MKT602 : Media Sales And Sales Management

Janet Holcombe was a salesperson who had a good relationship with Harry Godowski who was an advertiser in her company. Janet worked in DailyNews.com which was the digitalisation of the local newspaper whose content has been completely transferred online. It was the most well-known and successful papers in the vicinity and the country and had their website as well as application. Harry Godowski was the owner of one of the largest stores of jewellery which he operated from downtown without spreading to other places. He had one store which was very prosperous, and he was famous for providing excellent customer service and satisfying his customers. Janet had been in business for four years with Harry and had developed a friendship with him. Soon Janet was called by Sy Abell who was the manager of a jewellery store that was about to open in the largest mall in the city, Hess Jewellery Store. Sy wanted through Godowski Jewellery out of business and wanted to spend lots of money on advertisements with Janet’s company. He gave specific demands which made Janet uncomfortable as she had a good friendship with Harry. This put her in a dilemma between her professional and personal life and led her to ponder on the decision that she should take.     

Analysis

Several problems are presented in the case study which has to be faced by Janet. Firstly, when Sy placed his demands in front of Janet, she was extremely uncomfortable as Sy was talking about a fierce competition with Godowski Jewellery with the motive to through him out of business and she had a deep friendship with Harry for the last four years along with having a professional relationship. Secondly, Janet knew that she had to decide on whether to take the business or not. If she took the business, then she did not know what to explain to Harry Godowski when he will be able to see the banners of Hess Jewellery above his own. However, if she did not take the business, then she has to provide a logical and reasonable explanation to her manager about the reason behind the rejection of the offer. She was faced with a severe dilemma over the way the conversation has taken place with Sy and tried to absorb and understand the different conditions that have been placed by Sy and thought of the best possible outcome that she could derive from it.

Recommendations

If I were Janet, I would not accept the initial offer that as made by Sy since it was a significant conflict towards the relationship I had with Harry Godowski. Moreover, that is not the only reason for rejecting the offer since it was evident that Sy was aggressive in his approach towards the success of the company and could take drastic steps in the future which might lead to several complications for Janet and her company. However, if I did plan on accepting the advertisement offer, I would have to explain to Harry about the benefits that this offer would give to my company and that I had to take the offer or get in trouble with my manager since the business was huge. On the other hand, if I did not take the business then I would make my manager understand that even if the business would give us a good foothold over the advertising market due to the vast amount of advertisement that would be done by Sy, there was a bad track record regarding issues in payment from them. This would be a drawback for our company if the payment were not made in time. Moreover, Sy was of an aggressive nature and could take unpredictable actions which would be risky for our company. He was also into unethical practices such as asking for details of other clients which we should not provide on ethical grounds. Even though there are no full proof counterproposals that would be acceptable to Sy, I would urge him to do business with us separately without the mind for competition and without taking the help of unethical practices. They could invest their money into providing more advertisements which could anyway make them go a step ahead if customers are attracted to them. Furthermore, I was Janet I would politely decline the offer to go to dinner with him and state that I have an important meeting after this which is why I have to leave and also that I will talk to my manager and inform him about the final decision that will be made.      

Implications

There could be several implications of the recommendation that have been made by me. If I accept the offer, I will lose my personal and professional relationship with Harry Godowski. However, if I do not accept the offer, then I would lose a huge business and maybe create problems for myself if my manager does not accept my explanation and put an impact on the company.  

References

Charleswarner.us (Charleswarner.us, 2018) <https://www.charleswarner.us/SalesDilemma.doc> accessed 31 August 2018

Harris, Lloyd C. "Service employees and customer phone rage: An empirical analysis." European Journal of Marketing47.3/4 (2013): 463-484.