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MARKETING MANAGEMENT : DISTRIBUTION & COMMUNICATIONS

Individual written case analysis:
Sarah Harris and Never Wait



1. Introduction.
The analysis of this case focuses on the sales process and in particular on how Ms. Sarah HARRIS, managing Never Wait, has approached four different situations in sales:
 acquiring a company (Mr. Doug SMITH);
 dealing with a venture capitalist (Mr. Jason BYERS);
 hiring a key employee (Mr. Andrew MICKEL);
 dealing with a potential new client (Mr. Amir DAHABAR).
The analysis investigates the feelings of the parties involved in each sales process, their concerns, their motivations and the behavior of Ms. HARRIS.

2. Acquiring a company - Mr. Doug SMITH.
2.1 Mr. SMITH’s feelings, concerns and motivations.
Mr. SMITH created Never Wait by his own, starting from the scratch. He hired personally all his employees and built up the relationships with the clients. It is clear that he perceived the company like a son in fact he decided to sell the company to Ms. HARRIS only when he trusted her, after a relationship of three months. As stated above, one main concern in selling the company was to have trust in the person who was going to acquire it: you are not going to put “your son” in the hands of a person that you do not know. The other main concern of Mr. SMITH was about his people, the employees of Never Wait: he had personal relationship with them and so he desired that also the new management should have continued in taking care of them. After ten years of managing the company Mr. SMITH had no hurry to sell it and actually he was looking not only for a good economic deal, but also for a deal that could satisfy his needs: someone interested non in a speculation but in be actively involved in managing the company. Someone who really cared about Never Wait and about its employees, and who could continue what he has created and managed.
2.2 Ms. HARRIS’s feelings, concerns and...