Sales Management Case 11.3

1-I think John Knight should not be fired. He is one of the company's outstanding sales reps. He seems like he is having some difficulties in his life. I think company should give him another chance. John looks like he knows he made a big mistake and he is willing to correct it. It would cost the company a lot to find a new sales rep like him. In addition, these kinds of reps have received extensive training, so correcting the problem would be less expensive than replacing him.

2- Sales manager should have a meeting with him and tell him how uncomfortable he is with this situation and tell him that he needs John right back on sales if he wants to keep his job. If John agrees with the problem he should listen to his assessment of the problem and consider extenuating circumstances by giving him the month he needs to fix his problem. Then design an action plan for improvement and get John Knight's agreement on this action plan. If John's performance does not improve as a result of immediate feedback, sales manager should review the problem in a formal performance appraisal; then the manager should make it clear that poor performance is not acceptable. Each step should be documented with written memos detailing what took place. I don't think there is a need for plan for improvement because he is an experienced sales rep and he never had poor performance before his personal problems got involved, it should be expected by sales manager to see improvement on his performance immediately. Sales manager should give him specified time period to show improvement. If the John does not improve his performance than with all the appropriate documentation sales manager should fire him.