1. Based on the facts given, evaluate Rajiv's territory design. What other basic control unit might Rajiv have used besides cities? Why?

2. What other forecast methods should Rajiv have used besides the sales force composite moving average? Why?

3. What type of sales quota did Rajiv use? Did he set the appropriate quota level? Why or why not?

MINICASE: LASTING IMPRESSIONS Lasting Impressions is a small Orlando, Florida, company that provides trade-show market. ing solutions to customers of all sizes. The company offers to design a plan for trade-show posed a new ella line of the exhibiting from start to finish, including developing a predomingo and branding strategy. Creating the exhibit booth and compong materials, packaging and shipping all trade-show me, and proud toothach tomers within the state of Florida and has a team of tout account Mary Beth Founded by CEO Rav Dembla in 2006, the company focus on tons on the same territory design that he has for the past several years, in which the vides the Susanne, Franco, and Syt who act as the salespeople for the organo geographically into four equal-size regions, and the account executives are responsible for the cities within their respective region. Rajiv is not an especially quantitative manager by nature, but he did ad now the need to do a sales forecast for the upcoming 2016-17 fiscal year. He used the salesforce composite method by asking his account executives how much each expected to se during the coming year and then totaling those estimates. This type of method has worked for the company in the past, but Ravis concerned that Syl acts in the spirit of the marketingadage "underpromise and overdeliver" by intentionally underestimating his sales expectations so that his quota will be lower. To be safe, Rajiv also determined the sales forecast by taking a moving average of the previous four years of sales (see Table FY 2016-17 Forecasted Sales Based on an average of these two sales forecasts, Rajiv set out to develop the yearly sales quota for each of his account executives. As he usually did, he kept the quotas simple as possible by basing it on gross dollars brought into the firm from sales, and he made it equal for each account executive. To ensure that his sales team is aggressive, he set the quotas slightly higher than the forecasted sales. As further motivation, Rajput 25 percent my customers at the end of the fiscal year to boost my short-term sales. And if I need more sales to meet my quota, I just do some creative accounting and record sales num- of each account executive's compensation in the form of a bonus for meeting or beating bers for this year which should come due at the beginning of next year. It works every THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF NORMATION SALES MANAGEMENT orecast for the rocess, Agnes red with a su nploy along wine determining the 189 training services pecially this time e in advance representatives a you developed ach a final for ad utilized trom developing the the sources and Quotas). hd soon to be neen to super sales force). esn't matter ong Agnes, ur ideas for hose meth short term. sources of especially er the dis- orecasting md specify sales volume quotas slohn Cook, Rajiv's executive assistant, is more sensitive to the needs of the staff than Rajiv and tends to be the one that people talk to freely. Mary Beth complains to him do best, building relationships with customers through in-person consultations, field demonstrations, and attending trade-show events to ensure everything goes smoothly. She finds these activities invaluable for serving the customer and keeping her pipeline of business full in the long term, but they do not necessarily generate sales volume in the While Suzanne tells John, "I have no problem with the quota because my territory includes the home city of Orlando. I know all of the businesses there and have no prob- lem generating sales, "Franco comes to John upset. His region includes Tallahassee, Pen- sacola, and the rest of the Florida Panhandle, which is more rural, is farther away from home, and has fewer businesses. As a result, he says, "I am miserable! I can't meet these Syt tells John, "I have the same problem generating sales at times in my north-central Florida territory because there are fewer large cities. But," he whispers with a smile, "1 don't worry about it. I recommend more expensive trade show supplies and services to ast in the and what unfair quotas!" market- e-show John is in a quandary. He normally keeps the staff complaints confidential, but in this 190 FORMULATION OF A SALES PROGRAM he feels like he needs to tell Rajiv that all is not well at Lasting FY 2016-17 Forecasted Sales and Quotas Account Executive Forecasted Sales Mary Beth $180,000 Suzanne 180,000 Franco 180,000 Syl 180,000 Total $720,000 Quota $200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 $800,000 Questions 1. Based on the facts given, evaluate Rajiv's territory design. What other basic control unit might Rajiv have used besides cities? Why? 2. What other forecast