imageONEThe Unguided Missile

Percy Pershing was out of control again. His supervisor, Pauline Smith, was frustrated—and the company was hurting.

Pauline prided herself in running a tight ship. She supervised twenty salespeople, encouraging them to sell and service energetically the firm’s high-quality products. Customer feedback on the product line continued to be extremely positive. However, sales had been relatively flat for the past two years and the company just couldn’t seem to capitalize on its product excellence in the marketplace.

Percy’s recent trends were a case in point. As she looked at the latest sales report, Pauline saw two lines on a ...

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