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Follow-Up
Seldom has a company utilized MPS
results as dramatically as this one to effect immediate and
significant change. We strongly believe that in order to bring about
change, senior management must commit itself to the process. This
company's management took a risk and did just that. The following
events occurred during the year following the administration of the
MPS and significantly contributed to the changes.
1) A special meeting was held with the
Vice President, sales managers, the Training Director and consultants
to review the survey data and at the same time, to initiate the steps
necessary to address the identified improvement opportunities. The
outcome of this meeting was an identification of the improvement
opportunities and the steps that each would be taking.
2) A review of data at the National
Sales Meeting with the entire sales staff and a commitment on the part
of management to follow-up on the identified concerns.
3) After the National Sales Meeting,
the Vice President sent a letter to the sales staff summarizing what
had been discussed and reconfirming his commitment to change.
4) Shortly after being hired, the new
National Sales Manager met with each Division Manager and sales
representative. As a part of those meetings he confirmed his
commitment to the process and to working with each of them.
In addition to the steps taken by the
Vice President and the National Sales Manager to communicate their
concern and commitment, a number of the action steps identified during
the debriefing meeting were also accomplished. Among them were:
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District
Managers held meetings with people to review the district's
overall data, as well as to review performance and set sales
strategy.
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A
combined district meeting was held in the middle of the year to
review sales performance and to focus on the fourth quarter.
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A
national newsletter was published quarterly "to communicate
product information, focus sales efforts and inform sales
representatives of current trends and events."
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Two of
the districts instituted their own newsletters. |
Most important in these activities was
the willingness of the Vice President to openly and honestly address
the needs and concerns of the sales force at the National Sales
Meeting. He did not attempt to pass the buck. During the meeting he
acknowledged administrative responsibility for many of the problems
which had occurred over the previous years and pledged his personal
support. His language best captures his sense of urgency. The
following is from his talk at the National Sales meeting.
"Your message is coming through
loud and clear. On reflection, I believe that our company has put its
main attention and effort for the past few years towards restructuring
and reorganizing to better meet the needs of our customers. In doing
so, unfortunately, we neglected the needs, feelings, aspirations and
development of our people. I apologize for this neglect."
The new National Sales Manager, who was
hired several months into the year, continued the effort to
communicate the division's commitment to the change process.
Clearly not every action step was
successfully achieved. A plan for providing the sales representatives
with more accurate and timely feedback was not accomplished and the
Management Practices Survey results from the instrument's second
administration one year later indicated the sales staff's continued
concern with this issue.
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