method(s) should Rajiv have used besides the sales force composite moving average? Why? 3. What type of sales quota did Rajiv use? Did he set the appropriate quota level? Why or why not? MINICASE: LASTING IMPRESSIONS Lasting Impressions is a small Orlando, Florida, company that provides trade-show market. ing solutions to customers of all sizes. The company offers to design a plan for trade-show posed a new ella line of the exhibiting from start to finish, including developing a predomingo and branding strategy. Creating the exhibit booth and compong materials, packaging and shipping all trade-show me, and proud toothach tomers within the state of Florida and has a team of tout account Mary Beth Founded by CEO Rav Dembla in 2006, the company focus on tons on the same territory design that he has for the past several years, in which the vides the Susanne, Franco, and Syt who act as the salespeople for the organo geographically into four equal-size regions, and the account executives are responsible for the cities within their respective region. Rajiv is not an especially quantitative manager by nature, but he did ad now the need to do a sales forecast for the upcoming 2016-17 fiscal year. He used the salesforce composite method by asking his account executives how much each expected to se during the coming year and then totaling those estimates. This type of method has worked for the company in the past, but Ravis concerned that Syl acts in the spirit of the marketingadage "underpromise and overdeliver" by intentionally underestimating his sales expectations so that his quota will be lower. To be safe, Rajiv also determined the sales forecast by taking a moving average of the previous four years of sales (see Table FY 2016-17 Forecasted Sales Based on an average of these two sales forecasts, Rajiv set out to develop the yearly sales quota for each of his account executives. As he usually did, he kept the quotas simple as possible by basing it on gross dollars brought into the firm from sales, and he made it equal for each account executive. To ensure that his sales team is aggressive, he set the quotas slightly higher than the forecasted sales. As further motivation, Rajput 25 percent my customers at the end of the fiscal year to boost my short-term sales. And if I need more sales to meet my quota, I just do some creative accounting and record sales num- of each account executive's compensation in the form of a bonus for meeting or beating bers for this year which should come due at the beginning of next year. It works every THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF NORMATION SALES MANAGEMENT orecast for the rocess, Agnes red with a su nploy along wine determining the 189 training services pecially this time e in advance representatives a you developed ach a final for ad utilized trom developing the the sources and Quotas). hd soon to be neen to super sales force). esn't matter ong Agnes, ur ideas for hose meth short term. sources of especially er the dis- orecasting md specify sales volume quotas slohn Cook, Rajiv's executive assistant, is more sensitive to the needs of the staff than Rajiv and tends to be the one that people talk to freely. Mary Beth complains to him do best, building relationships with customers through in-person consultations, field demonstrations, and attending trade-show events to ensure everything goes smoothly. She finds these activities invaluable for serving the customer and keeping her pipeline of business full in the long term, but they do not necessarily generate sales volume in the While Suzanne tells John, "I have no problem with the quota because my territory includes the home city of Orlando. I know all of the businesses there and have no prob- lem generating sales, "Franco comes to John upset. His region includes Tallahassee, Pen- sacola, and the rest of the Florida Panhandle, which is more rural, is farther away from home, and has fewer businesses. As a result, he says, "I am miserable! I can't meet these Syt tells John, "I have the same problem generating sales at times in my north-central Florida territory because there are fewer large cities. But," he whispers with a smile, "1 don't worry about it. I recommend more expensive trade show supplies and services to ast in the and what unfair quotas!" market- e-show John is in a quandary. He normally keeps the staff complaints confidential, but in this 190 FORMULATION OF A SALES PROGRAM he feels like he needs to tell Rajiv that all is not well at Lasting FY 2016-17 Forecasted Sales and Quotas Account Executive Forecasted Sales Mary Beth $180,000 Suzanne 180,000 Franco 180,000 Syl 180,000 Total $720,000 Quota $200,000 200,000 200,000 200,000 $800,000 Questions 1. Based on the facts given, evaluate Rajiv's territory design. What other basic control unit might Rajiv have used besides cities? Why? 2. What other forecast method(s) should Rajiv have used besides the sales force composite moving average? Why? 3. What type of sales quota did Rajiv use? Did he set the appropriate quota level? Why or why not