DBAX 9101C Week 1 Client Framing Discussion Example

Week 1 Discussion: Framing the Client's Problem

A Complaint, a Cause and a Remedy Welded Together: Taking Apart a Printing Client's Statement That Its Salespeople Cannot Sell Digital Before Treating Any Part of It as the Problem

The Client's Complaint

My client is a commercial printing firm in Milwaukee with about 85 employees. Three years ago it invested in a digital press and a small team to offer variable-data printing, direct mail campaigns and online ordering storefronts for its customers. In our first meeting, the vice president of sales said the salespeople "cannot sell digital" and that the firm needed people "who understand it."

Three Things in One Sentence

That sentence contains three separate things. The first is a dissatisfaction: revenue from the digital services is far below what the firm planned. The second is a cause the client already believes: the salespeople lack the ability to sell these services. The third is a remedy already half chosen: hire people "who understand it," which the vice president later said meant two new salespeople with marketing backgrounds.

Only the first is established. The firm's records show digital and marketing services brought in about $1.1 million last year against a target of $3 million. The cause and the remedy are hypotheses. Nutt (1999), studying several hundred organizational decisions, found that about half failed, and that a common reason was that managers adopted a solution early and then looked only for evidence that supported it. A consulting study that started from the vice president's cause would repeat that pattern.

Other Possible Causes

Several other explanations fit the same dissatisfaction. Salespeople are paid commission on printed jobs' margin, which may make a large print order more attractive than a smaller service contract. The people who buy direct mail campaigns may be marketing managers, while the salespeople's contacts are print buyers in purchasing departments. Tuli et al. (2007) found that customers experience solutions as relational processes rather than bundles of products, which suggests that selling them means reaching different people inside a customer firm. The services may be priced or packaged in ways customers find hard to compare. Ulaga and Loveland (2014) found that manufacturers moving into services often blamed their sales forces, but that selection, training and compensation all had to change together. Any of these, or several at once, could explain the shortfall.

What I Will Do First

I will write down the client's statement word for word, with the president's and a salesperson's versions, before restating it in research terms. I will also ask the vice president what evidence first pointed to the salespeople as the cause, since the answer will show what has already been ruled out.

Question for Classmates

What remedy has your client already half chosen, and what would it cost them if the cause behind it were wrong?

Reply to Bianca

Bianca, your car wash client is sure the new app caused membership cancellations. Did cancellations begin when the app launched, or were they already rising?

Reply to Theo

Theo, your bakery client blames grocery buyers for shrinking shelf space. What would the bakery's own sales data show if the cause were inside its product line?

References

Nutt, P. C. (1999). Surprising but true: Half the decisions in organizations fail. Academy of Management Executive, 13(4), 75-90. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.1999.2570556

Tuli, K. R., Kohli, A. K., & Bharadwaj, S. G. (2007). Rethinking customer solutions: From product bundles to relational processes. Journal of Marketing, 71(3), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.71.3.001

Ulaga, W., & Loveland, J. M. (2014). Transitioning from product to service-led growth in manufacturing firms: Emergent challenges in selecting and managing the industrial sales force. Industrial Marketing Management, 43(1), 113-125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2013.08.006