2. What can Horton do to improve the sales performance of Raul? Vaughn Manufacturing is a London-based automobile parts manufacturer. Specifically, it manufactures crankshatts, a key component of the engine, and sells directly to automobile manufacturers (also known as original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs) like General Motors, as opposed to selling to engine manufacturers. While selling directly to OEMs grants Vaughn a higher “Tier 1” status in the automobile business and direct access to the biggest players, it also means Vaughn has very little leverage in negotiating with the much larger OEMs.

England is by far the largest and most important sales territory for Vaughn, and its distrimct asalnes ageri s Keith Horton, a 26-- year company veteran. Horton personally recruited several arrears Otis team, who he calls “young guns,” and takes great pride that the team’s sales volume is consistently the highest in the company. Horton’s managerial style can best be described as aggressive, and he often insults or pressures his salespeople in order to increase their performance. In his words, “auto-manufacturing is a cut throat business, and} want my salespeoplet o be tough. | want to be the toughest thing that my salespeople ever face, so that customers will seem like pussycats by comparison.” Although he closely watches the performance of the salespeople, the company provides little training or specific sales guidance. He feels that salespeople learn toughness by figuring things out for themselves.