Section 04 – Buyer Role Play Scenarios
NETSUITE Buyer Scenario
James Contract Mfg. – Version A
This company manufactures custom metal components that other companies design into their
own products. Examples include the case used to make the milkshake machines used in
McDonald’s and the metal frames used in making airplane seating. The company serves a three–
state area with 12 salespeople. The company was just taken over by the third generation of the
James family, and you, the new president, want to grow the business aggressively. You are
meeting with the NetSuite salesperson, who you and made an appointment, saying s/he could help
the business grow. You are a driver.
• Salespeople sometimes forget to either write stuff down or put it in Outlook. When a rep
forgets to write something down, usually it is no big deal but every now and then, it is very
important. One time, a rep forgot to write down to call a customer back on a certain date, so the
• Forecasts are sketchy, which has led to shortages and overages in inventory of raw material.
Objections:
1. My reps can’t remember to write stuff down now – how will they remember to input it into a
Section 04 – Buyer Role Play Scenarios
NETSUITE Buyer Scenario
James Contract Mfg. – Version B
This company manufactures custom metal components that other companies design into their
own products. Examples include the case used to make the milkshake machines used in
McDonald’s and the metal frames used in making airplane seating. The company serves a three–
state area with 12 salespeople. The company was just taken over by the third generation of the
James family, and you, the new president, want to grow the business aggressively. You are
meeting with the NetSuite salesperson, who you and made an appointment, saying s/he could help
the business grow.
Needs:
1. You know you need something. The key for the rep to this role play is staying on task, as you
change the subject a lot. But you know you need something because you were at a trade show
talking with one of your friends who also happens to be a customer, and your friend told you that
Section 04 – Buyer Role Play Scenarios
NETSUITE Buyer Scenario
Futuris Design – A
You are the president of Futuris Design, and met the NetSuite salesperson at a charity golf
tournament about 3 weeks ago. The salesperson knows your younger brother from college.
Futuris Design makes commercial display systems used in showrooms and trade shows. The
company has about 25 account execs and 20 project managers. There are approximately 50
projects that are “live” at any particular time. These projects generally last between 2 weeks and
3 months, with shorter projects being trade show booth designs and longer projects going into
commercial showrooms. The projects require several meetings with clients, suppliers, and
sometimes municipal building inspectors. You need to increase the number of projects that the
company can handle without additional personnel.
Needs:
1. You have observed that your employees require more meetings with clients and suppliers than
in years before.
Objections:
1. You have heard that this company has very poor customer service.
2. You have a brother-in-law that sells FusionSoft for Oracle.
Section 04 – Buyer Role Play Scenarios
NETSUITE Buyer Scenario
Futuris Design – B
You are the president of Futuris Design, and met the NetSuite salesperson at a charity golf
tournament about 3 weeks ago. The salesperson knows your younger brother from college.
Futuris Design makes commercial display systems used in showrooms and trade shows. The
company has about 25 account execs and 20 project managers. There are approximately 50
projects that are “live” at any particular time. These projects generally last between 2 weeks and
3 months, with shorter projects being trade show booth designs and longer projects going into
commercial showrooms. The projects require several meetings with clients, suppliers, and
sometimes municipal building inspectors. You need to increase the number of projects that the
company can handle without additional personnel.
Needs:
1. Your salespeople sell primarily to companies in a limited number of vertical markets. As such,
they have fairly well-defined account lists. You wonder if they could manage their lists better,
could they acquire more customers?
Objections:
1. Look – these guys are salespeople – they hate using computers. (actually, they have to use
computers now to do job costing)
2. I don’t have any money budgeted for this.
3. Can you sell? Why don’t you come to work for me? How much are you making now?
Section 04 – Buyer Role Play Scenarios
NETSUITE Buyer Scenario
Independent Bank – A
You are the founding CEO for Independent Bank, and an analytical. This young bank has been in
business for about 4 years and only recently moved into its own building. While the bank started
as an online bank, you quickly realized that you needed a more traditional outlet, too. You met
somebody that dropped in the other day from NetSuite but scheduled an appointment for today as
the CEO was quite busy when you dropped in.
Needs:
1. Your staff always complains about working overtime.
2. You feel that your bank could be doing substantially more business if loan officers would
Objections:
1. The price is too high.
Section 04 – Buyer Role Play Scenarios
NETSUITE Buyer Scenario
Independent Bank – B
You are the founding CEO for Independent Bank, and an analytical. This young bank has been in
business for about 4 years and only recently moved into its own building. While the bank started
as an online bank, you quickly realized that you needed a more traditional outlet, too. You met
somebody that dropped in the other day from NetSuite but scheduled an appointment for today as
the CEO was quite busy when you dropped in.
