Case Studies

 

How do we keep going from here

 

Industrial Forms & Labels, Inc. (IFL) is a small, independently owned distributor of custom produced business forms, labels, and related products such as bar-coding supplies and ribbons. The owner and president, Karan Dixit, began the business in 1971 with his wife, after spending eight years as a sales person with a regional, direct selling printer of similar items. IFL is now WNC’s oldest and largest independent distributor of business forms, labels and related products.

 

Independent distributors in this industry serve as middlemen and liaisons between end-users of products and the manufacturers of those items. Unlike the large, nationally owned direct-selling companies, the independent distributor has a choice of which company manufactures the products they sell. Service to the customer soon became the major selling point of IFL.

 

As Karan Dixit developed his relationship and influence with contacts and resources on the manufacturing end, his reputation for a high level of service to customers naturally grew. It soon became known that IFL could get an order priced, produced and delivered in less time than those larger national companies took to just prepare the job quote.

 

As the company grew, as well as Karan’s family, Anita Jolsen was hired as an office-administrative assistant in 1981. Her duties included not only administrative tasks, such as customer billing, but also internal customer service. She soon became more of an inside salesperson, and these customer contacts often left the administrative duties behind. A new staff member was hired, Arjun Dhavan, who continued the dual job descriptions of administrative assistant and customer service, while Anita became the company’s first full-time outside sales representative, other than the owner.

 

As the company continued to grow, several outside salespeople and inside customer service people were hired. The majority of the current staff has been hired since 1993, and now includes four inside sales support persons, an administrative assistant, and a warehouse/shipping and receiving person. All but one of the inside sales support persons have backgrounds in this industry, either from the manufacturing or distributor side, in both sales and customer service.

 

The role of general operations management fell to Arjun. This role included support staff supervision, software system administration and training, managing customer promotions and events, occasionally assisting the owner’s wife with various bookkeeping duties, as well as implementing the human resource functions in the growing company.

 

Until three years ago, the company did not have much success with the full-time sales representatives hired. Most were impatient with the amount of time required to develop long-standing accounts in the industry, and expected quick sales and commissions. The latest salesperson was hired in 1996. Sagar Rampal was a “right-sized”, high-level purchasing manager from one of IFL’s largest customers. Sagar brought 25 years of business expertise and contacts to IFL, and was not just interested in making a fast dollar. Because of the rapid growth of the company, but lack of full-time salespeople, the maintenance of many “house” accounts fell to the only other long-term employee available –Arjun Dhavan. Needless to say, Arjun now has a job that has been “over-enlarged”.

 

Karan Dixit realizes what is about to happen, so an additional inside sales support person is hired. This person also has considerable experience in the industry from a customer service position at a manufacturing plant. A full time bookkeeper that also has experience in HR functions is also hired. These two employees take away much of the overload from Arjun. She is now left with the more manageable duties of maintaining “house” accounts, customer promotions, including the company newsletter, and computer network maintenance and training.

 

The problem now remains in the sales department. Anita and Sagar have brought many new and large accounts to the company, making the need for the additional people mentioned earlier not only necessary, but possible. However, both Anita and Sagar are over 60 years old. Both are looking towards retirement in the next five years. Both salespeople currently find it very hard to “let go” of some of the responsibility involving “their babies”. Karan, at age 55, has already begun a semi-retirement, remaining as support and advisor only, and focusing on financial management of the company. He has no children who are of age or interested in taking on any part of the business. Arjun has made it known to Karan that she is not interested in a full-time sales position, and in fact is pursuing further education in another field.

 

Discussion questions

(1) What career development/career management intervention would be most helpful to this company?

(2) What is the best way to implement phased retirement in this situation?