The Electric Generator Corporation was founded in the early 1970s to develop and market electrical products for industrial and commercial markets. Recently, the company has developed a new electric generator, the EGI, with a revolutionary design. Although its initial cost is $2,000 higher than any competing generator, reduced maintenance costs will offset the higher purchase price within 18 months. The Electric Generator sales force has been instructed to concentrate all effort on selling this new generator, as the company believes it has a sales potential of $500 million. Sandy Hart, the company's South Texas salesperson, has as her main customer the E. H. Zachary Construction Company of San Antonio, which is the largest nonunion construction firm in the world. Because of the importance of potential Zachary purchases of the EGI (estimated at $1 million), Sandy's boss asks her to take two days off and develop a plan for contacting and selling to Zachary. Monday morning, she is expected at the Houston regional sales office to present this plan to her boss, the regional sales manager, and the divisional sales manager. These two people will critique the presentation, and then the four of them will finalize a sales plan that Sandy will present to Zachary's buying committee.
Questions
1. If you were Sandy, what would be your suggested sales plan?
2. How would a value analysis enter into your presentation?