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Cloverleaf ple Cloverleaf plc was a UK-based supplier of bottling machinery used in production lines to bansport and fill botties. Two years ago, it opened an overseas sales office targeting Germany, France and the Benelux countries. It estimated that there were over 1,000 organisations in those countries with botting faclities and that a key sales push in northem Europe was therefore warranted. Sales so far had been disappointing with only three units of bottling machinery having been sold. Expectations had been much Kigher than this, given the advantages of their product over that produced by their competitors. Technological breakthroughs at Cloverieaf meant that their botting lines had a 10 per cent speed advantage over the nearest competition with equal filling accuracy. A key problem with competitor products was unreliablity. Down-time due to a line breakdown was extremely costly to bottlers. Tests by Cloverleaf engineers at their research and development establishment in the United Kingdom had shown their system to be the most reliable on the market. Cloverleaf's marketing strategy was based around high-quality, high-price-competitive positioning. They believed that the superior performance of their product just fied a 10 per cent price premium over their key competitors, who were all priced at around f1 malion for a standard production line. Salespeople were told to stress the higher speed and enhanced reliabity when taking to customers. The sales organisation in northern Europe consisted of a sales manager with three salespeople assigned to Germany, France and the Benelux countries respectively. When a sales call required specialist technical assistance, a salesperson would contact the sales office to arrange for the technical spedalist to visit the prospect, usually together with the salesperson. Typically, four groups of people inside buying organisations were involved in the purchase of botting equipment, namely the production manager, production engineer, purchasing officer and, where large sums of money were involved (over f500,000 ), the technical diector. Production managers were mainly interested in smooth production flows and cost savings. Production engineers were charged with drawing up specfications for new equipment and in large firms they were usually asked to draw up state-of-the-art specifications. The purchasing officers, who were often qute powerful, were interested in the financial aspects of amy purchase, and technical 2 directors, while interested in technical issues, also appreciated the prestige associated with having state-of-the-art technology. John Coodman was the sales executive covering France. While in the sales office in Paris, he received a call from Dr Leblanc, the technical birector of Commerciai SA, a large Marsellebassed botting company that bottled under licence a number of key soft drink brands. They had a reputation for technical excellence and innovation. Goodman made an appointment to see Dr Leblanc on 7 March. He was looking forward to making his first visit to this company. The following extracts are taken from his record of his sales calls, Jobber, Lancaster and Le Meunier-FitaHugh, Selling and Sales Management, 11e, (8) Pearson Education Limited 2019 March 7 Called on Dr Leblanc who told me that Commercial SA had decided to purchase a new botting ine as a resul of ecpansion, and asked for details of what we could provide. I described our system and gave him our sales literature. He told me that three of our competiors had already discussed their systems with him. As I was leaving, he suggested that I might like to talk to M. Artois, their production engineer, to check specifications. March 8 Visited M. Artois who showed me the specifcations that he had drawn up. I was delighted to see that our specifications easily exceeded them but was concerned that his specilications seemed to match those of one of cur competitors, Hofstead Gm, almost exactly, I showed M. Artois some of our techirical manuals. He did not seem impressed. March 11 Visited Dr Leblanc who appeared very pleased to see me. He asked me to give him three reasons why they should buy from us. I told him that our system was more technologically advanced than the competition, was more reliable and had a faster botting speed, He asked me if I was sure it was the most technologically advanced. I 3 said that there was no doubt about it. He suggested 1 contact M. Bernard, the purchasing manager. I made an appointment to see him in two days" time. March 13 Called on M. Bernard. I discussed the technical features of the system with him. He asked me about price. I told him I would get back to him on that. March 15 Visited Dr Leblanc who said a decision was boing made within a menth. I repeated our operational advantages and he asked me about price. 1 toid him 1 would give him a quote as soon as possible. March 20 Sww M, Bernard. I told him our price was El.1 milion. He replied that a key competior had quoted less than f1 milion. I replied that the greater reliabitity and botting speed meant that our higher price was more than justified. He remained unimpressed. March 21 Had a meeting with Mike Bull, my sales manager, to discuss tactics. I told him that there were problems. He suggested that all purchasing managers liked to believe they were saving their compary money. He told me to reduce my price by 50,000 to satisfy M. Bernard's ego. March 25 Told M. Bemard of our new quotation. He said he still did not understand why we could not match the competition on price. I repeated our technical advantages over the competition and told him that our 10 per cent faster speed and higher relability had been proven by our research and development engineers. Jobber, Lancaster and Le Meunier-Fictugh, Selling and Saves Management, 11 e, (5) Pearson Education Limited 2019 March 30 Visited De Leblanc who said a moeting had been arranged for 13 April to make the final decision but that ouf price of E1.05 million was too high for the akes of M. Bernard. April 4 Hastly arranged a meeting with Mike Bus to discuss the situation. Toid him about Dr Leblanc's concern that M. Bernard thought our price was too high. He said that Cl milion was as low as we could go. April 5 Tock our final offer to M. Bemard. He said he would let me know as socn as a dedsion was made. He stressed that the decision was not his alone; several other people were involved. April 16 Recehved a letter from M, Bernard stating that the order had been placed with Hofstead Gm. He thanked me for the work I had put into the bid made by Cloverleaf pic. INSTRUCTIONS Mark-Sheet: - Students will be assessed according to the mark sheet Assignment: - This is an international case study, students are encouraged to read extra materials to enable them to understand the organisation better. - Ensure your response starts with a short introduction and ends with a short condusion. - Your complete assignment must have a cover page, index, and a relerence use the Harvard method of referencing. Consult additional sources and include them in your references - Assignment has to be submitted Via D2L - Number of pages: (minimum of 8 and maximum of 12) QUESTIONS: Kindly answer the following questions 1. Analyse the reasons for the fallure tp secure the order. [10] 2. From this case study do you consider this to be a sultable organisation to be a key account? Give reasons for your answer. [5] 3. Cover ple is intending to open a sales office in Africa targeting South African market by supplying botting machinery to be used in production lines to transport and fill bottles. As a consultant, develop sales channels for Cloverieaf pic? [10] 4. What advice would you give Cloverleaf in handling key accounts in the future? [\$] 5. The primary responsibisty of a Cloverbeaf salespersons is to conclude a sale successtully in Germany, France and the Benclux countries. What are key responsibilities of Coverleaf salespeople and how those responsibilities can enhance efficiency and effectoveness? [10]