Lawford Electric Case

1. How would you evaluate Mr. Allen’s overall sales approach?

Sales engineer Robert Allen’s approach was simplistic and his notes suggest an assumption that the $871,000 sale would be an easy sale. Allen’s strategy reveals a flawed perception of his role. His strategy was centered only on key decision makers and his priorities were 1) emphasizing benefits and 2) influencing the final specs rather than utilizing an collaborative approach to gain a genuine understanding of customer needs. Allen bombarded his contacts at Bayfield with specs, benefits, and pamphlets and regarded as trivial several potentially significant interactions. He made unfounded assumptions and, as a result of his focus on influencing the process, missed opportunities to explore and adequately address customer concerns. In addition, the number and frequency of calls and visits made by Allen to Bayfield seem relatively low considering the size of the contract. Lawford Electric did not win this contract because they lacked sufficient information to provide an ideal solution. So overall, I believe that Mr. Allen’s sales approach was below par and he could of put forth a lot more effort to achieve the successful sale.

2. What are Mr. Allen’s strong points?

Even though Allen’s overall sales approach was lacking, he has done a few things right. Mr. Allen has kept in frequent contact with Gibson. Although not the decision maker Gibson is relevant as he kept Allen informed of the needed information in the bidding process, such as dates and specs. Allen takes the initiative and contacts Magna for the specs and then works closely with Pollack to prepare the bid.

3. In what areas does he need to improve?

First and foremost he didn’t seem to fully understand the players within the sale. That is to say, who was the decision maker, who the influencers were and who needed the technical information? He neither connects with the operations department, a key group on this project, nor does he fully utilize his boss’ offers to help. Lastly, he doesn’t address an underlying theme in the case, which is that Bayfield is concerned with reliability. To start, Allen does not seem to grasp the role that Gibson has in this sale. Gibson is the purchasing agent not the decision maker. Gibson is the right person to work with when pushing reorders and selling parts. Bayfield had already spent $200 million on the mechanicals of the project and was planning on spending another $900k on the drive system. Gibson has no executive power and therefore Allen should have spent less time with him. At this point, Allen should be presenting this information to the engineer and operations teams who he knows is having problems finalizing the specs. Another of Allen’s failures was the lack of contact with the operations department. Gibson advised