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Suggested Answers to Case Problems
Case 3-1: Going out Through the Backdoor
Questions:
1. What would you do? Do you lower your price or walk away? Why? Write out specifically what
you would say next.
What Travis did was not lower the price. Instead, he called the account out on its reputation for
2. Do buyers have to follow the same ethics principles as sellers? For example, sellers have to fully
disclose all information. Do buyers? Why or why not? What ethical principle violation occurred
here?
Buyers do not have to disclose all information fully. They do not, for example, have to tell you
what their budget really is because that information may be used against them. That does not mean
Case 3-2: Heritage Health
Questions:
1. What is the likely buying center? Who plays or has played which roles?
The CFO is likely playing the controller role, the person who manages the budget. Betsy, as head of supply
chain, seems to be an initiator but she will also likely be the purchaser and an influencer. What we don’t
2. What type of purchase situation is this? What are the implications for Mark?
This is a new buy, as it is clear they haven’t had any similar services before. That means that the process
3. How can Mark use the multi-attribute matrix to guide his sales plan?
Mark can use the multi-attribute matrix by trying to see what each member’s needs and interests are, and
how important each need is to that person. However, Mark needs to keep in mind that the relative influence
End o f Chapter Role Play Case
Asset Recovery Management Buyer: You are the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and have responsibility
for all information systems in the company. You have a data warehousing manager, an information security
officer, a networks manager, and a data analytics manager who all report to you. Each has a staff they
manage, ranging from three (data warehousing) to 18 (networks manager).
The company grew rapidly but has found it more difficult lately to continue to grow. One advantage the
company had was its ability to do a better job of analyzing a debt portfolio to determine the probability of
collection, which then enabled the company to bid more effectively to buy that portfolio from the current
owner of the debt. So if Visa wanted to sell a portfolio of bad loans, they give that data out to potential
buyers. You analyze it, determine its value, then bid up to that value. In addition, once you have the
portfolio, your algorithms help you determine how to best collect the debt without spending more than any
individual loan is worth. Now, though, competitors are beginning to catch up.
This means that you need help – help in reducing costs, help in coming up with better analytics, etc. That
was the mandate when you were hired 6 months ago by the CEO. You have implemented all of the ideas
you had, some of which went better than others. The CEO and CFO – the co-founders – are now
suggesting that maybe you need some additional help. While your budget has been tight, the CFO has
offered to review the budget if you were to bring in some assistance. At this point, you’re not sure where
the next best opportunity is to either cut costs or add value among the four areas you manage and would
want to involve those managers in a selection process.
Note: do not read this to the seller. Answer questions as briefly as you can and don’t give any information
away.
FSS Buyer: You are the director of IT for the fire suppression division. Each division’s IT team is headed
up by a director and there are two other divisions: agriculture and general chemicals. The three of you
report to the Chief Operating Officer. On each team is a CISO (cybersecurity officer) and a CNA or chief
of network administrator.
The COO wants to integrate the IT of the three divisions. The reason there are three IT teams is that the
other two divisions were created by acquiring companies and each new acquisition brought its own IT
infrastructure. But it is clear that integrating these into the company requires one, not three, systems. You
are going to be the CTO, or Chief Technical Officer, responsible for all IT. It is not clear who will be the
head of cybersecurity for the entire firm or the CNA for the entire firm. In fact, you’re not sure that only
two areas, cyber and networks, is the appropriate organizational structure and you wonder if the integration
of the teams may result in a few lay-offs.
Because of the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas about five years ago (same week as the Boston
Marathon bombing), a lot of new safety regulations are now in place. In addition, because of ongoing
changes to Homeland Security regulations, how chemicals are tracked is changing. These tracking and
safety systems are heavily reliant on IT and you know that your company’s systems need significant
upgrading to meet the requirements. Failure to meet the deadlines set by government regulators will mean
heavy fines and possible shutdowns.
Furthermore, the company has an aggressive growth plan and that is going to mean that you will need to
develop a plan for IT to support that growth. You question whether your team has the skills needed to not
only plan, but execute, growth strategies for IT.
Note: do not read this to the seller. Answer questions as briefly as you can and don’t give any information
away.
Mizzen Industries Buyer: You are the Director of Information Technology and report to the CFO because
most of the systems are financial operating systems. You also manage the technology that captures safety
data, which is really important in your business because you are required to regularly report safety data on
all federal contracts, which is almost all of your business. Your team created its own safety management
information systems so you also work closely with the COO and the safety director. The CEO, of course, is
also often involved, as this is a family-owned business. In fact, the CFO is the CEO’s brother and the COO
is the CEO’s nephew (the son of a third brother, who operates the Jacksonville facility).
The company has never used outside consultants. The founding three brothers started out selling paint when
they got out of college, and formed their own company shortly after when they realized more money could
be made selling the paint job. The company has now grown to doing $50 to $75 million per year.
The company has grown a lot of over the past few years by buying other companies. This has proven to be
a challenge because you need to integrate those systems and it hasn’t been easy. You presented a plan to the
CEO and the CFO for systems integration of all existing systems and included a budget that they
tentatively approved, with the caveat that they can review any consultant choice you make and that you
involve the COO. You may also involve some of your managers, in particular the one who manages the
safety information system because integrating other safety management systems into your homegrown
system has been really difficult.
