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SmartBlend Dog Food Buyer Scenario
Situation 8 Camp Bow Wow (Franchise Headquarters)
Buyer B
You are a driver.
Needs: To simply your life. You have so many things going on right now that you can hardly see straight.
Your spouse is going through chemo-therapy for liver cancer and that’s really hard on you. Your oldest
son just moved out under some really rough circumstances. You do have to make decisions for your store,
but this is a tough time to give it much attention.
Your organization is more interested in having items that dogs (and their owners!) will love, than in profit
margin. You currently carry a few premium brands of dog food, but won’t share information about which
ones.
Objections:
1. Who will train our employees to answer any questions that customers might have about your dog
food?
SmartBlend Dog Food Buyer Scenario
Situation 9 Camp Bow Wow (Local Franchise Owner)
Buyer A
You are an amiable.
Needs: To make money. Period. The bottom-line, that’s what it’s all about. You currently have IAMS
brand available for your customers.
Objections:
1. Can you please help me learn how adding your product will increase my bottom line profits.
SmartBlend Dog Food Buyer Scenario
Situation 9 Camp Bow Wow (Local Franchise Owner)
Buyer B
You are an expressive.
Needs: To generate repeat business by our customers. You currently have a few brands of dog food
available for your client’s dogs and you’ve heard no complaints.
Objections:
1. We currently offer our customers Canidae and Natural Balance. What’s wrong with those brands?
SmartBlend Dog Food Buyer Scenario
Situation 10 Dog Training Camp USA (DTC)
Buyer A
You are an analytical.
Needs: To choose products that are viewed as unique and exciting.
Objections:
1. I wonder how unique your brand is.
SmartBlend Dog Food Buyer Scenario
Situation 10 Dog Training Camp USA (DTC)
Buyer B
You are a driver.
Needs: To keep things moving along pretty much they way they are right now. You don’t see any need to
make changes.
Objections:
1. What kinds of flavors do you offer?
Gartner Buyer Scenario
Gartner is a research and consultancy company. The company helps business leaders across all
major functions in every industry and enterprise size with the objective insights they need to
make the right decisions. Gartner's comprehensive suite of services delivers strategic advice and
proven best practices to help clients succeed in their mission-critical priorities.
The typical Gartner buyer is the chief information officer (CIO), the person responsible for
managing IT. Gartner clients use Gartner's services to help develop IT strategies, select IT
products, implement IT solutions, and develop IT personnel. For example, Gartner has tools that
help CIOs see how their budget stacks up against others in the same industry, which can aid in
determining if they are overspending in some areas and underspending in others.
While Gartner services are actually quite complex and customized, these role plays will simplify
things somewhat. The pricing is standardized at $50,000 for year 1 of a three-year contract, with
an escalation to $51,500 and $53,100 in years 2 and 3. Note: This pricing is for role play
purposes only and not reflective of actual pricing.
Three services are included in this fee. The first is access to Garner's research, supported by over
1,200 analysts covering 1,372 technology and business topics. This research ranges from reports
on technology products and services (such as objective views regarding what products actually
do and how well they work) to trends in IT spending. Think of it this way: If you invested
heavily in videotapes, you'd own a lot of technology that is now obsolete. CIOs rely on Gartner
to avoid such mistakes. In addition, Gartner's research can also help prevent companies from
overspending, buying solutions that they really don't need.
The second is access to Gartner's cost optimization tool. This tool is an online assessment of the
IT budget. The client enters the company's budget data (takes from 20 minutes to an hour or so)
and gets back a standard comparison to similar companies of the same size and industry.
Customized comparisons to specific peer groups can be purchased for an extra fee.
The third is access to a Gartner executive partner, an IT professional with years of experience
who can help the CIO grow professionally. Note that more information on this service and the
other two services is available on the Web site of the National Collegiate Sales Competition
(NCSC). Students are encouraged to visit the NCSC site for more details.
In these scenarios, the companies are small to medium sized. Typically, overall corporate
objectives are to grow revenue, reduce costs, and/or improve efficiency. How these objectives
affect individual CIOs will vary depending on the importance of IT to the company's strategy.
Gartner Buyer Scenario
Situation 1 TACTICAL GEAR
Buyer A
Tactical Gear is a distributor and manufacturer of equipment and clothing used by the U.S.
military and state and local first responders. The company is just over 10 years old, and what
began as a side business for a young entrepreneur who was running a scuba diving shop selling
equipment to Navy divers has grown to a $1.2 billion business with offices in San Diego and
Virginia Beach (the two largest U.S. Navy locations). You met the Gartner rep at an IT job fair
and had a brief conversation. Because the company has big growth plans, you set up today's
meeting.
