Rob Allison and Boise Automation

1) Rob Allison and Boise Automation failed to understand that the primary requirement of the proposal was

to set the “right” price and not to update technology because Northern paper mills did not have the right

skillset, budget and resources to adopt it and it wasn't even willing to get an upgrade.

2) To improve the effectiveness of his Sales Team, Dieter Haase should do the following :

• Diversify the team by putting in more people from various functional domains.

• A group of engineers (primarily, software, mechanical and civil) is required to analyse the tech solutions.

• A financial analyst is required to do the assessment of the viability, stability and profitability of the

project and also to prepare a detailed cost-benefit analysis of the technology.

• A market research analyst is required to determine the company’s position in the marketplace by

researching their competitors and analyzing their prices, sales, and marketing methods.

• A business analyst is required to analyze the project and document its business or processes or systems,

in order to assess the business model or its integration with technology.

• Revisit the sales process and implement workarounds after each step if the predicted results aren't

achieved.

• An alternate plan should always be in place before actually implementing the Win-Actions without

knowing the final result of the proposal. Failure to recognise the importance of an alternate plan can

further lead to Ripple Effect such as a drop in utilization in the Engineering department and loss in

Revenue & Cost-projections in the Finance Department.

• Arrange proper trainings at regular intervals to make sure that the entire decision-making team is in sync

with the current market scenario. Also, submit a detailed manual about the ease of use of the tech they sell.

What Rob Allison Did What Rob Allison Could’ve done differently

His primary objective seemed like showcasing

Boise’s new technology instead of bidding the right

price and he didn't understand the fact that

Northern didn't want to invest time in convincing

the finance dept about the new one

Should’ve been more customer centric and should've focused

only on the specifications mentioned, as Northern

wasn’t willing to invest time and money on anything

extra and was evaluating the proposals based only on

those requirements and the lowest price

He failed to understand that Northern had an

extremely tight budget and it wanted to change the

existing system because it was becoming very

uneconomical to maintain

Instead of proposing to update the existing system through

technical enhancements, Boise should've focused on

optimising the cost of manufacturing, installing and

maintaining it

Through his regular conversations, Allison found

out that the competitors are equally qualified and

bidding to the same specification and that JTB (the

major competitor) sold most of the previous major

systems to the mill