You have had several complaints from customers about loan officers not calling people back
when they are supposed to. Since your bank depends on growing accounts, not just growing the
number of accounts, you believe that these are serious concerns. When you talk to the managers
about these complaints, they tell you that their officers forgot or got tied up. You thought
GoldMine (a contact management program you bought for the loan officers) was supposed to
help them remember but it isn’t getting used.
Objections:
1. I can’t put my customers’ records out there on the web. SaaS like NetSuite is just too risky.
Section 04 – Buyer Role Play Scenarios
NETSUITE Buyer Scenario
Andritz – A
You are the North America sales vice-president for Andritz, a Swedish company that makes large
industrial presses. You have about 30 outside salespeople and 15 inside salespeople for the
region, which includes Canada and Mexico. The machinery is used to make paper, to clean
water, and any other situation where you have a desire to press water out of mush. You called
and set up today’s meeting after being told of NetSuite by a friend.
Needs:
1. Your customers have been complaining about poor service.
Objections:
Your boss, (the opposite gender of the rep), would prefer any purchases be made from the same
gender (the opposite of the rep). You should say, “My boss really has a difficult time buying from
men/women.” If the boss prefers to buy from women, say it is because women are better at
Section 04 – Buyer Role Play Scenarios
NETSUITE Buyer Scenario
Greenbriar – B
You are the North America sales vice-president for Andritz, a Swedish company that makes large
industrial presses. You have about 30 outside salespeople and 15 inside salespeople for the
region, which includes Canada and Mexico. The machinery is used to make paper, to clean
water, and any other situation where you have a desire to press water out of mush. You called
and set up today’s meeting after being told of NetSuite by a friend.
and the cost of the company’s service is actually higher than the market.
Because you are a driver and because you work for a low-cost leader for product, work hard at
the price. Ask for the price early and don’t let the rep put you off. When you get a price, express
shock that it costs so much. Then drive for price reductions with things like, “So what does it
cost, really?”
Needs:
1. Reps have to spend a lot of time documenting customer needs because what your company
Objections:
1. See price objection above
2. I should shop around. (If asked, say to get a better price)
Section 04 – Buyer Role Play Scenarios
NETSUITE Buyer Scenario
AvidDyne – A
You are the Engineering Manager for AvidDyne, a company that manufactures custom
communication systems for global shipping. Essentially, the company takes a ship and re-builds
the communications systems, as they specialize in refurbishing ships. The communications
systems include onboard communications as well as ship-to-shore. You have about 100 engineers
reporting to you. Each of these engineers, to varying degrees, has meetings with management,
clients, and suppliers. You met the NetSuite person at a trade show in Brussels about 2 months
ago and you scheduled an appointment to discuss their product.
You are an analytical and understand that “time is money” and your projects run in the millions
of dollars. Efficiency is very important to you. You do not want to see a lot of numbers, but you
need “to the point” evidence of how the product will create efficiency and reduction in costs. You
have the authority to make any decision, but you need very compelling reasons to go ahead with a
purchase now.
Needs:
1. You want higher morale in your staff.
Objections:
2. Product is not substantially different from other contact management systems and is more
expensive.
Section 04 – Buyer Role Play Scenarios
NETSUITE Buyer Scenario
AviDyne – B
You are the Engineering Manager for AvidDyne, a company that manufactures custom
communication systems for global shipping. Essentially, the company takes a ship and re-builds
the communications systems, as they specialize in refurbishing ships. The communications
systems include onboard communications as well as ship-to-shore. You have about 100 engineers
reporting to you. Each of these engineers, to varying degrees, has meetings with management,
clients, and suppliers. You met the NetSuite person at a trade show in Brussels about 2 months
ago and you scheduled an appointment to discuss their product.
At the same time you are concerned with the potential loss of good people, you are also
concerned about the cost of implementing any software now, plus the time it will take to input the
information. In the long-run, you also think that if you have the data on a network, available to
all engineers, then you can keep the engineers who still work there busier and more productive
because they will be able to help each other more. You are a driver.
Needs:
Objections:
1. How can I think about something like this when we’re barely able to meet our deadlines?
Oops, I shouldn’t have said anything – can you keep that secret?