Synopsis

Arck System was a medium-sized manufacturer of enterprise servers, which are powerful
network computers used in corporations to manage the data. Rob Chatterjee, CEO of Arck,
wanted to expand its software business inorganically. So, decided to acquire Lux Software,
which was the leading provider of middleware. Purchasing Lux was a great move on Arck’s
parts, and Bryan Mynor, EVP of Arck system took the responsibility for Lux’s Sales team.
Rob Chatterji planned to keep the companies' sales organizations separate for foreseeable future.
Bryan Mynor was worried about how to manage Lux Software salespeople. Lux Software Inc
was the leading provider of middleware. Lux operate their sales force under different methods
compared to Arck. Lux sales compensation package was vastly different from Arck’s, Lux’s
sales approach was more personable, where Arck’s was a more technical one, Mynor was
surprised to see there is difference in the compensation plan which is affecting efficiency of Lux
Software's salespeople.
1. Do you think there may be cultural issues while managing a sales force with 2 different sales
plans? Justify your reason
Answer-

Yes, because the sales forces of the two companies were first kept apart. The Mynor and
Chatterjee did not want to lose any more sales talent because the integration of the sales force
was so challenging.
 Chris Snyder, EVP of Sales at Lux Software, left the firm after the acquisition, taking the
majority of his sales management staff with him.
 Software salesmen tended to target various decision makers in the firm when sales
decisions were made by Ark and Lux.
 Arck persuaded the CIO, who would typically be most interested in server characteristics
like speed, processing power, and reliability.
 While lux software salespeople tended to target executives from the finance or
administration arms of corporations, who were primarily concerned about the creation for
the company and ease of implementation and use, some differences were present because
both companies came from different backgrounds. As a result, hardware sales were
considerably more technically focused, but software sales needed a lot of soft sales skills.

 It was also unclear whether a hardware company would be able to manage software sales
because it is a completely different game from hardware sales, which are typically made
up of people with technical backgrounds. Software salespeople, on the other hand, tend to
have stronger interpersonal skills and are more customer-focused than hardware
salespeople.
 In comparison to Arck Systems, which offered incentives or bonuses to staff members
who met their goals, lux software did not do so.