Terri Ann Masters, Vice President of Sales for Startech Corporation, was wrestling with a critical issue related to one of her longtime and, until recently, most talented salespeople, Jason Benjamin. Startech was a French high-tech manufacturer with its corporate offices in Paris and manufacturing operation in France and China. Jason, whose territory included Silicon Valley in California, had been one of Startech’s top salespeople for 11 of his 15 years with the company. At first, Terri Ann thought it was just “bad luck” and Jason would be able to turn it around. Now, however, after four years of seeing Jason miss sales targets and hearing increasing complaints from customers, Terri Ann knew something was wrong. This was especially critical for Startech because Jason called on some of the company’s biggest clients. Jason had worked his way up in the company and been given these accounts seven years ago. During his first three years with the accounts, Jason generated substantial new business from his clients. Management with the customers had actually gone to the trouble of calling Terri Ann and complimenting Startech on the relationship Jason had established. The end result was that Jason frequently exceeded his sales quotas and received healthy bonuses.

In the last few years, however, there was very little new business coming from Jason’s accounts. At the same time, Terri Ann knew these companies were growing and were taking business to other competitors. It was not that Jason had lost the accounts; they were still doing a reasonable business with Startech. Rather, Terri Ann recognized there was additional business the company was not getting for some reason.

Of even greater concern was the number of complaints about Jason that had been coming in to Terri Ann. Jason certainly did not have the greatest number of complaints, but given his history, they were high. In addition, Jason seemed to be less motivated. When Terri Ann would call his office on Friday afternoons, she would find that he had already left for the weekend. The “old” Jason was one of the hardest-working salespeople in the company. In addition, EU and French employment law limited Terri Ann’s flexibility in dealing with employment performance issues.

The problem was coming to a head. Management had a big push inside the company to increase productivity. Terri Ann also had several younger salespeople who were eager to move into larger, more demanding, and higher potential accounts.

Questions

1. You are Terri Ann Masters. What would you do about Jason Benjamin?

2. What would you do with these younger salespeople who are looking for new opportunities inside the company?

3. Offer ideas on why Jason’s performance might have slipped after all these years with the company.