Columbia Industries free essay sample

Also considered were Komatsu and caterpillar, Inc proposals. These last two proposals were presented to Mr. West by the sales person who were eager to first of all find the features that the company was looking for. Besides also discussing the mechanism of action of the trucks that were most appropriate for CI, the sales person did also take the bother of sending some demonstration trucks to the CI drivers to test and learn on how to operate them. 2. Describe the important â€Å"needs† Columbia Industries has as they undertake the process to purchase seven new lift trucks. Columbia Industries is a company that was founded back in 1948 and grew to become one of the leading manufactures of code-approved products. The first time that it came to their attention that there was a need for new lift trucks was when a complaint was submitted by the plant union leader about the performance and safety of the Hyster lift trucks. We will write a custom essay sample on Columbia Industries or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Of main concern here was the stability of the old lift trucks especially when they were fully loaded. There was also a fast increase in the rate of sales and this called for quick attention.The problem of not attending to the concerns associated with the old lift trucks did cost them extremely valuable customers. 3. What type of buying decision is this, and what impact does that have on how the forklifts should be marketed? It was not an easy decision to decide on the best lift model that was going to solve most of the problems that were being experienced. Mr. West was more interested with the brand from Toyota and he finally succeeded to meet with their salesman later on. Though the salesman was not able to get the kind of lift that Mr.West had initially requested, he managed to send one which was close to the specifications that had been given. The trucks from Toyota were easy to handle though their capability to lift the pipes could note be tested since the pipes only expanded for 112 inches and not for 260 inches as required. 4. What roles are being played by each member of the buying center for this product? There were several steps that had to be completed before the lifts could be bought and everyone involved had a specific plan. Following the successful presentations from different sales person, Ms. Ogrosky and Mr. West had a meeting where they reviewed all the features from the different kind of lift trucks that had been presented to them. After a thorough review, they then met on September 3 so as to be able to come up with a final decision as to which was the best model that they were going to recommend to Mr. Debre. Mr. Debre had not had some experience of using some of the trucks that were presented and Ms. Ogrosky together with Mr.West had to therefore prepare a very convincing presentation for him to consider any other company that they have not had business relations with before. 5. Which forklift company did the best job of identifying the key member of the buying center and developing appropriate approaches for dealing with their concerns? It was only the Caterpillar Company which did the best job of identifying the key members involved in the purchase and also in their approach of dealing with the concerns that had been raised by the company.The sales person was able to show all of the advanced features that had been fixed in the new maneuverable lift trucks from this company. Since the salesperson from Caterpillar did send a demonstration truck, the operators were able to test it in all conditions even on full load and with the mast fully extended as this had been the major issues of safety concern from the truck operators. As compared to the old models and trucks from other com panies, Caterpillar companies performed very well even under the most difficult conditions such as being loaded and having the mast fully extended. This was an advantage to this company since safety is of major concern. Every buyer wants some assurance from the seller that they themselves are confident with the product they are selling and that they are in a position to repair should there be a problem. The mechanic from Caterpillar company was highly confident that he could easily solve any problem that could arise from the trucks thus making the options of Caterpillar lift trucks here as being the most appropriate one.