Case analysis Sales Management Session 7(Managing Major Account)

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Case analysis Sales Management Session 7(Managing Major Account) C: Siebel Systems: Anatomy of a Sale

Case Analysis: Siebel System-Anatomy of a Sale, Part 1-3.6 How should Carman Respond to the invitation to tell the Quick & Reilly executives what he thought of Oracle? What features of this interaction influence your opinion? Would your opinion of the right response change if the circumstances were different?

As per the TAS approach, which was always used by Siebel, the initial conversation should revolve around assessing the opportunity, i.e. the need and capability of the consumer then defining the competitive strategy as to the approach towards the customer. The third step revolves around establishing a rapport with the consumer and developing a relationship strategy thereafter comes the execution stage of turning the ideas into action and then testing and improving the plan. Carmen should initiate a probing activity as this is the exploratory stage of KAM. Howsoever Carmen cannot straightforwardly negate the query and therefore a mixed approach should be established. Looking at the response given by him, he could have also added a few FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) questions to know more about the consumer.

Under a different scenario like a sales lead, the approach would have to be strictly as per the TAS mechanism, it is solely because of the setting of the scenario, i.e. a trade show where the prospective leads come with all sorts of queries to test the grounds a mixed approach can be used but still with the TAS steps in tandem.

How should Carmen qualify the prospect? Should he ask “What’s your budget?” Should he suppress his curiosity and leave it to the prospect to bring up information about the size and timing of the opportunity? If he asks for information, how will he use it?

In order to qualify the prospect, Carmen should probe more and Assess the Opportunity. He needs to assess the customers need i.e. of lost leads or lead tracking in this case, then understanding the customer’s business profile and financial condition without directly asking the question about budget in the first go, which might require some research at the back end and cannot be done directly at the trade show, howsoever if under a scenario that he was aware of the attendees of the trade shows he could have done this research beforehand. Secondly he should do a self-assessment if they can do justice to the client requirement and have a proper solution fit which in this case is available with Siebel. As the client has already referred to a competitor, he should also ask questions and utilise the information obtained to put forth the value proposition of Seibel in later on stage to win the customer.

Another approach that he should employee is enquiring or assessing the losses due to the unavailability of this technology, as then he can do a cost benefit analysis for the client and come to a flooring figure of the budget by himself.

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Evaluate Carmen’s interaction with the customer up to this point. Is he doing a good job?

How effective is Siebel Systems’ approach?

As per my understanding, Carmen’s approach has been not been the proper approach as of now. The reasons for this view are: 



He did not remember or take note of the number of customers which is in quite contrast to Siebel core values which emphasize particularly “We approach the opportunity we have been granted with great humility” and “we remain absolutely committed to our customers’ success and work hard each day to listen to their needs”. Furthermore, this information is of utmost importance for him to build a business case later on.

The utmost important thing which carmen is missing out here is enquiring from the customer and understanding his need. He could have asked questions like challenges with the current system, alternatives etc. Also, had he asked these question he could have altered the demo to emphasize on the specific requirements Seibel were looking for.

The defined Siebel approach system is very effective as it takes a customer centric approach and is very systematic in understanding the requirement of the consumer and there in turn proposing the right value proposition.

Part 2 Put yourself in Zitzner’s position as he picks up the phone. How should he handle the conversation? What is his objective in this call?

In case of Zitzner, as he is a senior person in the hierarchy, should exchange greetings and make the customer feel important. The directives shared by him are right but at the same time a small brief about the offering, post understanding the customer requirement, can also be given. The major objective of this call is to trap the lead and assess its worth for Bradley systems. Even under a scenario that the assessment cannot be done immediately he should engage the customer and establish a rapport of sincerity and schedule a future meeting for the key account manager or pass the buck to a sales rep/KAM.

Part 3.1 How should Carman establish the roles of Burt and Capadilupo in the transaction? How Should he decide who plays the more important role?

This is the stage of the sales process where he should use the third step of the TAS approach i.e. developing the relationship strategy by identifying the key players and doing an analysis of the formal organization structure of the firm before the meeting and understanding the role set of each member.

However, as per the case, where he has not done this activity prior to the meeting, he should give importance to Ron Capodilupo as he and his team would act as the gatekeepers in this scenario even if they are not the signing authority.

At the same time, looking at the seating arrangement of the room, Gregg Carman should establish a good connect with Cathy Ridley as she was the initial point of contact and can work/help in the consecutive stages of the sales process.

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Part 3.2 At this point the account is Oracle’s to lose. It particularly does not want to lose to Seibel Systems. How should Oracle act?

Under this scenario even a justifier only will not help Oracle as the situation is not on a tiebreaker state but rather Oracle needs to position itself as an industry leader business partner and drive the value for the same. The complete value proposition of oracle should revolve around the following basis:    

They can tailor make the solution for Quick They know the company The CIO team is already familiar with Oracle and trained in it The should paint a future picture of Integrated Key account

Part 3.3 Where did Carman go wrong? How did he come to miss his numbers?

