Sales management

MAR4403 – Final Case Exam Grading Areas Madison Fiber Corporation

Introduction, Size-Up & Role

 Stating of role; that the student is a consultant and will tackle the problem(s) Madison is facing; professional introduction etc.

Statement / Summary of the Problem(s) the Organization is Facing

 Main Problem – way the salespeople are going about their roles  can a compensation change fix things?

Decision Criteria

 Should be: (i) improving aggressiveness of salesforce, (ii) development of big / strategic accounts…

Summary of Key Alternatives

 Should basically just list that there are FIVE options on the table for revamping Madison’s salesforce compensation scheme.

Compensation Plan Changes

 Total Amount of Compensation Did the student comment upon whether or not the Madison salesperson’s TTC (total targeted compensation) should go up, down, or stay the same (p. 7).

(Madison reps. make ~$54-56 K per year, so that’s in-line with the industry norm when you factor in

the free company car).

 Student should do PROS / CONS of each of the FIVE options. The grade here will be based upon a total assessment of how good the student critiqued each of the five options. In my opinion, the

options, in order from “Worst” to “Best”, are as follows:

 Quantitative Analyses of the Five Plans – did the student make any effort to try and figure out what would be “paid out” under any / each of the plans? Would like to see some effort has been made to

calculate various scenarios as to what a likely pay-out would be with each, or at least a few, of the

plans.

o The easiest way to do this would be to use the 1992 sales results and salary figures etc. from Exhibit 1 on p. 10 of the case. This at least allows for some “projections” /

sensitivity analysis.

Other Areas of Madison’s “Sales Management System”

 Did Student discuss other areas at Madison, and how they relate to the salesforce, and identify improvement opportunities (i.e. Training)

Final Recommendation from Student

 Is there a sound recommendation from the student on what is the path forward o What option was recommended? o Was the option clearly supported? o Is there a path forward or next step to be followed?

Intangible Elements – Overall Report

 Good writing style? Grammar, attention to detail, spelling etc.?

 Professional and convincing paper / arguments. Do you want to implement their suggestions after reading the paper?

 Innovative ideas (graphs, neat Exhibits, numerical analyses etc.)?