case 5.1Good Humor® Ice Cream Treats

I am a national account salesperson for Unilever. One of my lines includes novelty ice cream products. As an individual, I tend to love facts and logic and am very deliberate in making my decisions. For example, I recently purchased a new mattress for my apartment, and it took five trips to three stores, plus about three hours of online research before I was ready to make a decision. Personally, I often look to the past as an indicator of future results, and once I make a decision I rarely go back to reexamine. People have told me that, in terms of developing relationships, others have to earn my trust over a period of time. My personal standard for work excellence is very high.

Today, I’m calling on two individuals with Dylaxan Inc. to try and see if we might negotiate to have our ice cream products carried in their outlets. I’ve met both of them briefly at a trade show in New York City, and also learned more about them from my firm’s chief operating officer.

Jon, the director of marketing for Dylaxan, always makes certain to start meetings conversationally by checking in to see how everyone is doing. Jon prefers to ease into a meeting by having a nice conversation about family or happenings prior to getting into the details. Once the business conversation starts, he will listen to people present their discussion items. At some point he will jump in to express his own ideas and what he thinks should be done. But he does so in somewhat of an indirect way, so it comes across as being more personable and not being directive. An example of this might be his way of suggesting to determine if a product meets the needs of an individual region: “Don’t you think it would be a good idea to ask the marketing research teams in Vietnam and Cambodia if this product will meet the needs of their consumers” instead of saying “You need to ask the marketing research teams in Vietnam and Cambodia if this product will meet the needs of their consumers.” It feels like there is more of an opportunity for back-and-forth discussion on the best course of action with Jon, instead of just having him say how things should be done.

The director of Research, Development, and Engineering at Dylaxan, Ian has quite a different style. In business meetings, he wants to get right down to business. He normally mentions how extremely busy he is and is always looking at his cell phone or the wall clock. Ian is not afraid to cut people off during a presentation and express his opinion or redirect the presentation so it better meets his needs. As soon as he has enough information, he will make his decision. He tends to be very directive when stating what he wants done. This tends to make his direct reports feel like they do not have much say in what needs to be done, because once he makes a decision, the conversation is done.

Questions

1. Based on the limited amount of information provided, what would you guess is the social style of each buyer? How about the social style of the seller? Explain your reasoning.

2. What changes should the seller make when selling to each buyer?

3.