Siebel Systems: Anatomy of a Sale, Part 1


John   Deighton
Das   Narayandas

Siebel Systems was founded by Tom Siebel and since its inception has stressed the importance of customer satisfaction. Over time Siebel was able to develop a system of fundamental core values in which employees could use to better understand what Sibel Systems stood for. Emphasizing customer satisfaction, professionalism, professional courtesy and bias for action, Siebel Core Values allowed the company to achieve significant CRM (customer relationship management) market leadership by focusing on products driven solely by customer needs. This case presents a dilemma within Siebel Systems where Gregg Carman has trouble following Siebel Core Values to try and sell a CRM system to Quick and Reilly, a discount stockbroker. When first introduced to the VP of client services, Cathy Ridley, and the VP of marketing from Quick and Reilly in a trade show in New York, Carman's unsteadiness is revealed. Carman's lack of knowledge of Quick and Reilly and their reps makes this a difficult sell.

Key Issues with Suggested Solutions

Carman's Approach to Selling. Carman describe his approach to selling as "subtle and professional". His subtle attitude certainly reigned supreme as while engaging with Quick and Reilly. When he didn't catch the reply regarding how many users the system will need he just let it go, unacceptable. This is important information that could potentially affect the sale, a part of the methodology Carman said was essential. He also admits that he didn't know much about Quick and Reilly to begin with! This is another aspect of the methodologies of Siebel's targeted account selling process that Carman neglects.

Carman's repsonse to the Oracle question. When asked about Oracle Carman simply says, 'they are worth looking at' then moves on. Carman has a report from a respected industry analyst firm, Gartner Research, which highlights how Siebel Systems as the only vendor with both a complete CRM solution and the ability to execute large-scale projects. The report also shows Oracle to have incomplete point solutions and limited execution skills in the CRM space. Why not show this to the Quick and Reilly reps? I thought it was a smart move by Carman to keep the report from the reps because as he stated he would rather know the client better. Carman could have blown the sale if the reps felt showing them the report was unprofessional.

Carman's Viewpoint The case does not reveal the outcome with the interaction between Carman and the reps from Quick and Reilly. It does give you a sense of where Carman believes he is at with the sale. His focus on breaking down the customer-to-vendor atmosphere makes him feel that the business is now his to lose. His mentality switches to three prime objectives to making this sale a reality:


1.) Prove to them that Siebel had a superior product.  
2.) Convince  them  that  Siebel  would  collaborate  with  them  to  make  the system work.
3.) Meet the right set of executives at Quick & Reilly.

Quick and Reilly's Viewpoint During the entire presentation Carman doesn't try to badger the reps with question after question. Once he understood that we didn't really know what systems were out there to meet our needs, he showed us a demo that really caught our eye. Even when asked about a competitor he advised us to check it out probably to gain a better idea of the different options of CRM solutions available. His overall presentation and professionalism to help us better comprehend what system our company needs was exceptional.