Sharpening the Selling Tools CASE STUDY

Background

Brenda Smith is working in the office this morning preparing for tomorrow’s sales call with Gage Waits, managing partner, and Anna Kate Autry, operations manager, at Energy Based Funds LLC.

Energy Based Funds is a major investment banking organisation specializing in managing and marketing a variety of energy based mutual funds. The company operates throughout the Asia Pacific and has its head office in Melbourne. The Company employs 175 people with offices occupying the top three floors of a major office building in the heart of the CBD.

For the past several years, Energy Based Funds has been leasing and purchasing office equipment from Altima Systems, one of Brenda’s biggest competitors. Brenda has been working her network in order to get a chance to begin a sales dialogue with Energy-Based Funds and she finally has an appointment with the main players on the purchasing team – Waits and Autry.

Brenda knows that planning is a key part of success in selling and is diligently working on her strategy and plans in preparation for tomorrow’s sales call with Waits and Autry at Energy Based Funds.

According to the Sales Call Plan that Brenda is developing, the purpose of this initial meeting is twofold:

To discover more about Energy Based Funds’ current operations, future plans, and the nature of their use of and needs for copiers;

To begin acquainting Waits and Autry with NCC and the value they can provide Energy Based Funds.

At this point in her sales call plan, Brenda is considering the different pieces of information she needs to get from the dialogue and what questions she might use to elicit that information from Waits and Autry.

Questions

1. Based on the purpose of probing questions explained in the workshop (and also in your textbook), explain how Brenda should utilize probing types of questions in her initial sales dialogue with Waits and Autry at Energy Based Funds. Consider the types of information Brenda needs and develop several illustrative examples of probing questions Brenda might use.

2. Evaluative questions are also effective in sales conversations. Explain the purpose of evaluative questions and how Brenda might effectively utilize them in this initial sales call. Provide several illustrative examples of evaluative questions Brenda could use.

3. The ADAPT questioning system (that is explained in detail in ch. 2 of your textbook) is a logic-based sequence of questions designed for effective fact-finding and gaining information about a buyer’s situation. Develop a series of ADAPT questions that Brenda might use in her sales call to develop the information she needs regarding Energy Based Funds, their operations, and needs for copiers.

4. What recommendations would you provide Brenda regarding nonverbal communication and how she might use it for more effective communication in this sales call?