Ritesh Kumar Singh

PGSF1929

SALES MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

REALIGNING SALES TERRITORY AT GARRICK OIL AND

SUMMARY
Garrick Oil and Lubricants (GOAL) is a multinational company that is active in more
than 60 countries. It is amongst the top four company’s in the oil and gas industry,
globally. GOAL is known for its vertical integration and is active in all areas of the
industry like, refining, distribution and marketing, power generation, etc. Franchises
around the world handle GOAL’s downstream operations.
It has 770 franchise gas stations in Canada ,46 outlets are company owned gas stations. 80%
of the franchise gas station have convenience stores managed by the franchise owners and
their family members and the company owned convenience stores are managed by local
entrepreneurs .Canada was divided into 11 regions and these were further divided into sales
territories based on number of franchises ,the accountability and responsibility of every
employee was defined, the distribution network was also strong.
Recently appointed as a Regional Sales Manager, Jonathan Willey was previously
assistant to the National Sales VP. As the Regional Manager he was responsible for
cleaning up the mess generated by the former Regional Sales Manager. The area of
northern Ontario was less than 800,000 square meters and includes four major cities,
Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste Mary and North Bay. GOAL has 43 independent
franchises in this area and 2 company-owned gas stations in this area account for 3% of
GOAL's overall revenue.
In 2009, GOAL saw a notable decrease in sales and franchisee relations. Within the next
year, the regional sales manager at the time, Rob Doff, attempted to resolve these problems
by way of rearranging sales territories and making adjustments to the organizational structure
of the company by re-assigning salespeople to different operations. Doff’s plan failed and he
was asked to leave the company.
Using Doff’s plan as a strict outline of what not to do, Wiley must carefully consider the
problem at GOAL and make the appropriate decisions about how to divide the region into
territories and which accounts and salespeople to assign to each one.
Wiley may consider the following possible alternatives:
1 – Create a team environment
2 – Redistribute by current relationship status
3 – Package Tom
4 – Status Quo with enhanced incentives
5 – Status Quo

The alternative shows how GOAL employees having a partner to share the responsibilities
and management of the territory will be a huge benefit. Employees will have someone to
balance their strengths and weaknesses, and improve the relationships with the franchisees.
Where one person may not be able to build a strong relationship with a franchisee, the other
partner may have a better connection and we should see overall relationship ratings improve.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
Sales for Garrick Oil and Lubricants (GOAL) in Northern Ontario Region began to decline in
2009. The franchisees offered less support, and deteriorated their relationship with the
company. Rob Doff, the regional sales manager at the time, felt this problem was caused by
complacency from the sales force. In 2010, Rob in order to improve the sales made a decision
of reallocating the sales territories. He thought that this would work but instead it backfired
and brought a great dissatisfaction among the salespeople. He was asked to leave the
company. Willey was promoted as a regional sales manager and had to make decision
regarding the allocation of geographical territories to the four sales managers.

SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
• Eighty per cent of franchised gas stations have a small convenience store
• Upstream and vertical convergence
• Garrick Oil is a global corporation in more than 60 countries;
• Company owned tanker truck fleet
• Ranked in the top four in the oil and gas sector worldwide

WEAKNESSES
• Shortage of talent in mid-level sales management
• Different education and experience rates among TSM's
• Historically poor relationship with franchisors
• Reginal sales force faces internal issues

OPPORTUNITIES
• Introduce Customer Manager Reward Program
• Hold monthly meetings between RSM and TSM to determine assignments
• Train the sales Manager to boost sales
THREATS
• Improvements in the Government's gas distribution laws
• Economic factors such as rising gas prices could reduce sales
• Competitors moving into the gas industry

ALTERNATIVES
Johnathan will go with the visiting offers and develop relationships with key customers and
focus on one-star customers too. Objective as a company will determine the tools made
available to its workers in the deals. If they feel they are not equipped to offer adequately,
Objective should address that.
GOALs customers need the all alternatives. Customers need a way to alert GOAL about
shortcomings, so Goal can resolve the concerns and sell more to existing customers. This
interface is also a perfect selling tool to potential clients, be it an App or online site.
1- Create a team environment
Territory should be divided into two separate regions and thus create 2 teams of 2. This is to
promote a collaborative atmosphere in which sales workers work. To promote mental health,
everybody needs a sick day, or a personal day here and there. The team members will cover
one another off by having a collaborative atmosphere to make for a stronger work life
balance. In turn, this would create a collaborative environment where any employee will
learn from their partner.
2 – Redistribute by current relationship status
Consumer loyalty is known to have deteriorated. That has to be set. One way to resolve this is
by better submitting GOALs to these customers in order to recover their satisfaction. Jim has
demonstrated excellent skills and is the very best on the fast track. Through combining the
strengths of his and Johnathan, GOAL is able to restore the trust of clients who feel
overlooked. To Jim and Johnathan, it will take a lot of effort.
3 – Package Tom
Tom got upset about GOAL. A disgruntled employee may become contagious and cause the
entire team to deteriorate. Sure, he's been with the company for 18 years but he's critical of
management and he's opposed to management. This is completely inappropriate. He is not
expressing purpose and dream in GOAL's through being this way. Packaging Tom off and
recruiting people who want to be here might be time to.
4 - Status Quo with enhanced incentives
The sales team have set up customer ties. Don't disturb these relationships to alter who they
have to deal with, and to start over. Added incentives will provide the encouragement to do
better by incorporating incentives over and above the necessary adjustments to all alternatives
list at the beginning of this section. As salespeople, rivalry is a part of their psychological
make-up. By having the additional opportunity to win competitions for; the most improved
zone, the majority of new customers, the most improved sales and the best overall ranking,
this will help GOAL to reward the hardest-working employees.
5 - Status Quo
Sales workers know what is expected of them by keeping things the way they are, and what
they need to do. The specifications specified for all alternatives will suffice to improve the
working climate. GOAL is not concentrating on what it really wants to do by using the stick
(packaging Tom off) or the carrot (bribing the workers to do their job).

RECOMMENDATION
My recommendation to the company is to formation of two sales teams, one of Tom and Ben
in the region's northern part and Melissa and Jim in the southern part. This would be a big
help to have a partner to share responsibility for and control the territory. Every team needs
somebody to balance their strengths and weaknesses and boost Franchisee relationships.
While one person may not be able to develop a good relationship with a franchisee, the other
partner may have a stronger link and we can see changes in overall relationship scores.
Tom is a long-time employee with a profound understanding of the business, industry and
market. Ben, who is new to the business and the industry, would have appreciated his
experience and expertise. Ben will benefit from the mentorship Tom is able to offer.
Tom is losing his enthusiasm for the business and his attitude is starting to show. Giving him
a mentor-subordinate will require Ben to teach and set an example to follow. Getting
someone who works with him helps keep him accountable would boost the overall
performance of the area they manage together. Tom will also take advantage of Ben's
advanced business experience to develop his career.
The team of Melissa and Jim also pairs an experienced but uneducated person with a
more junior person but a person with some formal business and sales training.
I recommend Jonathan to choose alternative 5 which is Status Quo because he is new to
his position. He may be able to rally the team without making any changes to the
structure, but we feel that change would be more effective. Jonathan’s leadership in
combination with change would be a much more effective option with more immediate
results.