Joe Salatino, President Great North Americancase Study Joe Salatino, President Great Northern American Case Study

Joe Salatino, President Great Northern American

Joe Salatino, President Great Northern American Case Study

Joe salatino's business has been around for many years and his ability to positively motivate his employees is what has contributed to the success of his business. His business has expanded immensely and increased its customer base growing to become the leading supplier of office stationery and equipment to small and medium sized businesses in the country. The growth of his business has seen Joe start supplying computer parts and supplies to large company and obtain lucrative tenders to supply stationery to a number of multi- million dollar companies in the nation. His success has been attributed to the manner in which he has handled his employees as well as the techniques he uses to continuously motivate them and maintain employee loyalty over the years (Yang & Kim, et al. 2011).

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1. Discuss why Joe's employees need to understand the importance of how people form perceptions and make attributions.(acknowledgments)

Joe does a good job in motivating and educating his employees so as to be focused on their jobs and in reaching out to potential customers. Despite all this effort, the employees themselves have to have an in-depth understanding of the customers they face on a daily basis and how to reach out to them to purchase the commodities they are selling. It is important that the sale's people working for Joe's company comprehend that customers are different, have different perceptions, hence, have to be treated differently if the sales people want to be able to reach out to them. Due to the different attributes possessed by potential customers, sales people have to know how to handle each customer differently, reach out to their different needs and know what appeals to them and what does not. In selling, attracting a customer's attention is the first step towards a successful sale. Since customers are different, it is important to know what commodities a particular customer will find most appealing and which will attract his attention (Yang & Kim, et al. 2011).

Selling cannot proceed to the next step of trying to convince the customers if the first step of attraction is not achieved. Taking all customers to be the same and employing the same selling tactics is doomed to fail. Customer's different perceptions and attributions to a commodity are what differentiate them. Were customers the same, companies would not be having the need to change product advertisements on a regular basis. There is a particular advertisement that will attract one customer to buy a commodity but not another. Changing the advertisement may reinforce the other customer's perception towards the product encouraging him to purchase the same product. This is a tactic in marketing where the different advertisements are able to attract different types of customers into buying the same product simply by knowing how to influence them differently (Yang & Kim, et al. 2011).

One major factor that Joe's employees is the ability to develop interpersonal skills with strangers. The art of selling requires mastering the convincing technique which can only be possible if a sales person is able to engage a customer in an interesting conversation that will create attraction to the product. People are selfish beings by nature and are mostly interested in issue that concern them, hence, pay little attention to matters that do not add any value to their lives. To ensure that the sales people are able to acquire a customer's attribution means that the sales person needs to talk on matters that appeal to a customer. The sales person should ask interesting questions that appeal to the customer and are able to attract attention to the commodities. These are some of the essential factors that the employees need to pay attention to when approaching potential customers (Sigette 2009).

2. Evaluate which learning theory (either operant conditioning, social learning theory, or the learning theory you researched in Week 3) would be most appropriate for Joe to apply in this situation and explain why.

The learning theory is a major topic in psychology that helps psychologists the workings of the human brain as well as how we as humans are able to anticipate situations learn from experiences and find a solution to pertinent problems. The learning theory refers to the process in which information is absorbed by the brain, processed, analyzed and retained (Leavitt 2011). Learning is viewed by psychologists as the process in which a person brings together his...

The learning theory is made up of many sub- categories such as socio learning theory and operant theory that are used to understand human behavior. Joe may find it appropriate to apply the socio learning theory as far as the company's employees are concerned (Leavitt 2011).
The socio learning theory states that people are social beings who primarily learn when they are in a social setup. The theory emphasizes on the use of models to act as a source of learning and understanding new behaviors, which assist an individual, achieve behavioral change. Joe's employees need to have an attitude change in the manner they handle customer. In the sales man career, it is evident to encounter an employee with attitude who believes that he is right and is very difficult to convince otherwise. The theory helps employees to understand characteristics of such an employee and manipulate it to their advantage. According to the theory, a person's behavior is highly dependent and influenced by two major factors; the environment the person resides in and his personal attributes. These are the two factors that are considered when selling a commodity to different people in different parts of the country (Leavitt 2011).

How customers perceive a product and its worth depends on their attitude towards it. To get a customer with a negative attitude to buy a product, understanding the environment and the customer's characteristics will bring forward a successful deal. It is for these reasons that Joe may prefer to adopt the socio learning theory. Learning is a continuous process especially for entrepreneurs who need to learn the different characteristics of people so as to understand what appeals to them (Leavitt 2011).

3. Discuss ways that Joe could apply the learning theory you selected to improve employees' performance.

People learn primarily by observation, hence, the emphasis on the use of models in this theory. It would be difficult if people could only learn as a result of their actions and not by what goes on in the environment. People are able to acquire a lot of knowledge and information from watching other individuals. Joe encourages employees to attend seminars and workshops which are a good avenue of seeing other people in action and learning how to do things differently. Adults just like children behave depending on what they see. There are certain steps that need to be taken by employees to improve their learning ability (Sigette 2009);

a. Attention- for sales people to learn, there is need to pay attention. Destructions tend to have a negative effect on employees as they learn through observation. If the model being used is of interesting nature, employees will be more concerned in retaining their full attention to leaning and comprehending the main points. Employees need to pay close attention to the interests of different employees in a bid to fulfill them and maintain customer loyalty.

b. Retention- part of the learning process is the ability to not only learn but retain the information acquired. To achieve a successful sale of items, sales people need to retain important information on the needs of customers so as to fulfill them in future. A key factor in observational learning is the ability to retrieve important information and implement it.

c. Reproduction- once the employees have had a chance to obtain the information and retain it, this step involves implementing it so as to provide satisfaction to customers. This step involves performing the learned behavior that will help the employee sharpen his skills.

d. Motivation- the concept of motivation is important for an employee to implement the behavior learned through observation. Joe has to play two important roles of reinforcing the new behavior and punishing employees in case they quit doing what they have been taught. Rewarding employees whenever they perform well is a good motivator to continue practicing what they have been taught.

4. Determine how Joe could leverage an understanding of the value of self-efficacy to ensure he hires the most successful salespeople.

Self-efficacy is noted in psychology meaning the manner in which a person perceives himself and looks at his abilities to perform a particular task depending on their competence. Psychologists believe that a person's self-efficacy determine that person's ability to interact with the public in almost every manner (Yang & Kim, et al. 2011). Developing the ability to boost one's self-efficacy is important in terms of helping a person achieve their goals. Employees in a company with…