Day 197 - 07 Dec 95 - Page 11
1 above the target percentage, whereas with the cost ---
2 A. That is it.
3
4 Q. -- it is important to get below the -----
5 A. The pressure was really sort of put on me, not only
6 because everyone wanted to achieve it for monetary, but it
7 was because that carrot was actually dangled, they wanted
8 it to actually work, so we were set this ------
9
10 Q. So this region here -- I have not checked every one but
11 you said that you have checked them and that everyone was
12 above?
13 A. Every one either matched or was above that went
14 through.
15
16 Q. Above their targets ---
17 A. Yes.
18
19 Q. -- on profits? He says in this letter, this is the
20 Regional Manager: "I feel that in some months the eyes of
21 the Company will be on us". What does that mean to you?
22 A. Well, because this was something that was only
23 happening in our area, the rest of the Company were
24 looking to see how it was going to work, whether it would
25 go straight across the Company. So, we were all under
26 quite a lot of pressure at this time to achieve these
27 figures or better them.
28
29 Q. Right. It says: "Questions will, doubtless, be asked
30 about the wisdom of pursuing a profit rather than a top
31 line sales goal". So, is that what was happening then,
32 that he was pursuing a profit rather than a top line sales
33 goal for that region.
34 A. For that particular time------
35
36 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, you have to read the next sentence.
37
38 MR. MORRIS: And the answer to that -- well, was that what he
39 was doing?
40 A. What was happening is the amount of money coming in
41 was dropping, customer count was dropping, at that time,
42 but they wanted to maintain the profit level. So we were
43 looking to be shrewd about Managers at that time because
44 the increases were not actually coming through the door.
45
46 Q. The answer to these questions about the wisdom of
47 pursuing a profit rather than a top line sales goal would
48 be that our goal needed to maximise top line sales and
49 optimise bottom line profit"?
50 A. Yes.
51
52 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It does say at the end: "Pursuit of top
53 line sales is paramount, but its costs have to be
54 controlled". When "the eyes of the Company will be on
55 us", you were really saying you thought people would be
56 watching to see if you could keep it up; is there more to
57 it than that?
58 A. Basically, to see whether it would be successful
59 because what they were actually doing for the first time
60 was not just putting pressure on to hit sales, they would
