Robert Lawrence was aghast. In spite of practicing the sales call (pre-arranged face-to-face meeting between a salespers

[answerhappygod]

Robert Lawrence was aghast. In spite of practicing the sales
call (pre-arranged face-to-face meeting between a salesperson
and clients) with for times, in spite of being told before the
sales call exactly what to say when the question arose, in spite of
being directed by the account manager how to respond in the sales
call, the regional director of the service still blew it. And away
walk a $5.5 million customer.
Robert, branch manager for Mobile Connections, knew that the
customer, Health Resource of Texas (HRT), was having problems with
two of the copiers provided by Mobile. Further, these were
reoccurring problems that should be resolved by replacing the
equipment. To make matters worse, one of the problem copiers was
used by Sharon Collins, one of the decision makers. He knew that
Sharon was going to raise the issue of how Mobile would handle
“lemons” and whether Mobile would honor its replacement promise.
The service director was also aware of the problems, but has not
processed the request to replace them yet, so he didn’t know with
certainty whether the copiers would be approved. But Robert has
rehearsed with Tony Lagera, the service director so that the
company was reviewing the request and the copier would either be
replaced in the week of shifted to areas with less volume.
Sharon raised the question, just as Robert expected. And Tony
flubbed it. He hemmed. He hawed. He did everything but answer the
question directly. Unfortunately, Robert couldn’t just answer for
Tony—the service area was Tony’s responsibility, not Robert’s.
Robert and the account manager sat in stunned
silence.
After the recall,
Robert asked, “So, Tony, how do think it went?”
“Fine, Robert!” he replied with a smile. “You were right on
target about Sharon’s questions.”
“And you think you
handle it?”
“Oh yes—I think she
really liked my response!”
Robert didn’t respond, though he thought about asking Tony why she
repeated the question four times. Two weeks later, Robert got a
copy of the letter that went to his salesperson, thanking Mobile
for the presentation but informing them that Mobile would not be
allowed to bid on the job. After serving HRT for three years
without any hitch other than those two machines (and there were
over 100 machines), Mobile wasn’t even going to get a chance to
bid.
Questions:
1.
Things had gone well with the account overall. What, though, were
the critical issues in determining the customer’s satisfaction that
led to the loss of the customer? Was the problem simply a lack of
satisfaction with the product? Describe how the customer’s value
was influenced by experiences both before the sales call and during
the sales call?
2. Was there anything the sales rep or his boss, Robert Lawrence,
could have done after the sales call to save the business?
3. Not only were there no other problems during the previous
three-year contract, but Mobile had originally won the business
away from a competitor and significantly improved HRT’s situation.
Why didn’t that enter into the picture?