Role$-$Playing Assignment # $2$

In the following case study, you will find the role$-$play information required for interacting with the buyers. You assume the role of a salesperson representing a different company, not the one mentioned in the case.

Please identify the three most crucial aspects of the buyer's business in this case.

While listening to the jargon and$/$or attempting to observe body language, you may become engrossed. Discuss how this might have interfered with your ability to identify the buyer's primary concerns, utilizing clues from the case.

What techniques do you employ to understand the buyers in this case, and do you encounter any challenges?

CASE: Spear One Productions$-$Buyer Scenario

We are not just party planners; we are relationship facilitators. Our customers depend on us creating events that help them get closer to their clients, so we have to make sure we understand their marketing strategy, their positioning objectives $($if asked, the positioning means what position they want to occupy in the mind of their consumer, like the brand that tastes great and is less filling$),$ and the decision cycles of their buyers. We facilitate the relationships they have with their customers.

We have relational partnerships, at a minimum, with our buyers, though we strive for strategic partnerships. We want to make sure that the events we plan to fit into their marketing programs so there is no confusion in their customers' minds as to who they are and what they represent. That means that our signage $($if asked, signage means signs that use the client's logo and slogans$)$ for the event has to support the positioning objectives, has to tie into whatever marketing campaign is being run, and has to fit with how their salespeople sell. We work very closely with their advertising agency to make sure that the graphics are exactly right, which includes simple things like having the slogan rightron the napkins at a cocktail party.

We also work a lot with charitable and non$-$profit organizations because our clients co$-$sponsor events with these organizations. For example, Microsoft is one of our clients and they sponsor The Philadelphia Orchestra. So$,$ we do a lot of coordinating of Microsoft events with The Philadelphia Orchestra concerts, making sure that Microsoft's marketing objectives are met while The Philadelphia Orchestra gets what they want too.