Crestfield Furniture Case

Posted: August 25th, 2021

Crestfield Furniture Case

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Crestfield Furniture Case

Question 1

Personal selling has a fundamental impact on developing sustained and profitable business relationships. Merging Crestfield’s and Lea-Meadows’ sales approaches proves to be challenging since every company claims to have the most robust sales method, especially with regard to promoting personal selling. Personal selling is a sales method in which businesses use people, collectively called sales force, to sell their goods and services after face-to-face meetings (“Definition of Personal Selling,”.). These personnel market and persuade the customers through specialist knowledge, outlook, and attitude. Although this sales strategy is employed across the board, it is most suitable when used to market goods with complex features, such as furniture, cars, and machinery (“Personal Selling,” 2018). Personal selling effectively captures the customers’ attention, fosters interactivity, and initiates positive consumer relationships. These milestones lead directly to the development of sustained and profitable business relationships.

Question 2

The idea to mergeChestfield and Lea-Meadows is a noble strategic step. However, internal wrangles concerning dominance regarding sales strategy risk collapsing these enterprises if they merge without proper and structured agreement on the management of the merged sales teams. Giving the Lea-Meadows’ line to the Crestfield’s sales force has advantages and disadvantages. Firstly, Lea-Meadows would benefit from the established brand reputation of Crestfield, which was created by its professional and respected sales force. Building a positive brand reputation translates to increases sales and greater profitability. Secondly, Crestfield has more control over its sales efforts, which guarantees effective personal selling initiatives. Despite these benefits, surrendering Lea-Meadows sales line to Crestfield’s salesforce presents significant drawbacks. If Lea-Meadows’ line was to be given to the Crestfield’s sales force, it would mean an increase in operational costs because new salespeople would have to be contracted and trained about the company’s products, values and core customer segments. Additionally, Lea-Meadows may lose customers accustomed to its preexisting sales agents.     

Question 3

If Lea-Meadows’ line is given to the Crestfield’s sales force with no increase in sales force size, 15% of the company’s sales force would be diverted to selling the new product line, upholstery.

15% of 10 sales people= 2 people

• Salespeople would remain attending to Crestfield’s product line.

On average, salespersons were making 10 calls per week.

The introduction of Lea-Meadows’ line would result in the increases in the number of calls to 20 per week.  

Question 4

In the view of executives from Crestfield, employing additional sales representatives as opposed to using sales agents is more feasible. Martin Moorman rejects such a proposition and argues that engaging sales agents is the most effective sales approach. The decision should however be informed by the underlying costs and benefits of adding additional sales representatives compared to using sales agents. The following table highlights the merits and demerits of the decision.

Question 5

There are several circumstances under which Crestfield should give the upholstery line to its sales force. To start with, it should do so if it determines with certainty that there is a high likelihood of realizing more sales being closed. It can also engage its sales force if it emerges that sales agents are less effective, especially regarding the persuasiveness and customer interaction. If the number of the existing customer contacts held by the agents is insignificant, Crestfield could engage the sales force since the possible resultant loss is immaterial.    

References

Definition of personal selling. (n.d.). The Economic Times. Retrieved June 3, 2019, from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/personal-selling

Personal selling: Introduction, advantages, disadvantages with examples. (2018, September 26). toppr.com. Retrieved June 3, 2019, from https://www.toppr.com/guides/business-studies/marketing/personal-selling/