Assignment
In this assignment you are to read the attached case and its various sub-parts on K&J Computer Company (KJCOCO) and fully answer the questions posed for each sub-part.
This assignment is related to concepts you have covered in various Modules during the course. As you complete the Assignment, you should refer back to the various modules for guidance.
This Final Assignment Covers Course Learning Outcomes:
1) Explain the steps in the sales process and their application in a B2B environment.
2) Apply customer relationship management (CRM) in sales.
3) Apply communication styles to support a business/sales relationship and setting communication goals.
4) Plan a needs discovery assessment by using technology applications.
5) Develop strategies that overcome the challenges in sales, support a solution-based environment, and draw on current research.
7) Apply several methods of closing a sale to create a win-win environment for the seller and the client.
In this assignment you will play the role of the Joanne Lim salesperson for KJCOCO. Your job is to evaluate and understand the situation you are presented with and to determine the best course of action based on the information provided.
What is to be submitted
Your report should contain the 7 sections noted below: 1) Title Page, 2) Answers to Part 1 Case Questions 3) Answer to Part 2 Case Questions 4) Answers to Part 3 Case Questions 4) Answers to Part 4 Case questions. 5) Answer to Part 5 Case Questions 5) Information Sources. Each section should be labelled clearly with a section header.
Your report should contain the following in this order:
Title Page (1 Page)
Your name, subject, section, date, the professor’s name, assignment title.
Part 1 Case Questions
Refer to assignment case questions.
No set length – but explanations should be sufficiently detailed to answer assignment
questions.
Part 2 Case Questions
Refer to assignment case questions
No set length – but explanations should be sufficiently detailed to answer assignment questions.
Part 3 Case Questions
Refer to assignment case question
No set length – but explanations should be sufficiently detailed to answer assignment questions.
Part 4 Case Questions
Refer to assignment case question
No set length – but explanations should be sufficiently detailed to answer assignment questions.
Part 5 Case Questions
Refer to assignment case question
No set length – but explanations should be sufficiently detailed to answer assignment questions.
Information Sources
• Note and provide links to any websites used in your research.
Evaluation
The report will be graded out of a maximum of 175 marks as shown on the following marking scheme.
Marking Scheme Marks
Title page with required information 5
Part 1: Case Questions — 3 pages 55
Part 2: Case Questions —- 3 pages 45
Part 3: Case Questions —– 2 pages 20
Part 4: Case Questions —- 2 pages 25
Part 5: Case Questions —- 1 page 10
Information Sources 5
Grammar: your ability to write in proper essay form using MLA formatting. i.e. grammatically correct sentences, error-free spelling, organization and clarity of thought, full reference citations as required 10
Total Marks 175
Submitted Document
Your report must be double-spaced in 12 pt. font with a one-inch margin. The report will be submitted online and should be either in MS word or pdf file format.
The report style is to follow MLA format.
Note: Reports submitted with multiple spelling errors will not be marked. Please proofread & use a “spellchecker” to ensure that all words including names and technical terms are spelled correctly.
CRM 400 Final Exam Assignment
K&J Computer Company Case
Background
The K&J Computer Company (KJCOCO) is a mid-sized company selling information technology (IT) related products to small and medium sized businesses across Canada. Their sales force plays a key role with their customers, managing relationships and communication. KJCOCO believes they differentiate themselves by providing fully customized business solutions drawn from their range of tech hardware and software suppliers for all their clients.
VP Sales John Kahn has been in his VP role for less than a year and is working to improve the overall sales performance of the KJCOCO team. He has initiated new B2B marketing programs as well as made changes to the sales team itself and is proud of the sales team he’s assembled. They’re a good mix of age, gender and solidly represent the various ethnicities of the Canadian population as well as of their existing customer base plus customers Kahn hopes he might attract in the future. KJCOCO currently has 25 sales representatives across Canada located in every provincial capital as well as larger secondary cities.
Joanne Lim is a newly hired sales representative. She has just completed a sales course through Online Learning and is proud of all the knowledge she’s gained. She is looking forward to putting the knowledge to the test in her first job.
Part 1 -Prospecting for sales
Joanne met with her boss, John, who expressed his concern to her that KJCOCO was not prospecting for clients in the most productive and efficient manner.
Currently KJCOCO has no overall coherent strategy to find possible new clients. Sales reps are left on their own to hunt new possible accounts. They generally prospect based on what they “feel” is right using business contacts, friends and acquaintances.
John has tasked Joanne with developing a company strategy to prospect for and prioritize clients. He has told her that their greatest success is with professional firms such as law firms, real estate brokerages, accounting firms. Generally, in the range of less than 100 employees. Additionally, they should have at least one dedicated IT manager.
Part 1A Case Questions
1) Based on your knowledge of the sales process and using the information based in the “Background” section as well as “Part 1.” list all the criteria you would use to identify and prioritize potential new clients and explain why you would select those. (15 Marks)
Note: The criteria you use to identify and prioritize should represent actual specific real-life criteria that you’d recommend KJCOCO use if this was your job. Think about the way you would approach the idea of prospecting in real life – the possible targets and how you would pick which ones to go after first.
