Enterprise solutions

Problem Solving · Cancellations are rising: You're in your second year in a food maker's e-commerce division. Your division head asks you to find out why subscription cancellations are rising and draft a rough plan to fix it.You have monthly cancellation rates and a survey of customers who canceled. Where the data is silent, make assumptions.

1. AI: Now a work scenario. You're in your second year in a food maker's e-commerce division. Your division head has made this request.
2. AI: Here's the monthly subscription cancellation rate. It rose from 4.1% in April to 6.0% in September. What would you look into first?
3. Candidate: I'd want to know which customers are canceling, and why. Is there data on their reasons?
4. AI: There's a survey. The top reason, at 42%, was “too much to finish.” What does that suggest?
5. Candidate: The amount seems to matter more than price. If customers could choose quantity and delivery frequency, I think more would stay.
6. AI: So you'd let customers choose quantity and interval. How might that affect revenue?
7. Candidate: Revenue per delivery would drop, but with fewer cancellations I think revenue holds up long term. I'd test it with some customers first.
8. AI: If you test it with some customers, how will you know if it worked?
9. Candidate: I'd compare the share still subscribed after three months, test group versus everyone else. I'd also check how much revenue per customer fell.
10. AI: Finally, how would you sum it up for your division head in a sentence?
11. Candidate: I'd tell him most cancellations come down to the quantity not suiting customers, so I'd start by letting them choose quantity and interval, testing it with some customers first.

Relationship Building · First meeting with an inherited client: You're a second-year sales rep at a parts maker, taking over a senior colleague's client next month. You'll meet the client's purchasing manager for the first time.The five-year relationship has had no major problems. Your colleague is moving departments but is still around to ask.

1. AI: Next month you take over a client account from a senior colleague. Here are the handover notes. How will you approach your first meeting with the purchasing manager?
2. Candidate: Beforehand, I'll ask my colleague about the account's history. In the meeting, after introducing myself, I'll ask what's on her mind about our current business and what they have coming up.
3. AI: So you'll ask what's on her mind. The notes say she keeps small talk short and gets straight to business. Anything you'd adjust in how you run the meeting?
4. Candidate: I'll open by briefly saying what I want to ask today, and tell her up front I'd like about 30 minutes.
5. AI: Midway through, she says, “Things always moved quickly with your predecessor.” How do you respond?
6. Candidate: I'd say I'll keep my colleague's way of working as much as I can, then ask her right there what she'd want to hear about quickly.
7. AI: She asks, “We may have a rush order next month. Can you meet the delivery date?” How do you answer on the spot?
8. Candidate: I won't say yes on the spot. I'll ask how soon and how much she needs, and say I'll check internally and reply by tomorrow morning.
9. AI: After the meeting, what would you get done in your first month?
10. Candidate: Deliver the answer I promised, on time. Before the next regular meeting, I'll review past meeting records with my colleague.

Client Proposal · Data-backed shelf proposal: You're a sales rep at a household goods maker, using sales data to propose detergent-aisle changes to the buyer at a supermarket chain you supply.The buyer is cautious about changing the aisle. Shelf space is limited.

1. AI: You'll propose changes to the detergent aisle to its buyer at a supermarket chain you supply. Here are your notes on the buyer.
2. AI: This is the refill share of sales in this aisle. In four years, it grew from 38% to 53%.
3. AI: Right now, bottles take four shelves and refills two. Based on this data, what would you propose?
4. Candidate: Refills are now over half of sales but still get less shelf space. I'd propose four shelves for refills and two for bottles.
5. AI: He only changes the aisle when the numbers show a clear effect. How would you pitch it?
6. Candidate: I'd propose a two-month trial in a few stores first, not all at once. We'd compare whole-aisle sales, and I'd promise to restore the old shelves if results are worse.
7. AI: What if he says, “Won't fewer bottle shelves just cut bottle sales?”
8. Candidate: People rarely replace the bottle, so I think fewer shelves would matter little. We'd check that in the trial stores too and show him the numbers.
9. AI: The buyer asks, “A trial's fine, but who's going to rearrange the shelves?” How do you answer?
10. Candidate: Our team will visit the stores and do the rearranging. We'll prepare a shelf plan first and have store managers check it before we start.
11. AI: Finally, in a sentence, what's the one thing the buyer should take away?
12. Candidate: Matching shelves to what sells will grow sales for the whole aisle. And I'd ask him to let us prove it in a few stores first.

People Management · 1-on-1 after a missed deadline: You manage a sales team. Hold a 1-on-1 with a team member who keeps missing proposal deadlines.She's in her third year. Careful work, but three missed deadlines in the past two months. She says “the client's requirements changed partway through.”

1. AI | Team member: Sorry, I missed this week's proposal deadline again... The client changed their requirements midway, so there wasn't much I could do.
2. Candidate: Thanks for telling me. It's tough when requirements change midway. I'm not here to blame you; let's look together at where the time went. When did you start on it?
3. AI | Team member: Three days before the deadline. I was swamped with another project... But I thought it'd go quickly once I started writing.
4. Candidate: Three days. Before you started writing, did you check the client's requirements?
5. AI | Team member: No, I just used my notes from the last meeting. When I checked midway, the assumptions had changed...
6. Candidate: I see. It sounds like the delay came less from the change than from noticing it late. What do you think?
7. AI | Team member: ...You're right. One call before I started writing, and I think I'd have caught it two days earlier.
8. Candidate: Spotting that yourself matters a lot. So on the next project, what will you check, and when? Put it in your own words.
9. AI | Team member: Before writing, I'll sum up the requirements in three lines and send them to the client to confirm. At least a week before the deadline.
10. Candidate: Good. In next week's 1-on-1, let's review your three lines and the client's reply together. If it doesn't work, that helps next time too.