Note: do not read this to the seller. Answer questions as briefly as you can and don’t give any information
away.
For the Instructor:
To debrief this role play, the following discussion starters may be helpful.
1. How easy was it to determine the buying process? You may want to discuss why questions like
“Are you the sole decision maker?” and “Is there anyone else who should meet with us today?” are
inappropriate. For example, the first question could be answered yes truthfully, but then you would
avoid finding out about influencers. The second question is inappropriate given the buying
structures and someone would say no, but that doesn’t mean that others aren’t involved. Provide
some alternatives, such as “Who else, besides yourself, is involved in the process?” Note also that
the question is both about who and about process – both are important pieces of information. Talk
also about the follow up questions needed to find out more.
2. You can also bring up governance, which is the decision rules used to make a decision. In the
GelTech scenario, the final decision will be made by a single individual based on the committee’s
recommendation. But will the committee decide by majority vote, consensus, or some other
mechanism? Also, note the importance of the person who presents the committee’s recommendation
to the CEO. That person is acting as a gatekeeper. How important is it that she like the choice?
What is the VP of technology’s role in the HPS decision? How might process influence choice?
And what about that process illustrates creeping commitment? Questions like these help students
see the importance and utility of these concepts.
EXERCISE 3-1 USING THE MULTIATTRIBUTE MODEL
Recall a recent major purchase for you, or use a major purchase you are currently involved in (or would
like to make). It could be a stereo, TV, choosing an apartment, buying a suit, etc. List the needs you
considered. Then weigh each need. Using the multiattribute model from the text, calculate scores for each
of the alternatives that you considered.
Scores for
Need: Weight Alt. 1 Alt. 2 Alt.
Now total the scores for each alternate. Did your decision match the ranking from the exercise? If not, how
did your process differ?
What role did the salesperson play in helping you to identify any of the above needs, or in determining the
weight (importance) of those needs?
EXERCISE 3-2 THE RULE OF EMOTIONS
Consider the role of emotions in making decisions, even purchase decisions. What emotions are part of the
decision process in Exercise 3-1? Do industrial buyers make emotional decisions?
One sales trainer, Carl Stevens, says an emphatic yes; industrial buyers’ decisions are made on the basis of
90% emotion, 10% fact. To explore the question further, go to the library and thumb through an industrial
magazine or find industrial product ads on the web. Select five ads with an emotional appeal and five ads
with a rational appeal. Make copies of the ads (do not tear them out!). Below or on the back of your copy,
write the nature of the appeal (to whom does it appeal and why).
EXERCISE 3-3 TYPES OF NEEDS
Experienced salespeople can sometimes operate less effectively than novice salespeople, especially when it
comes to identifying customer needs. The reason for that startling fact is that experienced salespeople’s
experience allows them to see needs in problems faster than customers can. But novices can move at the
same (or even slower rate) than customers, identifying needs through careful probing. For that reason, it is
helpful to classify needs at two levels.
The first level is the implied (or implicit) need. At this level, the customer is experiencing a problem or is
dissatisfied with some aspect of the situation. But the customer, while recognizing the dissatisfaction, does
not realize that the situation can be resolved with a product (does not recognize the need).
Several examples of the implied needs are:
1. I’m having problems with scorching the food.
2. I’m not happy with the speed of our current process.
3. Our equipment breaks down a lot.
4. I don’t like the wastage rates that we are experiencing.
5. My assistant takes too long to turn a simple report around.
We know that the buyer needs something, but what? Take the last one, for example. Does the buyer need a
new assistant, training the assistant, or a new software system that can generate the report faster? Only by
probing will we learn the expressed need.
The second level is the expressed (or explicit) need. Now the customer recognizes and expressed (actually
states) a need for the salesperson’s product. In a later chapter, we will discuss a questioning technique that
is designed to help you identify expressed and implied needs, but for now it is important that you
understand the difference and recognize the needs when you see them.
Taking the implied needs and developing them further, we uncover the following expressed needs:
1. I need a more reliable stove.
2. I need to train my employees to operate the equipment more quickly.
3. I need new equipment. (It could just as easily have been that I need to train my employees to operate it
correctly, or that I need a better service company, one that can fix it right the first time. Only
questioning could tell us.)
4. We need a system that will cut down on wastage.
5. I need an assistant that can operate our advanced reporting system.
Read the statements below and determine if a statement is an implied or expressed need. Place an I or an E
in the blank to the side of each statement, an N if it is neither and expressed or implied need.
1. You know, we’ve had some issues with data security.
2. We need to resolve our accounting problems.
3. We need to hire an auditor to review how we manage and account for our inventory because we
aren’t billing our customers on time or accurately.
4. Pricing parts isn’t a problem for us; our problem is making sure it gets charged to the right
account.
5. Either we need to train our people on how to use the system or we need an easier system.
6. Our people are having trouble with the inventory management system.
7. How much does it cost?
8. Does it come in red?
9. Will your system work with Blue Fig software?
10. I think we need to put this off for a while.
ANSWERS TO EXERCISE 3-3