2) Identify the real-life internet databases that you would use to do your identification and prioritization. (15 Marks)
For example – If you pick “Less than 100 employees” as one criterion – how would you determine if the target companies have less than 100 employees? What specific real-life database would you look at?
Part 1B
John has asked that Joanne do research into a medium sized publicly-traded law firm based in Toronto to determine if they are a worth targeting as a potential customer.
Part 1B Case Questions
1) Identify 10 real-life specific data sources that Joanne should use to see if the law firm John had suggested meet the criteria you identified above and why you picked those specific databases. (20 Marks)
Note: Do not say “government databases”, rather say which specific governmentdatabases you would use and why those.
Part 2 – Understanding Buyers
Joanne has made contact with a potential new customer prospect: Red Rock Real Estate. They are an Ontario based Real Estate firm with a head office in Toronto and affiliated regional offices in various Ontario cities.
The Toronto head office has a Director of IT who is responsible for day to day IT management at the head office, and assists the regional offices in their IT support. She is also responsible for the final new product recommendation to the executive management team plus finding suppliers. That director would be Joanne’s main contact.
Additionally, at the head office there is a Director of Finance and Accounting, plus a Director of Real Estate Brokers who is the main liaison for individual brokers at the head office plus the satellite offices.
Each office has a full-time office manager who provides most support including minor IT support, plus full-time real estate brokers. Some have additional support staff depending on the size of the office.
Through her contacts and prospecting activity so far Joanne has determined the Toronto head office IT Director would like to implement a new IT system which would be the same across all offices. In the past, all offices have had the ability to independently select the IT systems and software they felt would work best for them. This has caused some compatibility issues and increased IT workload to support the various systems.
The system that Red Rock is considering would be an “enterprise wide” system, meaning that all departments from Accounting, Finance, support staff plus all real estate brokers would use it.
Part 2 Case Questions
1) Who at Red Rock, do you think will be involved in the decision process to purchase the new IT system? Explain what role they may play in the process (decision maker versus decision influencer) and why. (15 Marks)
2) Joanne has arranged her first meeting with IT Director Noorie Wong. Place yourself in the role of Joanne and use the ADAPT questioning model to list the various questions youwould like to ask Noorie. List at least 3 questions for each stage of ADAPT and explain why you are asking those specific question i.e.: what you hope to learn from the specific question you ask her. (30 Marks)
Part 3
Joanne had her meeting with Noorie and in her mind she reviewed how it went…
Noorie raised a number of “objections” that Joanne had to deal with during the meeting: “I’m not sure we’re ready for a new system right now. I need time to think it over.” “What assurance do I have that your company will be here to help me in the future.”
“I think your company is too small to meet our needs.
“We have multiple offices across the province, how can you possibly service them all?” “We have a great deal of existing equipment, what would we do with that?”
Part 3 Case Question
1) Explain what you think is specifically behind Noorie’s question: why do you think sheis asking it? (10 Marks)
2) Develop a response for each of Noorie’s objections. Note: since you do not have access to all the information you would in real life, keep your response within what you knowfrom the case details. (10 Marks)
Part 4 – Fixing Issues with Customer Relationships
Joanne was very proud of herself. After several months of hard work and selling, she finally got an order from Red Rock to provide a completely new IT system.
Now, 4 months later, as she arrived at work Tuesday morning at 8am, her company voice mail light was blinking. She listened to the message form Noorie and began to squirm inside.
“Joanne, I’ve had enough of dealing with KJCOCO, I want you to immediately send your technicians to all our locations and remove all the equipment you’ve installed. I want a full refund for everything, plus I would like you to pay us damages for lost productivity and wasted time on our part! The routers you sold us keep breaking down. The software is filled with bugs. Your support team is slow or non-responsive to our help calls. You have shipped and invoiced us for equipment we never ordered. You’ve never provided the training we agreed to. I’m done with you and KJCOCO.”
As Joanne thought about it, it did occur to her that she hadn’t spoken to Noorie for a couple months. She knew they’d hadn’t provided the agreed-to training, but she was waiting for Noorie to call and schedule it. Since Noorie hadn’t called, she assumed Noorie didn’t need it.
She was also aware that there were some issues with the equipment and software but thought the support teams were looking after it. She hadn’t checked in with the KJCOCO support team since she expected them to contact her if there were issues. As with the training, she’d heard nothing for weeks. There was also some equipment they’d originally specified but later removed from the order, but she was pretty sure she’d deleted from the final order and told the shippers and accounting it was no longer required.
All Joanne could think of was “What do I do now?”
Part 4 Questions
1) What did Joanne do wrong in this situation? (5 Marks)
2) What do you recommend she do in the short run to resolve the issues? (15 Marks)
3) Assuming she can save the relationship with Noorie & Red Rock, what should shedo differently after this? (5 Marks)
Part 5 – Winding Down
Joanne has had a tough start to her time at KJCOCO and has learned a lot about sales.
As she ponders her first 6 months she thinks about how important sales and selling is to her life both at work and in general.
Part 5 Case Question
1) Do you agree or disagree with Joanne? Is Sales an important part of everyone’s work and home life or not. Explain why or why not. (10 Marks)
