Reference no: EM133203542

Assignment: West Midlands Restaurant Appliances Case Study Questions

Mini Case: West Midlands Restaurant Appliances

West Midlands Restaurant Appliances (WMRA), headquartered in Birmingham, UK, sells large, industrial appliances such as refrigerators, freezers, and dishwashers to restaurants all over Great Britain. For several years, the company has been second in UK market share to industry leader Thames Restaurant Services, but it has been gaining share in recent years.

WMRA is especially optimistic about catching Thames this year because of the rise of its star sales manager, David Epstein, an energetic 31-year-old who has been with the company since he was 22. Epstein is popular with the sales staff, but he also is aggressive and demands high performance. One of his initiatives is to make all salespeople accountable by strictly evaluating performance using ratios as well as purely objective measures. In particular, he has collected performance data for each of his seven sales representatives as follows:

Sales Rep	Previous Sales	Current Sales	Current Quota	Number of Account	Number of Orders	Expenses	Number of Calls	Number of Days Worked
Derek Francona	£480,000	£481,000	£575,000	1,100	780	£9,300	1,300	235
Johnny Schilling	750,000	883,000	835,000	1,600	1,970	12,300	1,800	223
Daphne Gellar	576,000	613,000	657,000	1,150	1,020	7,500	1,650	228
Robert Smythe	745,000	852,000	850,000	1,350	1,650	11,000	1,700	230
Jennifer McCarver	765,000	860,000	850,000	1,300	1,730	11,300	1,750	232
Manuel Lopez	735,000	835,000	825,000	1,400	1,790	11,500	1,750	220
Samantha Kerrey	665,000	670,000	720,000	1,600	960	10,800	1,550	200
Erin McCloud	775,000	925,000	875,000	1,700	1,910	12,800	1,850	225

Epstein would like to see an analysis of salesperson performance using the following ratios: sales growth, sales to quota, sales per account, average order, sales expense, calls per day, orders per call.

Most of the salespeople are happy to be evaluated, but a few are dubious and fearful of the consequences. Robert Smythe, for one, feels that his territory, which includes some of the more rural areas in western England is more difficult to sell in because there are fewer restaurants and he has only been a salesperson for about a year. In addition, one of Derek Francona's largest customers recently went out of business, and he feels that his numbers slipped as a result. Both are close to quitting because they feel they are being evaluated unfairly.

Epstein wants to beat Thames very badly this year and feels that improving salesperson performance is the key. Therefore, his performance evaluation system is of the utmost importance.

Task

1. Using the data given, calculate the performance ratios requested by Epstein and rank the salespeople accordingly.

2. What advice or guidance should Epstein give to each of the salespeople to improve performance?

3. What are the limitations of this evaluation system? What adjustments or additions could Epstein make to more accurately evaluate salesperson performance?