The Quarterly Sales Report
The Quarterly Sales Report
ChiVonda Wiliams
Lorain
Context of Case
This case involves the vice president of sales at Selit Corp. and his approach at analyzing sales data. Ron Hagler, had just received a report on the past five years of quarterly sales data for the regions that he is in charge of. After Ron looks at the sales data, he immediately calls a meeting with his regional managers to discuss what he saw. He is correct when he notifies his managers that sales rose and fell during certain quarters and years BUT he failed to understand why these variations occurred.
Issues
❖ Ron Hagler has ineffective approach at improving sales ❖ Ron doesn’t understand variation and that every process has it ❖ Risk of losing salespeople ❖ Unmotivated and not empowered salespeople, thus unhappy workers equals unhappy customers
Analysis
The five whys can help us determine the root cause of the situation
1. Why does Ron need to improve his approach? A. Because it is ineffective 2. Why is his approach ineffective? A. Because he only looks at the raw data and doesn’t consider external factors that could affect sales 3. Why does he only look at the numerical data? A. He doesn’t know the appropriate way to analyze data 4. Why does he not know how to properly analyze data? A. He is not applying the knowledge of statistical thinking 5. Why does he not use the philosophy of statistical thinking? A. Clearly he does not have any knowledge of statistical thinking and he is not trained in statistical process control and does not understand variation.
Using the five whys technique, I was able to find the possible root cause of the problem. Ron Hagley is not thinking statistically when he looks at the sales data. He simply sees increases and decreases in numbers but he is not thinking them through like he should. Raw data alone does not provide the necessary info you need for quality control
ChiVonda Wiliams
Lorain
Context of Case
This case involves the vice president of sales at Selit Corp. and his approach at analyzing sales data. Ron Hagler, had just received a report on the past five years of quarterly sales data for the regions that he is in charge of. After Ron looks at the sales data, he immediately calls a meeting with his regional managers to discuss what he saw. He is correct when he notifies his managers that sales rose and fell during certain quarters and years BUT he failed to understand why these variations occurred.
Issues
❖ Ron Hagler has ineffective approach at improving sales ❖ Ron doesn’t understand variation and that every process has it ❖ Risk of losing salespeople ❖ Unmotivated and not empowered salespeople, thus unhappy workers equals unhappy customers
Analysis
The five whys can help us determine the root cause of the situation
1. Why does Ron need to improve his approach? A. Because it is ineffective 2. Why is his approach ineffective? A. Because he only looks at the raw data and doesn’t consider external factors that could affect sales 3. Why does he only look at the numerical data? A. He doesn’t know the appropriate way to analyze data 4. Why does he not know how to properly analyze data? A. He is not applying the knowledge of statistical thinking 5. Why does he not use the philosophy of statistical thinking? A. Clearly he does not have any knowledge of statistical thinking and he is not trained in statistical process control and does not understand variation.
Using the five whys technique, I was able to find the possible root cause of the problem. Ron Hagley is not thinking statistically when he looks at the sales data. He simply sees increases and decreases in numbers but he is not thinking them through like he should. Raw data alone does not provide the necessary info you need for quality control