Amitesh and his sales team

7th April, 2014 (10:30 A.M.). Mr. Amitesh Kumar, the newly appointed ASM of Rbax pharmaceuticals
came out of the meeting room of the Burdwan CFA office in a pensive mood. He needs to work on, how
to sort out the problems of a non-performing and demotivated sales team.

Amitesh is a fresh MBA (MKTG) graduate from IIM. He did his graduation in Pharmacy and worked with
GSK Pharmaceuticals for three months as a summer intern in the sales and distribution function. He
does not have any prior supervisory experience of leading a sales team.

The Burdwan area was one of the major pain points of the eastern region of Rbax sales operation in
2013. The Burdwan area comprises of six sales rep HQs, namely, Burdwan city (1 rep), Katwa (1 rep),
Durgapur (1 rep), Raniganj (1 rep), Asansol (1 rep) and Purulia (1 rep). During 2013, all the HQs together
showed an average sales achievement of 84% with degrowth of 15% over the last year’s performance. A
brief detail of the sales team members is given in the following table:

Sales Rep Territory Age Exp. in Overall Working Av. Perf @ Perf. Acad Family
(yrs.) R’baxy Exp. @territory past 3 In backgr
years 2013 ound
P Ghosh Burdwan 38 12 yrs. 16 yrs. 8 yrs. 98% 75% Grad Married; 2
kids
S Das Katwa 22 < 1 yr. < 1 yr < 1 yr NA 70% PG Unmarried
S. K. Saha Durgapur 28 5 yrs. 6 yrs. 4 yrs. 101 % 95% Grad Married ;1
kid
D. Dutta Raniganj 26 2 4 2 yrs. 75% (2 yrs) 78% Grad Unmarried
P Dey Asansol 58 28 35 10 yrs. 100% 92% Grad M / 2 sons
A Kumar Purulia 35 7 yr 10 1 yr. NA 74% Grad Married;
no kids

Amitesh wanted to gather info about the territory related work issues and the personal issues of each of
the team members. An excerpt of the responses of each of the team members is given bellow:

P Ghosh

I worked hard over the years / I expected to get promotion in 2012; don’t know how I missed the bus /
The growth of new product sales in my territory was the highest during 2011-2012. / What more should
I have to do to get my due/ My previous boss did not keep his promise and did not try his best for my
promotion.

S Das

I am a fresher and new in the territory / My strength is perseverance / If I target to achieve something, I
achieve it. / I am unfortunate that I have to work as a sales rep despite having a post-graduation in
chemistry /Sales reps are looked down upon in the society / If I did an MBA instead of MSC, I could have
joined in a managerial role which is considered respectable in society. / I cannot leave my job as I need
money / I am meeting my customers regularly
S.K. Saha

In 2013, the market was bad. / My territory suffered from infiltration from adjacent territory / I will do
my best to exceed my sales target in 2014 / This is the first time in the last 5 years in missed my sales
target / I feel bad for not performing / Need to work out something to capture the infiltration problem /
I want to grow with the organization/ What is my possibility to get a promotion next year?

D Dutta

I want to do well and grow professionally / My previous boss was not keen to work in the field and guide
me / The distributor always asks for additional discount for giving order even when the demand is there
/ I have only one distributor in my area / My distributor does not have ‘catering’ in many of the retail
outlets / I feel bad for not performing / To me, performance means hitting the quota / Something needs
to be worked out / If it doesn’t improve in 2014, I will change job.

P Dey

The market was bad last year. / I will try to do better next year. / I will retire in 2 years. / What is there
for me in this profession anymore? /During our time, the work culture was much better and the bosses
used to respect the veteran sales reps. / I believe, I did a good job in my profession. / I was never
interested for promotion. / My sons are well settled. / I want to start an NGO after retirement.

A Kumar

The company is very unethical. / I never compromised with my ethics. / Punishment transfer never
helps. / My family is in Mumbai. / The management transferred me to WB. / I will meet my customers
on a regular basis as that is my job / My job is to meet customers. I hope, that will yield the desired
result. / My previous boss victimized me.

The case is hypothetical and prepared by Dr. Nirmalya Bandyopadhyay only for the purpose of class
discussion. Any similarity with any organization or individual is merely coincidental.