THE ANSWER TO Q1 SHOULD BE REFERENCED.

Question 1-

a) Explain in detail how COVID has made alternations in the B2B selling in THIS PARTICULAR INDUSTRY. What triggers B2B customers' decisions lately? And how should Shaikh alternate his selling practices to meet the change in the business environment?

b) Create Buying Personas for IG, map purchasing managers' customer's purchasing journey, and identify the micro moments. Take into account the 4 sales instances. What marketing strategies should be devised for the different segments?

c) Should IG limit its product portfolio to simplify consumer choices and not to lose money as in instance 1?

d) What had Shaikh done right in instnace 2? Could he have achieved similar results in instance 1, had he acted differently?

e) Why in instance 3 the customer rejected the IFPD and preferred VW? Could he have achieved similar results as in instance 4, had he acted differently? What had he done right in instance 4?

f) Has the market for IFPDs become commoditised? Or are customers behaving differently in strategic vs non-strategic purchase situations?

g) Which of the 5 B2B sellers' profiles could Shaikh adopt?

Imaging Goas B2B sales dilemma: provoke or justify

It was early July 2020. Azim Shaikh the founder-owner of imaging Goa (IG) was reviewing the sales report of the last quarter. Firstly, the outcome of his tried and tested relational solution selling was no more as effective as it used to be in past. It seemed Covid had pronounced this anomaly further. Thus, he was worried about the altered customers purchase processes and what would enable him to have a competitive edge? Next, on one hand, his leads in clients organisations with whom he used to work closely during the purchase processes were retiring from jobs or moving on. On the other hand, the new cohort of B2B purchasers, at clients places, seemed to have no utility for his wisdom and experience. Shaikh knew anyone of the above two was enough to indicate that his strategy probably required a revamp. Else, it could prove to be Achilles heel in the highly competitive B2B market. Accordingly, he pondered, is it time for me to give up relational solution selling and rather adopt transactional online selling, if yes, how?

Over the years, IGs focus had shifted primarily to display solutions in general and IFPDs in specific. In IGs overall revenue, B2B sales of IFPD units constituted the lions share, the rest came from customised display solutions, and retail sales (Exhibit 4). The latter collectively looked larger but involved more transactions and lower margins compared to direct B2B sales. Finally, in retail segment IG faced a greater threat of competition from the larger eCommerce players. Hence, Shaikh was committed to the B2B segment of IG and wished to strengthen it further.

Secrets of Shaikhs success were good old tricks of selling such as managing close customer relationships and offering suitable customised solutions. Because of his street smartness and a bit of luck, he had carved out a niche for himself. However, off late Shaikh had noted, that often he had no clue of what was triggering B2B customers decisions. It was not a happy situation for the seller, though revenues at the aggregate levels had remained mostly unaffected. Moreover, his old contacts who used to look up to him for suitable business solutions were retiring. In contrast, the younger generation of B2B purchasers seemed to be either primarily relying on the internet or caring little for the relational selling process. Micro-moments (Think with Google, 2015) when customers picked up a digital device to learn, buy or do something or go somewhere guided these purchasers (Abobe, 2020). Thus, Shaikh resolved to map the new age B2B purchasing managers customers journey path and the micro-moments. He felt, with that map and a better understanding of the customers he could possibly enhance his utility to the new cohort of B2B purchasers. To begin the process, Shaikh decided to review recent sales experiences.

Select business to business selling situations

Shaikh knew B2B selling was very different compared to retail or business to consumer (B2C) (B&T Magazine, 2020) selling. This was because, while most B2C customers looked for products, which appealed to them, the B2B purchasers tried to make the best possible purchase decision to impress their bosses and colleagues. Further, Shaikh was also aware that both B2B and B2C sellers ultimately dealt with people or human beings, hence were subset of business to people (Wells, 2013). To figure out the scope of improvement in his

B2B marketing strategy Shaikh decided to review select IFPD sales opportunities of the recent past. Accordingly, he listed the following four instances as representative illustrations of the challenges, which he was experiencing off late.

Instance 1. In January 2020, a large corporate house invited Shaikh to discuss a display solution for its boardroom. After the site visit, considering the requirements, he pitched for an 80-inch IFPD. In the side-lines of the above discussion, the technical assistant to the Chief executive officer in the clients organisation inquired for a similar solution for his cabin. In response, Shaikh presented a smaller 55-inch device. After a couple of days, he got the order to install a 55-inch device in the boardroom of the corporate house. Upon inquiry, he found out price considerations probably guided the decision. This was not an isolated case, and hence, he wondered, am I making a mistake by offering more choices to the customers?

Instance 2. There were also instances where surprisingly Shaikh had made windfall gains. For example, in February 2020, an agency that managed a coworking space had inquired for two IFPDs of 65-inches for their meeting rooms. Post-site visit, he too concurred with the specifications and demonstrated the said product. Afterwards, over a cup of coffee Shaikh casually pitched to the agencys manager an 80-inch device for the common space of the coworking space. Then, after a couple of weeks, IG received one of its single largest order of 12 IFPDs from the agency. They wanted to install these IFPDs in 12 coworking cabins, which were smaller compared to the meeting rooms. Shaikh was happy, and executed the order during March and April. However, noted, what had I done right in this instance, which would have helped me to get a better deal in Instance 1?

