Business Case Studies & Business Publications

A Tough Sell in Sales Management (A)

Grenblad, Daniel, ...

Case

A Tough Sell in Sales Management (A)

Grenblad, Daniel; Yemen, Gerry

M-0739 | Published April 7, 2006 | 3 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

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As a manager of a local subsidiary, how skilled should you be in understanding a customer's behavior? Lars Falk, country manager at Genupay in Sweden AB, an IT software company, and one of his sales people were awaiting a promised fax about a sweet deal he had landed with a Swedish casino company. The timing of this contract could not have been better. The CEO of Genupay Inc., the parent company in London, United Kingdom, was putting the pressure on Falk to address some financial shortcomings. The local company was, so far, a loss-making subsidiary. In the (A) case, Falk senses a problem when the promised contract fails to appear. The (B) case, 24 hours later, reveals that the customer is canceling its purchase. The (C) case reveals that the purchasing contract signatory left the casino company, which has Falk wondering about the potential fallout of taking legal action. This case set is intended to be read and taught in a single 90-minute class. It allows for the application of frameworks on mapping functional and legal roles of actors in the buying decision and the personal selling processes. The main events of the case are actual occurrences; all actors are disguised.