked as an opponent but rather an aid for taking the duty of dissemination of
news and knowledge to the next level.

This change in culture has to be initiated by the head of a company. As rightly done by Bob Bowen, the
vision of the company has to be changed to include the new changes and informed to the employees.
This change in culture should manifest in the sales revenue and hence the sales manager too has a very
important role in this. It is she / he who has to help the sales force go through this cultural shift and
mould their roles and skill set accordingly.

6. Describe the perfect salesperson for the Sarasota Journal. As a sales manager, how would you
find and recruit this person and what types of training and development would you provide them?

The new person recruited should be internet and tech savvy, have good knowledge of the industry and
the changes its undergoing. Sarasota Journal should try and acquire people who have work experience
in this field as it already is struggling and have very less time to wait for a personnel to undergo training
and learn the trends and then start working. Even if costlier, a salesperson with relevant work
experience is what Sarasota requires.

The process should be online keeping in tab with the post that is being filled in. Advertising and
acquiring a sales personnel for online advertising sales through some traditional media will be a
paradox.

The training should apprise the person about the culture and tradition of the Journal, its work culture
and hierarchy. The exact requirements of his post too should be made clear to him. The problems faced
by the company should be discussed.