Sales and Negotiation Case Study Analysis

Case Study - New Drone Sales

Analyse a sales and negotiation case studys to demonstrate your understanding of the theories and practice of sales and negotiation.

Read the case study thoroughly and consider the following points prior to preparing your analysis:

1. The methods the entrepreneur used to identify the consumer behaviours both prior to and during the meeting.
2. The entrepreneur’s understanding of the product, pricing and use of sales resources.
3. The ethical behaviour demonstrated by the entrepreneur.
4. The negotiation techniques the entrepreneur used with consumers and others to achieve a win-win outcome.
5. Effective communication strategies used by the entrepreneur both during and after the sale.

Write an analysis responding to the following questions:

1. How did the entrepreneur deal with consumer behaviours?
2. To what extent the sales and negotiation strategies used by the entrepreneur were appropriate?
3. How did the entrepreneur communicate with customers to achieve a ‘win-win’ outcome?

Sarina is an entrepreneur who has started a drone business. Her business has two important product streams, small drones which appeal to hobbyists and a larger industrial range for more commercial applications.

She has spent some time undertaking market research and has developed a marketing plan to take into account her ideal customer, her competitors, her market advantages and marketing actions. She already has a plan based on the benefits of the drone products she is selling, their price, how customers can get them and how she will advertise or otherwise promote her drones.

Sarina decides to get some much-needed cash quickly into the business by attracting buyers with a free gift. Firstly, she prepares a social media post written for her target market and then writes an email about the opportunity to send out to her current database. She had a great time at an expo a few months back and managed to get lots of contact details, plus she was able to talk with people and watch how they interacted with her drones. She used a survey tool afterwards to gauge interest in purchasing a drone in the next 12 months.

She decided to make the gift opportunity time dependent, so only people who came in over the weekend could get it. She made sure she chose a really nice gift. The colour and feel of the gift and the sound it made were important to her, and she thought a lot about her customers and what they might like and consider important. She also announced the gift in flyers she was able to hand around at a modern technologies networking event and added some words to say urgent action on the customer’s part was required.

Although she needed improved cash flow immediately, she decided not to forget opportunities to make larger drone sales as a longer term goal. She realised that the gift weekend would not achieve sales of these expensive items. She thought she might give people a chance to have an appointment with her for an exclusive viewing of her large industrial drone and sent an email to selected companies where she might do some formal sales presentations. She also rang the names on a database she had bought to try and set appointments. She was thrilled to get two locked in and immediately sent follow up emails thanking them and confirming the appointments. Some others on her list said they might come to the gift weekend just to view the larger drone.

The day before the gift weekend, Sarina wrote a sales script for herself to remember key components of the sales process including any special price she is prepared to give to convince a price sensitive customer, points for overcoming objections, confirming key benefits of her drones, and solving customer problems. She also made sure she had prepared clear information on after service and refunds and how the customer would be looked after during and after the sale.

The gift weekend started, and people came to her pop-up store. The owner of the venue intended to have her at the back of the property which was noisy and near the bins, but she spent time helping him understand why that would not help her sell and outlining the benefits of moving her including some profit sharing.

Sarina spent two successful days listening and answering questions and making sure she repeated her value proposition in ways her customers understood. She asked questions at the start just to check she was talking to serious buyers and was polite but careful not to spend much time with those who were not. She had several information brochures to give out and videos she could suggest they look at in the store and provided easy ways to sign up to the newsletters. She also thought these resources would suit anyone coming to see the larger drone.

She gave out most gifts over the weekend and took money using an eftpos device attached to her mobile phone which greatly contributed to her cash flow. After the weekend, she sent all follow up emails and asked all to provide her with feedback on the sales process. She now provides a monthly newsletter with information about optional extras and engaging information about using the latest drones.