1. Why is Kirby having problems implementing cross-selling?

Kirby is having problems implementing cross selling because of not executing it at the right
level and right manner in the organization.

 The first and most evident problem is in the selection of the individual to drive the
initiative within the organization. Ideally the person accountable for the initiative
should report directly to Kirby so that in case of issues, Kirby is aware, can intervene
and use his influence across different teams within the organization. Instead Kirby
delegated the initiative of cross selling to one of his VP and the candidate chosen was
not very experienced in company’s business.
 The second problem that I noticed is the lack of a top level systematic strategy to
change the culture of the organization. Traditionally Winston used to provide very
specific high quality service using autonomous consultants. Any cross selling starts
with the customer; analyzing their requirements in a comprehensive way and
communicating to them that there are complementary services available. Due to the
lack of a well laid out strategy there is essentially no groundwork done to capture the
usage scenarios of the customers. There is no prescriptive plan of action that enables
analysis of the customer needs to enable cross selling by different teams.
 Thirdly but not the least there are no incentive and reward system in place to
encourage participation of the employees in the program. Essentially setting up some
measurable objectives towards a goal goes a long way in determining the success or
failure of an initiative. In the case of Winston and Associates, Kirby failed to
introduce a recognition and financial reward system for individuals who go out of the
way to achieve those goals.

2. What would you do differently?

To make the cross selling initiative successful, I would

 Make the person responsible for the cross selling program report directly to me as
opposed to reporting to VP in the organization. This will ensure better co-operation from
the VPs heading the sub-organizations.
 Select a person with more experience and contacts within the organization to head the
committee. This will ensure better co-operation and faster turnaround of ideas as an
experienced individual would be able to identify the key players within the sub-
organizations of Winston and Associates.
 Institute a training program for the key members across organization to develop better
understanding of what the key success factors are in rolling out such an initiative.
  Roll out a centralized customer relationship management program shared across all the
teams to have better access to data regarding customer needs. This will in help in
identifying customers who could likely benefit from the additional services that we offer.

3. What sort of changes would you make to the structure of the firm, the people and their
roles, and the systems (including incentive systems) of the organization to more easily
implement the cross-selling initiative?

These are the changes that I would make to firm in order to implement cross selling more easily
in the organization

Structure:

 Modify the management organization by making the person in charge of cross selling
report directly to Kirby.

People and Roles:

 Train employees in cross selling techniques. The approach should be based on customer
requirements and how to club services to enhance the experience of the customer by
solving their additional problems and meeting unfulfilled needs.

Systems:

 An efficient and centralized customer relationship management system that takes into
account the customer needs and timing. It identifies the patterns in sales to narrow down
on the key customers and also do predictive analysis on what could potentially be an
unmet requirement. In a nutshell a recommendation system to figure out the best possible
combination of services that a client might be interested in availing.

 Pre packaged deals that offer more value for less money if additional services are
purchased from the firm. This will involve creation and distribution of marketing
materials and making the customers aware of the benefits of bundling the purchase from
one place.

 A reward and incentive system for the associates and consultants who refer or enable
additional services to the clients that turns into sales.

 A standardized software tracking system in place to monitor compliance and coordinate

cross-selling activities between specialists. This system would be responsible for
identifying the sales patterns that resulted because of cross selling.