Instance 3. In early April 2020, a premier engineering school and an old client, sought a suitable IFPD for an educational studio that they were planning to deliver online lectures. After due analysis and prolonged discussions, Shaikh installed a 65-inch IFPD for trial. Then, he went out of his way to offer many alternatives not just for IFPD but also three different packages for setting up of the studio. He tried to address all the queries of different stakeholders. However, a couple of days later, during final sales closing discussion, a key decision-maker vetoed in favour of virtual whiteboards (VW) rather than physical IFPDs. Shaikh noted, VW and IFPD have very different utilities, I am certain in this Instance price was not the reason for rejecting the IFPD.

Finally, Instance 4. During the same period as Instance 3, three local teachers in Goa with much smaller budgets purchased two IFPDs each. In this instance, Shaikh had not invested much time or effort, as he doubted the sale may not materialise owing to higher prices. However, the results had forced Shaikh to ask, could I have engaged with the decision- maker of the premier school of Instance 3 somewhat differently, which could have saved the deal?

Business to business purchase situations

After summarising the above four instances Shaikh wondered if the market for IFPDs had become commoditised, i.e. customers were essentially considering price or discounts as the key differentiating factor while making purchase decision? Or were they behaving differently in strategic vs non-strategic purchase situations? Going forward, Shaikh thought, he might have to devise different marketing strategies for different B2B customer segments, but what should be the specifics?

Post-internet business to business buyer seller engagement

Next, Shaikh could not help but reflect on two eras of B2B marketings history (Fernandes, 2018) i.e. before internet (BI) and post-internet (PI). In BI era, B2B sellers like him were the dominant source of product information. This asymmetry of information had rendered sellers with undue advantage in terms of knowledge over buyers. Accordingly, sellers often influenced buyers using a hard sales pitch. In PI era, buyers had access to information about sellers company, sellers market offering, competitors offerings, customer reviews, etc. Hence, buyers were often in the drivers seat, which called for revision of the B2B marketing in general and selling in specific. B2B sellers often had to deal with experts, professionals purchasers trained to extract the best possible deal. The following were select terms (Harel, 2018) commonly used by professionals in marketing and selling. Cold call, meant reaching out to potential customers who were not prior contacts or leads. Sales lead, referred to data that identified a potential buyer. Next, the prospect referred to potential customers who had been qualified to meet certain criteria relating to the sellers offerings. Sales opportunity meant a contact or potential customer whose need for potential purchase had been qualified and was part of an active sales interaction. Finally, sales closing referred to achieving desired outcome i.e. receiving money or final order.

Reports suggested (Williams, 2019) close to 92% of all interactions with customers in PI era happened over the phone. It took about eight cold calls on an average to find a prospect. In total, 80% of closing in sales happened after 5 follow-up calls following the first meeting. While 44% of salespersons gave up after the first call. After any presentation, 3 in 5 remembered stories but only 1 in 20 remembered statistics. Direct mailings, advertising, trade shows and other marketing efforts were steps that generated sale leads. In total, 78% of sales reps who used social media outperformed their peers. In total, 30% to 50% of customers sales often went to a vendor who responded first. In new customer acquisition, email was about 40 times better than Facebook or Twitter. On an average, it took 84 days for converting 13% of leads. If one generated 1,000 leads via social media it might result in 130 sales opportunities, but only 8 of those would result in sales closing. Referrals by customers or employees had the best rate of closing at 14.7%. In PI, buyers were better informed than ever, but they were also more uncertain and stressed. More information led to more questions, in turn, it resulted in a longer purchase decision process. Accordingly, rather than overwhelming the buyer with more information, a prescriptive approach increased ease of purchase by 86%. In this backdrop, Shaikhs first cause of concern was whether he should adapt his selling or redesign his B2B marketing orientation.

COVID induced new normal

However, if I cannot visit my customer how would I convince them?

Business to business marketing challenges

The new normal and the emerging challenges had compelled Shaikh to review, which of the following five B2B sellers profiles could he adopt. Firstly, Relationship Builders: Tried to develop close professional and personal relation with customers by offering time, by striving to exceed customers expectations and maintaining relationships. Secondly, Hard Workers: Put long hours on the job and always covered the extra mile. They clocked higher calls/hour and made more visits per week compared to others in the team. Thirdly, Lone Wolves: They were self-confident, rule-mending salespersons who followed their own ways. Fourthly, Reactive Problem-Solvers: Customers considered this type as very reliable. This group was detailing oriented and took care of follow-up calls, addressed all service issues quickly. Fifthly, Challengers or Star Sellers: The most successful of all selling archetypes. They cultivated a deep understanding of customers business and successfully used suitable statements to control sales conversations and influence customers thinking. They were assertive and shared undiplomatic views to identify and engage with suitable partners within customers organisations.

Prior to Covid, IG and Shaikh had succeeded owing to high touch personal selling. Now, owing to the changed scenario he was aware that he might have to critically analyse the marketing and selling processes at IG. As an afterthought, he added, may be its time I should adopt online selling. However, he had had little experience of online. Thus, if he decided to go online, should he develop his own online sales channel and capabilities? Or hire an agency, which could be efficient at least in the short term and easier to execute, however the marketing cost per unit of sales could increase by 10% or more. How to resolve the above dilemma was Shaikhs second cause of concern. Further, if he decided to go digital, he had to figure out how to manage buyers experience during remote sales interactions.