In the generally accepted stages of the business buying process, the step following the
description of the characteristics of the item and the quantity needed is the ________.
A. acquisitions of proposals
B. search for and qualification of potential sources
C. recognition of the organization’s problem or need
D. determination of the characteristics of the needed item
E. selection of an order routine
Refer to the scenario below to answer the following questions.
Jason West, owner of A-1 Cleaning, began his enterprise in 2009. Jason’s primary focus
had been on office cleaning for large corporations. But in recent months Jason saw a
decline in demand for office cleaning. Surprisingly, the competitive environment
appeared relatively stable with no new competitors. However, Jason understands that
office cleaning is a high-frequency service that is usually performed daily; therefore,
competitors must have been doing something to attract his customers. Building a
competitive advantage seemed to be the only option to offset competition. But as Jason
pondered his dilemma, he realized that he needed to better understand how customers
assess service quality and what they are looking for in a superior cleaning service, prior
to building his competitive advantage.
Jason developed a research plan. First, he gathered competitor information, primarily
through pamphlets and Web sites and also from a few phone calls, to find out exactly
what competitors offer in their cleaning packages. In addition, Jason obtained from the
area Chamber of Commerce an updated list of local corporations to which he would
send a short survey.
Though the list of corporations contained 141 local company names, Jason chose to
survey 75 of them. To better understand customer service expectations between both
small and large corporations, Jason divided his surveys into two categories. The survey
questions were designed to extract specific data from respondents with regard to service
quality expectations in correlation to service frequency and price.