week 6 case analysis
Week 6 Case Analysis
MKTG 301
1. Harris told Houston that he needed a couple of weeks to think about his proposal. How should Houston handle this?
Harris is using what is called a time objection also known as stalling technique. In this particular case study Harris already has the need fulfilled by a different supplier and while they have had a few late deliveries Harris need to determine if it worth going through all of the work to get set up a new vendor. The time objection is often one of the hardest objections to gauge because it can mean many different things. In certain cases changing product can be a major process and can be very time consuming. With such a major change it is understandable that buyers want to take some time to think about the decision before committing and revamping everything. If this is the case it is still a scary situation because even if the buyer was initially giving the product serious thought, two weeks and millions of distraction can dampen the excitement. In other cases however the time objection is used as a passive way of saying no. In many situations buyer will use the time objection because they know that if they can get off the phone or out of the meeting that it will be easy to avoid the situation at a later date. In my own personal life I have received the time objection more times than I can count and just like the course text said I believed that every time a buyer would tell me they needed time I felt they were going to buy. There was a while when I doing product placement for a company and I attempted to reach a buyer at Dollar General for over a month and I finally got ahold of him. I laid my pitch on thick and he seemed very intrigued, but asked me to call him back in a week so he could think about it. I must have called 400 times after that and was never able to get ahold of the buyer again.
2. What should Houston have done during the sales presentation when Harris told him that he needed
MKTG 301
1. Harris told Houston that he needed a couple of weeks to think about his proposal. How should Houston handle this?
Harris is using what is called a time objection also known as stalling technique. In this particular case study Harris already has the need fulfilled by a different supplier and while they have had a few late deliveries Harris need to determine if it worth going through all of the work to get set up a new vendor. The time objection is often one of the hardest objections to gauge because it can mean many different things. In certain cases changing product can be a major process and can be very time consuming. With such a major change it is understandable that buyers want to take some time to think about the decision before committing and revamping everything. If this is the case it is still a scary situation because even if the buyer was initially giving the product serious thought, two weeks and millions of distraction can dampen the excitement. In other cases however the time objection is used as a passive way of saying no. In many situations buyer will use the time objection because they know that if they can get off the phone or out of the meeting that it will be easy to avoid the situation at a later date. In my own personal life I have received the time objection more times than I can count and just like the course text said I believed that every time a buyer would tell me they needed time I felt they were going to buy. There was a while when I doing product placement for a company and I attempted to reach a buyer at Dollar General for over a month and I finally got ahold of him. I laid my pitch on thick and he seemed very intrigued, but asked me to call him back in a week so he could think about it. I must have called 400 times after that and was never able to get ahold of the buyer again.
2. What should Houston have done during the sales presentation when Harris told him that he needed