You are an analytical, and you really prefer to have data to support your decisions. You have an
assistant who is out on maternity leave; you’d really like to have her opinion so do not commit to
anything but ask for a proposal at the end.
Needs: The company grew so rapidly that IT systems just didn’t keep up. The company
continues to grow, with plans for 20% growth per year over the next five years. The ERP system
is very outdated, and you need some assistance in figuring out where the biggest gains would be
in replacing systems but also how to prepare for that level of growth. (Note, this is intended to be
a cost optimization tool buying scenario so be sure to throw words around like budget control.)
Objections:
1. Shouldn’t vendors help me with the planning? I’m not sure why I need to pay extra for
that help.
Gartner Buyer Scenario
Situation 1 TACTICAL GEAR
Buyer B
Tactical Gear is a distributor and manufacturer of equipment and clothing used by the U.S.
military and state and local first responders. The company is just over 10 years old, and what
began as a side business for a young entrepreneur who was running a scuba diving shop selling
equipment to Navy divers has grown to a $1.2 billion business with offices in San Diego and
Virginia Beach (the two largest U.S. Navy locations). You met the Gartner rep at an IT job fair
and had a brief conversation. Because the company has big growth plans, you set up today's
meeting.
You are a driver. You used to work for Sendero, a small IT consulting firm that sub-contracts to
companies like Accenture and does the actual work, as well as has clients like Tactical Gear of its
own.
Needs: Yes, the company is growing and that is creating some challenges but the biggest concern
is cybersecurity. Because of what you sell and to whom, security is the biggest challenge and you
don’t feel that you have the right software or people in place to keep up. More importantly, the
owner has been pressuring you to take action and you just aren’t sure where to start.
Objections:
1. I think I’ll call my former boss at Sendero and see what they can do. (If probed, admit
that they don’t have the horsepower of Gartner, particularly in product research.)
Gartner Buyer Scenario
Situation 2 PREMIERE MANUFACTURING
Buyer A
Premiere is a maker of precision tools used in advanced manufacturing. The company is run by
the two children of the founder, and you are the CIO. A friend of yours, the CIO at the local
bank, suggested that you get with Gartner because of some issues – she said the company really
helped her move from on-premise computing to cloud.
Going from on-premise to cloud computing means that you don’t own the system, you access it
through the internet. So rather than pay one big price, you pay as you go – if you don’t like how
a vendor is treating you, theoretically you could pull the plug and go somewhere else (although
realistically, it is much more difficult). One big advantage is that as the vendor improves the
system, you get the improvements automatically. You don’t have to upload the new version (or
pay for it).
Needs: The two siblings who run the company have divided the company into sales and
operations. You report to the one who heads up operations. Because you have an older on-
premise ERP system, now is the time to move to the cloud, according to your boss. As an
expressive, you tend to make decisions quickly but worry about the human cost so you’ve been a
little resistant to the change. You are worried that your staff’s skills are not strong enough to deal
with this move because you have a friend at Concord Door and they nearly went out of business
because of the problems associated with this move. The new system didn’t integrate well and
inventory management suffered, with the result that their shipments were delayed, their
manufacturing line halted frequently due to lack of materials, and customers left in droves. (True
story – name changed.) You are really worried about this move but your boss is adamant that it
has to be done and done right.
The COO (your boss) will have to approve any purchase. Your job is to get proposals, review
them, and then schedule a final series of presentations with your boss.
Objections:
1. I don’t think I can afford this and training too.
Gartner Buyer Scenario
Situation 2 PREMIERE MANUFACTURING
Buyer B
Premiere is a maker of precision tools used in advanced manufacturing. The company is run by
the two children of the founder, and you are the CIO. A friend of yours, the CIO at the local
bank, suggested that you get with Gartner because of some issues – she said the company really
helped her move from on-premise computing to cloud.
You have a team of three who report to you. One manages the operations technology, the IT that
supports the supply chain and manufacturing line. Another manages the financial system (the
ERP), and the third supports the network, or the hardware. You will want them to review any
proposals and meet with any consultants before they are hired, even though you are a driver. You
report directly to the CEO, the older of the two siblings, and indirectly to the CFO, the younger
of the two siblings.
Going from on-premise to cloud computing means that you don’t own the system, you access it
through the internet. So rather than pay one big price, you pay as you go – if you don’t like how
a vendor is treating you, theoretically you could pull the plug and go somewhere else (although
realistically, it is much more difficult). One big advantage is that as the vendor improves the
system, you get the improvements automatically. You don’t have to upload the new version (or
pay for it). You think now is the time move to the cloud.
