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A case study training exercise to test your sales skills
Here is a case study from our sales training courses about a fictitious sales situation between a seller and a buyer. Read through the case study and write down your answers the three questions to test your knowledge on how to handle this tricky selling situation. Then take a look at the model answers provided and compare your responses.
For some 18 months, Walter Keppler has been trying to land an order from Textomag but without success. On his regular visit every two months, the buyer, Mark Simmons, always receives him politely, listens to all the sales arguments carefully, leafs through the papers in the quotation, and then simply repeats that he is satisfied with the performance of the two companies who supply him at the moment. Sometimes he adds with a smile: “sometime or other these two will fall down on the job. And you’ll get your chance then.”
Walter Keppler however is becoming impatient with this treatment and feels that he cannot wait forever. He suspects that Simmons is just playing hard to get, and is not serious about using his company in the future. He has another problem in that his boss, the national sales manager, wants to see the name of Textomag, a major name in the industry, on the list of the company’s customers: he is constantly asking Keppler when they are going to see an order from Textomag. For Keppler, Textomag represents a standing problem.
As it happened, chance appeared to come to Keppler’s rescue. Keppler was a keen tennis player, and represented his club side in a local knockout tournament. In the second round, he came up against Charles Sennet, who was a member of the board of Textomag. Rather to the surprise of those who knew his game, Keppler lost the match. A pleased Charles Sennet invited Keppler to join him in a drink after the match, and Keppler seized his opportunity with both hands. He explained whom he worked for and the problems he had experience in trying to win Textomag’s business. The discussion ended with an agreement to play a return match at Sennet’s club, and that Keppler should bring his papers along with him.
A few days after the return match, Keppler received a small trial order. He was very pleased with this development, and felt that it would not be long before he started to receive larger orders.
However, when he turned up at Textomag for his usual two monthly meeting with Mark Simmons, the buyer sent a message through his secretary, explaining that he was very busy and had no time for a meeting that day. The next meeting fared no better. Simmons simply advised Keppler (again through his secretary) that any quotations or offers should be put in writing and sent to him through the post.
Keppler suspected that he knew why Simmons was so off-hand with him. He phoned Charles Sennet again and asked him to put in a good work for him with Mark Simmons. Rather to his surprise, Sennet refused: “I’ve said the Mark Simmons that your products are ok and that he should take you into consideration as a supplier when he is thinking of placing an order. More than that I can’t do for you.”
Please think about the following three questions. Make a note of your answers so that you can compare them with the comments on the situation, which you will find below.
1. Was Keppler right in taking advantage of his chance encounter with Charles Sennet to push his products and to try for a trial order?
2. What can Keppler do now in order to get back in favour with Mark Simmons?
3. Should Keppler drop his connection with Charles Sennet? If yes, how?
When you read the case of the by-passed buyer described above, it might have seemed that salesman Walter Keppler has dug himself into a fine hole. Although Keppler has obtained a trial order from a major customer, Textomag, through a private contact with a Textomag director, Charles Sennet, he has upset the buyer, Mark Simmons. Simmons obviously feels that he has been by-passed and has reacted by stopping all direct contact with Keppler. We posed three questions about the case, and asked an experienced trainer of our sales training courses for his comments. Here are his answers to the three questions:
1. Was Keppler right in taking advantage of his chance encounter with Charles Sennet?
In principle, Walter Keppler was right to take advantage of his opportunity. However, his mistake lay in not telling Mark Simmons straight away about the chance meeting with Simmons’ boss Charles Sennet and explaining the position. This would put Simmons in the picture, and Simmons would not have been left with the feeling that Keppler had somehow managed to by-pass him.
2. What can Keppler do now to get back in favour with Mark Simmons?
Keppler should try to arrange a meeting with Simmons to explain the situation. He could, for example, write Simmons a note inviting him to lunch so that they can discuss what appears to be a possible misunderstanding. In this discussion, he should set out what happened, and convince the buyer that it was not a question of trying to go behind his back, but rather the outcome of a chance private meeting.
Walter Keppler should admit that he had not handled the situation very well. Keppler most definitely made a further mistake in going back to Charles Sennet and asking him to “put in a good word for him”. It would have been much better if Keppler had asked Sennet to explain to Simmons how the situation had arisen and to stress that any decision about placing orders clearly lay with Simmons as the buyer. This would have allowed Simmons the chance to recover the loss of face, which he clearly felt he had suffered.
3. Should Keppler drop his connection with Charles Sennet and if so, how?
Walter Keppler should keep up contact with Charles Sennet, but on a personal basis, rather than a business level. Initially, however, he may have to persuade Sennet to contact Simmons and explain the background to the situation as set out above. However, thereafter the connection should be kept strictly on a private level – and the next time Keppler plays Sennet at tennis, he shouldn’t hesitate to try to win!
So how did your answers compare? Attending our sales training courses can help you to become a proficient and skilled sales person.
