Analyse the reasons for the failure to secure the order and discuss the lessons to be learnt for key account management. Cloverleaf plc was a UK-based supplier of bottling machinery used in production lines to transport and fill bottles. 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 bottling facilities and that a key sales push in northern Europe was therefore warranted.

Sales so far had been disappointing with only three units having been sold. Expectations had been much higher than this, given the advantages of their product over that produced by their competitors.

Technological breakthroughs at Cloverleaf meant that their bottling lines had a 10 per cent speed advantage over the nearest competition with equal filling accuracy. A key problem with competitor products was unreliability. 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. John Goodman was the sales executive covering France. While in the sales office in Paris, he received a call from Dr Leblanc, the technical director of Commercial SA, a large Marseille-based bottling 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.

March 7 Called on Dr Leblanc who told me that Commercial SA had decided to purchase a new bottling line as a result of expansion, 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 competitors 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 specifications that he had drawn up. I was delighted to see that our specifications easily exceeded them but was concerned that his specifications seemed to match those of one of our competitors, Hofstead Gm, almost exactly. I showed M. Artois some of our technical 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 bottling speed. He asked me if I was sure it was the most technologically advanced. I said that there was no doubt about it. He suggested I 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.