Little Of Soslp's Customer Relationship Management example essay topic

Southwestern Ohio Steel Limited Partnership (SOSLP) was considered to be one of the industry leaders in technology and service. SOSLP sells to approximately 500 customers, twenty five of which produces about two-thirds of the company's sales. Dan Wilson, vice president of sales at SOSLP, had recently received a letter from Matworks requesting SOSLP to provide sponsorship for an upcoming Matworks annual sales meeting. Dan needed to decide if providing sponsorship was feasible keeping in mind that Matworks had been a long standing customer of SOSLP while also knowing that gifts were no longer a custom in the steel industry. Wilson should not offer to sponsor the annual sales meeting as this would not comply with company and industry situations. In earlier days, "wining and dining" the customer had been a part of the steel industry and adjusted as a cost of doing business.

But recently government regulations had restricted this method of doing business and now "buying" business was just not a part of the industry. Sponsoring the annual sales meeting does not comply with the present business ethics and SOSLP could risk hurting their image and losing respect in the marketplace. Matworks at one time had been one of SOSLP's best customers and bought almost exclusively from the company. Over the past few years they had run into financial trouble and thus were not buying as much. They had gone from being in the top ten best customers to about ninetieth. Twenty five customers produced about two-thirds of SOSLP's sales; Matworks was far off.

The contract with Matworks was negotiated on a yearly basis and sponsorship was not a part of this contract. Also the sponsorship would lead SOSLP's other customers to believe that SOSLP would be willing to support their future events even if it was not in the contract. Also they would think that SOSLP would provide financial assistance when they run into trouble. The extreme competitiveness amongst suppliers of the market meant that large customers with established requirements were highly prized since that led to accurate forecasting and better inventory management through consistent sales. But over the past few years Matworks orders have constantly been declining, which has gone from $2.4 million to $672,000 in two years, possibly throwing off SOSLP's forecasts. SOSLP invested very little into advertising as they prided in their communications skills and customer relationships.

The only advertising that was done was via direct mail. Therefore, making this investment as an advertising strategy would not be something that SOSLP should consider as the advertising in the industry was done through 'best business practices'. Once when SOSLP had a golf outing, and Wilson asked the person who organized the outing as to where the food came from, he replied saying that he had got one of the company's vending machine suppliers to put it up, Wilson warned him saying "never, ever, ever do that again". Clearly, we can see that Wilson does not believe in asking for sponsorship and should abide by it by not providing it either. Thus from above, it is highly recommended that Wilson should not sponsor the meeting. But not sponsoring the meeting also has some drawbacks.

Firstly, Matworks which was once SOSLP's largest customer, with whom they have had such a long standing relationship, and not helping them out in their time of need would speak very little of SOSLP's customer relationship management. Additionally, in this competitive environment it could be very easy to lose Matworks to the competition, which would be anxious to contribute and get their account. Furthermore, the sponsorship would have led to good exposure through product displays and meeting with influential executives. Business Marketing Management, Hutt.