Question

Eric is a sales rep for an established building materials manufacturer. Business is good, but he is concerned that the company has spent little on new product development and has not created a new product in over five years. Without new products, Eric can market his current products only to his current customers or

Answer 1

The correct answer to this open question is the following.

Eric is a sales rep for an established building materials manufacturer. Business is good, but he is concerned that the company has spent little on new product development and has not created a new product in over five years. Without new products, Eric can market his current products only to his current customers or market the same products to similar costumers.

When a company has not invested in the creation of new products, the only way to increase sales is to find the costumers so the sales force can promote these products to people that are not familiar with the company's products and services. This way, the sales force needs to go and reach new clients through an intensive prospection. Although this is an alternative, most companies should invest in the creation of new products or the improvement of current ones so consumers could be interested in buying it permanently.