The importance of understanding the formal organization structure and the role set of each member is highlighted most at this stage. Although Carman has been able to convince the gatekeepers but the decision maker or the signing authority is still out of reach leading to a tremendous lag in the proceedings.

Carman has been coordinating with the CIO and the VP Client services, the two who establish the need and do the initial screening like a check valve but the buying centre is still not a contact point.

Part 3.4 How can Carman save the Quick and Reilly transaction without injuring the FleetBoston relationship?

Carman should take his stake holders in Quick and Reilly in confidence and help them make a business case for Seibel systems. The only way Carman can save from this situation is via the legal aspect, Internal push in Quick and Reilly and on the basis of the relationship with FleetBoston.

Part 3.5 What is your advice to Carman? Could he have anticipated the call from FleetBoston manager? At this stage, how important is the Fleet Boston relationship to him? What do you think of Seibel systems approach to Customer Satisfaction? Is it a realistic one? Is it possible that customers can take advantage of Seibel Systems because of its commitment to their satisfaction?

Carman Should stand to Seibel System’s ethics and let go of the seats worth 1mn$ if he needs to.

The customer centricity approach at Seibel systems is one of the core reasons for its success in the markets and it should be kept as it is.

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Howsoever, in order to avoid a scenario where they will be exploited from the customer they should have a robust legal system/contract, due diligence centre and a defined SOP (Standard operating procedure) to keep the lines of legitimacy clear.

Other Case Related Analysis Analysing the standpoint of Seibel and Quick and Reilly we come to the conclusion that Seibel was intensively customer centric organization. The Exhibit 1 (Siebel Core Values) also focussed on the importance given to the customer. Siebel had a high customer satisfaction rate and 729 partners, whereas Quick and Reilly were lagging in terms of technological capability and was on its way to an acquisition.

Looking at the aforesaid data we can conclude that the partnership is categorized under the first quadrant of Woodburn and McDonalds framework (Sellers strength – high/ buyer – low growth potential) The relationship strategy for an account under this quadrant compromises of:   

Maintaining good relations Working out sensible objectives and strategies for the account Employ retention strategies

Reading Learnings: Key Account Strategy The Chapter elaborates on the integrities of Key account management. The reading gives an understanding of three sections:   

Segregation of different types of Key accounts Selection of Key accounts for the purpose of setting objectives and strategies Allocation of resources to obtain the maximum ROI on Key accounts

KAM Stages / types of Key Accounts Exploratory KAM: Is the first and the initial stage of Key accounts, i.e. the prospecting or the initial screening stage of a client/vendor. This is the stage when the key account manager has started interacting with the purchasing manager and both are trying to find common grounds and benefits for the collaboration.

Basic KAM: Is the initial stages of the long term association wherein the client is also testing other vendors in the market but transactions have already started. This stage should focus on building a friendly relationship.

Co-Operative KAM: Is the next stage to basic cam, in the sense the relationship has developed and deepened making the vendor a trusted supplier. This is the stage when multiple levels of the organizations have started interacting and collaborating.

Interdependent KAM: This stage comes in when the vendor and client organizations have become growth partners and are sharing expertise. The liaison still maybe the KAM but the communication barriers between other senior member have considerably reduced by this stage.

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Integrated KAM: By this stage the companies have evolved into a symbiotic relationship and at stage higher than either of their individual capability. The role of key account manager is minimalistic now and cross company functional teams work together for mutual growth.

Selection of Key accounts for the purpose of setting objectives and strategies Primarily two approaches have been given for selecting the key accounts, first one by Woodburn and McDonald (2011) and Cheverton (2012) to ensure correct resource allocation for maximum ROI.

Reading Learning: Can Selling Be Globalized? The pitfalls of global account management (California Management Review Vol 44, No.1 Fall 2001) The reading elaborates on the challenges in the domain of key account management with the onset of globalization. As the procurement teams are becoming more and more centralized globally, the lines of responsibility or the territory lines between local/national KAM and Global KAM are overlapping.

One of the key issues highlighted here is the remuneration or award mechanism for the sales.

Other Key Learnings covered in classroom discussion    

Types of companies: Solution focused which focus and invest in finding better technological solutions whereas the other one i.e. problem focused invest in human resources.

Aspects of KAM Global Accounts vs. National Accounts Case Analysis – class discussion:

Goals: What does each party wants to accomplish?

Assets: What does each party bring to the potential relationship?

Information: What does each party give to the other?

Information: What does each party expect from the other?

Next step: What would you do next in each party’s shoes?

Carman Collaborate with client

Cathy Lead Tracking

Siebel’s complete CRM solution Product demo

RFQ (Request for Quotation) The current situation with the acquisition A system that used oracle tables and offered end to end CRM solution Open the organization to Carman

Expected Sales Volume

Know the executive manager

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