However, the CEO is not in favor of any changes. While you have a number of older systems
that need to be replaced, there are no burning issues that require immediate attention and so the
CEO would like to wait. The CFO, though, has seen some issues arise with the ERP system and
would rather get ahead of any problems. So now might be a good time to make the move but you
need proof and you need assurance that any conversion will go smoothly.
Objections:
1. The CEO is not in favor. I’m sorry, I am probably wasting your time.
Gartner Buyer Scenario
Situation 3 THE 48 GROUP
Buyer A
Your company manufactures and distributes custom-designed packaging for the food industry, as
well as other products made of plastic or paper (such as napkins and forks, but also products used
when cooking food). The Gartner salesperson just stopped in and since you had a sales call
scheduled with SAP and their salesperson cancelled, you found yourself with some extra time so
you decided to go ahead and meet with the Gartner rep.
You are an amiable, and you are very proud of your work as CIO. In fact, you won an innovation
award from SAP at their latest conference (called Sapphire). Tell the rep early on, “You should
do a case study on our automated inventory management process.” That’s what you won the
award for.
Objections:
1. I don’t think you could really tell us much we don’t already know. I’m sure we could
teach you a thing or two!
Gartner Buyer Scenario
Situation 3 THE 48 GROUP
Buyer B
Your company manufactures and distributes custom-designed packaging for the food industry, as
well as other products made of plastic or paper (such as napkins and forks, but also products used
when cooking food). The Gartner salesperson just stopped in and since you had a sales call
scheduled with SAP and their salesperson cancelled, you found yourself with some extra time so
you decided to go ahead and meet with the Gartner rep.
You are an SAP shop, and this marks the third time the SAP rep has cancelled an appointment.
You are really angry so don’t be nice. Ask the rep what s/he thinks of SAP and if the answer is
positive, say something like “What dream world do you live in?” You are an expressive. Your
biggest need is that you feel like the SAP solutions you are using are not being utilized fully and
you think you might be overpaying. But since you can’t get an SAP person to actually show up,
you aren’t sure. You took over as CIO about 18 months ago, and you think the previous CIO had
something going on with SAP as he left to take a job with them.
Objections:
1. The last thing I need to do is to spend more money without getting anything in return!
(Ultimately, the right answer is a referral so ask for one if you don’t get that offer.)
Gartner Buyer Scenario
Situation 4 BANCMARK
Buyer A
You are the information technology manager for BancMark, a national marketing consultancy
that specializes in serving community banks. These are banks with fewer than 10 branches.
BancMark manages marketing services for about 150 community banks, including Web site
design and e-mail marketing. It also provides sales training for loan officers, although the banks
prefer to use the term business development instead of sales, and it sells several personality
profile tests to companies for use in selecting new loan officers as well as other sales consulting
services. BancMark was named one of the fastest-growing companies in the area. You have an
appointment today with a rep from Gartner.
The Chief Marketing Officer is the most powerful person in the company, second only to the
CEO. She believes, and you agree, that it is important for BancMark to have the very best
marketing technology because this is what your customers want. Unfortunately, she really
doesn’t know what she wants and she’s not that tech savvy. Her strength is really understanding
customers’ needs, customers defined as banks. Your strength is technology, so there’s a gap here.
Can Gartner help?
You’re an analytical. The budget for Gartner will be yours, and you have room for it, but you
want to have someone you think the CMO will trust, so she needs to be part of the decision. Plus,
she’s the one that will actually pay for whatever gets purchased, if anything. And you’re not even
sure you’re getting everything you can out of what you already have. She’s an expressive and
goes on her gut instinct.
Objections:
1. The CMO really likes out of the box thinking, but I think Gartner is kinda old school.
Gartner Buyer Scenario
Situation 4 BANCMARK
Buyer B
You are the information technology manager for BancMark, a national marketing consultancy
that specializes in serving community banks. These are banks with fewer than 10 branches.
BancMark manages marketing services for about 150 community banks, including Web site
design and e-mail marketing. It also provides sales training for loan officers, although the banks
prefer to use the term business development instead of sales, and it sells several personality
profile tests to companies for use in selecting new loan officers as well as other sales consulting
services. BancMark was named one of the fastest-growing companies in the area. You have an
appointment today with a rep from Gartner.
You are a driver, and very unhappy with the state of IT at BancMark. You report to the Associate
VP of Operations who reports to the COO. You feel like the resources you have to support the
company are underfunded. While the company grew quickly and won an award for growth, the
dirty secret is that the company can’t support customers the way it should because it grew too
fast and you think that if more was spent on IT, customer satisfaction could be improved.
Objections:
1. If I had the budget, I’d spend it on upgrades, not on fancy consulting services.
