13.1 Robert Lawrence was aghast. Despite practicing the sales call four times, despite being told before the sales call exactly what to say when the question arose, and despite being directed by the account manager how to respond while in the sales call, the regional director of service still blew it—and away walked a $5.5 million customer. Robert, branch manager for Mobile Connections, knew that the customer, Health Resources of Texas (HRT), was having problems with two of the copiers provided by Mobile. Further, these were reoccurring problems that should be resolved by replacing the equipment. To make matters worse, one of the problem copiers was used by Sharon Collins, one of the decision makers. He knew that Sharon was going to raise the issue of how Mobile would handle “lemons” and approved. But Robert had rehearsed with Tony Lagera, the service director, to say that the company was reviewing the request and the copiers would either be replaced in the week or shifted to areas with less volume. Sharon raised the question, just as Robert expected. And Tony flubbed it. He hemmed. He hawed. He did everything but answer the question directly. Unfortunately Robert couldn’t just answer for Tony—the service area was Tony’s responsibility, not Robert’s. Robert and the account manager sat in stunned silence. After the call, Robert asked, “So, Tony, how do you think it went?” “Fine, Robert!” he replied with a smile. “You were right on target about Sharon’s question.” “And you think you handled it?” “Oh yes—I think she really liked my response!” Robert didn’t respond, though he thought about asking Tony why she repeated the question four times. Two weeks later, Robert got a copy of the letter that went to his salesperson, thanking Mobile for the presentation but informing them that Mobile would not be allowed to bid on the job. After serving HRT for three years without any hitch other than those two machines (and there were over 100 machines), Mobile wasn’t even going to get a chance to bid. uestions 1. Things had gone well with this account overall. What, though, were the critical issues in determining the customer’s satisfaction that led to the loss of the customer? Was the problem simply a lack of satisfaction with the product? Using concepts from the chapter, describe how the customer’s value equation was influenced by the experiences both before the call and during the call. 2. Was there anything the sales rep or his boss, Robert Lawrence, could have done after the sales call to save the business? 3. Not only were there no other problems during the previous three-year contract, but Mobile had originally won the business away from a competitor and significantly improved HRT’s situation. Why didn’t that enter the picture?

13.1Customer Satisfaction

No, Mobile Connections did not merely lose the customer because of dissatisfaction with the copiers. The fact that they had already been in business with them for a few years showed that. Also, it could not have been dissatisfaction with the machine since, in the three years, they had not had another complaint from HRT. Furthermore, Sharon was one of the people ought to decide on who was allowed to make bids for the next job. The customer value equation clearly stated that customer value must equal the benefits minus the costs. When HRT sent their representatives to speak with Mobile’s Management, they ought to have laid to rest their concerns instead of flubbing them.

Although the meeting with Sharon, Tony and Robert was a flop, Robert or Tony should have followed up with Sharon after the meeting. Robert already suspected that the meeting had not gone well. Also, he noticed that Sharon asked the question four times. The repetition should have been an indicator that all had not gone smoothly. Robert as the general manager and with the interest of keeping the $5.5 million customer should have called to ask if they had answered Sharon’s questions appropriately.

The fact that Mobile Connections had managed to steal away HRT from another business meant that they must have been good at what they do. This fact coupled with the other that throughout their business they had had no hitches should have played in their favor in the meeting. However, using the customer satisfaction equation meant that Sharon had to analyze what value they were getting or to get from the company and also the downsides (Hill & Brierley, 2017). The fact that the customer service from the primary department was poor meant that the issues they had with the machines would not be handled correctly or on time.

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