Competency
Apply customer service skills before, during and after a sale.
Scenario Information
You are the regional sales manager for International Herb Express (IHE) which is a large, US-based spice & herbs supplier. IHE sells to other businesses that purchase bulk spices and spice blends for use in their end products. The primary customers are baking and soup mix corporations that sell to other businesses, for example, bakeries, restaurants, other food-service, and regional grocery chains. IHE is launching a new spice blend that reflects a more diverse cultural & ethnic flavor profile than IHE’s traditional offerings.
The abridged marketing strategy for this new spice blend is to target both current customers, but also to reach new customers that are target regions with higher ethnic diversity and/or the more adventurous “foodies” market. The marketing efforts will focus on taste testing, sampling, and on-site promotion. IHE is launching this marketing plan to help create a product offering that is not as commodity-driven (as most spices and herbs are the same quality no matter where they are purchased) and can potentially offer higher profit margins.
It is important to note that spices and other ingredients are raw goods and traded as commodities. The raw price for these goods changes on a day-to-day basis. Pricing is based on classic supply and demand, though nature is a key contributor to the supply–extreme weather as well as health of crops have a direct impact on the supply chain and access to the raw goods.
Instructions
As the regional sales manager, you are part of the Customer Service Task Force for IHE. During a monthly meeting, you became aware of a reoccurring challenge the customer service team is experiencing. When current or potential customers contact customer service to inquire about the new ‘spice blend,’ the customer service team cannot answer basic questions or offer a level of service that your sales force often promotes in their communications with buyers. This occurs via telephone and email inquiries as well as when potential clients use your website and social media pages as a point of engagement.
In particular, the customer service team is unable to utilize the training that they have had on handling inquires such as these since the product offering is new and more complex than your day-to-day product offerings.
You need to prepare a training manual that focuses on the new product offering. The training manual will need to include:
• Introduction to build the value of the customer service team supporting the company’s sales efforts
• Key customer service skills and areas of expertise needed to be effective
• Establish a process to guide a customer service team to share basic sales information with customers/potential customers
• A recommendation to utilize customer service technology to enhance the experience for potential customers. (You can assume that the customer service teams have access to technologies such as a CRM package, social media accounts, website FAQ’s, etc.)

Create a 10–12-slide PowerPoint presentation to identify medications associated with a chosen disease or health condition, explain the actions and side effects of the medications, and discuss any controversies related to the medications. Explain a treatment regime, including pharmacology, for the disease or health condition you selected, along with how the treatment regime may affect a client’s lifestyle.

Imagine your supervisor has asked you to conduct a lunch and learn session to educate your fellow nursing staff on pharmacological interventions.

Preparation:
Select a disease or health condition that requires pharmacological intervention. You may choose any disease or health condition you wish, but the disease or health condition must be relevant to nurses from a variety of settings (for example: ER, pediatrics, public health, et cetera).

Requirements:
Once you have selected a disease or health condition, create a PowerPoint presentation you could use in your lunch and learn session, including the following:
• Identify the disease or health condition you have chosen, along with the areas where nurses are likely to see it. (Do this in the agenda slide or next slide after the agenda.)
• Identify the three drugs used most often in the treatment of the disease or health condition.
• Explain the types of actions, side effects, indications, and contraindications that could be expected from the pharmacological treatment.
• Describe the treatment regime most often prescribed for the disease or health condition. This should include pharmacology but not be limited to pharmacology.
• Explain how the treatment regime (including pharmacology) may impact a client’s lifestyle. Consider things such as finances, ease or complexity of administration, instructions (frequency, duration), et cetera.
• Describe how a nurse should monitor a client being treated for the disease or health condition in order to obtain a quality patient outcome.
• Explain any controversies associated with the drugs used in the treatment. For example, is there a black box warning with any of the drugs