Frank V. Cespedes

Bill MacLeod felt relieved when the board meeting finally ended. It was one of the toughest sessions he could remember in his six years as Fusilier Technology’s CEO. But that was hardly surprising, given the main item on the agenda: a review of why the company had lost the Chase Dynamics account.

K6M9/BdCNnf9Mc1gQfMU84S5tFFnHk5Ja5SaLBs9fX7QMKwAkAQbogDz5pefUp5G+Dw2SRL+SUcN6ORQLRtai7gL2qnagP77uYveDRUnAwIyeU50x8qrameOi7HKvDYZ

Reprint: R0607A
Fusilier Technology is in disarray. Its vice president of sales is leaving, the company&#8217;s new growth strategy to sell customized business solutions has stalled, and sales have been flat for five years.
Bill MacLeod, Fusilier&#8217;s CEO, has to choose between two very different candidates for the top sales job: a veteran sales director who has excelled under the old order and a brash outsider who has experience selling solutions but doesn&#8217;t know the industry. With an outside board director pressuring him to accelerate the pace of change, MacLeod ponders which candidate can best help the company make the transition.
Fusilier&#8217;s new solutions strategy has made the decision that much more difficult. Under this model, the company must revamp its incentives, training, and processes for deploying the sales force. Historically, compensation has been based largely on an individual rep&#8217;s results, and sales training has focused on product features and cost-performance advantages, not on the business issues facing customers. Now salespeople need to understand, promote, and select from an entire portfolio of products and services offered both by Fusilier and by its business partners. What&#8217;s more, they need to collaborate with Professional Services, the new consulting unit whose mission is to jump-start the solutions-centric approach.
Whom should MacLeod hire for the top sales job, and what should he do to put Fusilier back on a growth track? Four experts comment on this fictional case study: Alston Gardner, founder of OnTarget, a sales training and consulting firm; Steve Kerr, a managing director and the chief learning officer of Goldman Sachs; Randall D. Kelley, a partner of the executive search firm Spencer Stuart; and Andrea L. Dixon, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Cincinnati.

Old Hand or New Blood?

Reprint: R0607A Fusilier Technology is in disarray. Its vice president of sales is leaving, the company’s new growth strategy to sell customized business solutions has stalled, and sales have been flat for five years. Bill MacLeod, Fusilier’s CEO, has to choose between two very different candidates for the top sales job: a veteran sales director who has excelled under the old order and a brash outsider who has experience selling solutions but doesn’t know the industry. With an outside board director pressuring him to accelerate the pace of change, MacLeod ponders which candidate can best help the company make the transition. Fusilier’s new solutions strategy has made the decision that much more difficult. Under this model, the company must revamp its incentives, training, and processes for deploying the sales force. Historically, compensation has been based largely on an individual rep’s results, and sales training has focused on product features and cost-performance advantages, not on the business issues facing customers. Now salespeople need to understand, promote, and select from an entire portfolio of products and services offered both by Fusilier and by its business partners. What’s more, they need to collaborate with Professional Services, the new consulting unit whose mission is to jump-start the solutions-centric approach. Whom should MacLeod hire for the top sales job, and what should he do to put Fusilier back on a growth track? Four experts comment on this fictional case study: Alston Gardner, founder of OnTarget, a sales training and consulting firm; Steve Kerr, a managing director and the chief learning officer of Goldman Sachs; Randall D. Kelley, a partner of the executive search firm Spencer Stuart; and Andrea L. Dixon, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Cincinnati.

Old Hand or New Blood?

Summary.

Partner Center