Rebecca Fournier left the party a little early, more than a little worries. The event was a retirement party for Jack Kerr, CIO for Farm-to-Market, or Farmers as everyone called it. After all, Jack had been one of her better customers and she was able to grow the business with Farmers by 50 percent over the past three years. Jack not only gave Rebecca more business, he also recommended her to his friends, and Rebecca was able to win at least two or three new accounts a year as a result. But she really didnt know anyone else at Farmers, so she was knocked for a loop when Jack introduced her to his replacement, Betty Ovilla, at the party. Rebecca knew Bettershe had been Rebeccas nemesis at her previous employer, Franklins Manufacturing. Betty liked to have different vendors and play them off each other to get lower prices, free add-ons, and special services.

Rebeccas company, Cypress Point, provides IT services to small and medium size businesses. Everything from accounting software to CRM software to website design and cybersecurity, Cypress Point does it all. And Farmers used Cypress for just about all of it, including the companys website and digital promotions and social media strategy and execution.

But she smiled and put her concern aside when Jack called her over to introduce her to Betty.

Yes, we already know each other, smiled Rebecca.

Yes, we do, Betty smiled back. Ive had a chance to review our business with you, and I see your company has done a great job for us. But my experience at Franklin suggests we may be overpaying. Jack squirmed but didnt say anything. But well do a deep account review with you, as we will with all of our larger vendors, so that I can get up to speed on everything. Do you think you could prepare a presentation on your companys performance for two weeks from now?

Rebecca nodded, and said shed have it ready, as well as bring in the service manager for the account. She then asked Better about her goals and objectives for the Companys online sales division.

A key issue for us, she replied, is profitability. She went on to say that the CEO had mandated that she find ways to improve contribution margins of her department by 10 percent this year. Thats why well be taking such a close look at price.

Rebecca knew she was in trouble. Her prices to Farmers were 5 to 10 percent higher than her competitors, and while she had been able to save them money through streamlined operations, what she had done in the past wouldnt matter going forward.

As she drove to the office the next morning, she thought about the Farmers account. She knew Farmers was looking at some analytical solutions to support its online promotional campaigns and she had planned to bid on that. In fact, her quota for the year was based on increasing sales at Farmers, not decreasing them!

Please answer the following three questions regarding this text in at least 100 words:

Besides lowering price, what actions can Rebecca propose to improve contribution margin?

What are some strategies she could take to defend the higher prices? What evidence or information would you need to support your ideas?

What type of relationship did she have with Jack? What did she do or fail to do that may make the future more difficult with Farmers, now that Betty is in charge?