Case Study Sarah Harris

Background

Sarah Harris spent two years working for McKinsey & Co before leaving to manage her family hunting and fishing lodge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She left the family business, to attend Stanford Graduate School of Business. Sarah wants to open her own business in the customer care industry.

Doug Smith is the owner of Never Wait, which does reservations for hotels and boutiques. Never Wait head quarters is based in Phoenix, Arizona. Doug has been running his business for 10 years. The cliental is over 100 lodges and hotels. Sarah made the acquisition from Doug in July 2001.

In the year of owning the company, she hired a Senior Manager for the call center and a Director of Client Services. In February 2003, she had a major contract with Regal Properties, which was up for renewal, president Joan Meyers promised to renew the contract; however, she has inside knowledge from Andrew Mickel, Regal Properties Director of Sales, that the contract was not going to be renewed.

Sarah continued to be the spokesperson and new client recruiter for Never Wait. She received a call from “Terrific Travel Properties” and Choice Hotels, two major companies in the Phoenix area. Sarah had to make a marketing presentation to the CEO Amir Dahabar.

Analysis

The first problem she encountered was with Doug the owner of Never Wait. He began to give Sarah problems with the acquisition of Never Wait. Sarah handled the case well. She gave Doug an ultimatum, if the contract was not signed within 60 days, there was no deal. At that point Sarah showed her negotiation skills. The only thing I would have done differently is to obtain a lawyer; especially when it comes to a major purchase like a business.

When Sarah went to speak with Jason Beyer a wealthy man that sold his high tech company in the 1994, she went to see him because she needed investors for her company. Jason was a bit sarcastic with her. Yet, it would have