SIEBEL

SYSTEMS:
Anatomy of a
Sale
Anurag Tiwari
 ABOUT SIEBEL SYSTEMS
1. INTRODUCTION -
a. Founded by Tom Siebel in 1993
b. World leader in CRM software (2001 - 50% market share)
c. Core values - Customer satisfaction, Professionalism, Professional courtesy & Bias for action
d. Revenue - 2 Billion $, 8000+ employees
2. PRODUCT LINE + DISTRIBUTION -
a. > 200 Product Portfolio
b. Customized product as per customer requirements
c. Go-to-market strategy with direct sales force (139 sales office, 40+countries)
d. Multichannel approach
3. ALLIANCES -
a. System Integration Partners - Accenture, Cap Gemini, Deloitte Consulting, IBM, PWC
b. Key hardware & software partners - Alcatel, AT&T Wireless, Avaya, Cisco, Compaq, Microsoft
4. COMPETITORS - Oracle, SAP, PeopleSoft, Clarify, E*piphany
 DILEMMA
1. Gregg Carman - Job to serve financial services clients in the New England region
2. FleetBoston -
a. Largest client of Siebel
b. 9th largest financial bank in US
c. Acquired the discount stockbroker Quick & Reilly
3. Carman was negotiating a deal of $ 2.1 million sales to Quick & Reilly
4. Post acquisition by FleetBoston
5. Dilemma for Carman is whether to -
a. Stand by Quick & Reilly
b. Bow to FleetBoston’s wishes
PART 1
Q. How should Carman respond to the invitation to tell the Quick &
Reilly executives what he thought of Oracle?

1. Carman should treat customers with deference and professional fashion

2. Avoid providing incomplete information, show no reluctance in any information demanded
3. Treat it as an opportunity to flaunt strengths, fleet of partners, share some success
stories
4. With respect to competitive landscape in CRM market -
a. Share Gartner Research Report
b. Represent Siebel systems as a complete solution provider, ability to execute large
scale projects
5. As Cathy belongs to Client service and her fellow executive to the marketing department -
a. Equal mix of technical details (given Cathy’s knowledge of complexity involved in
cRM implementation)
b. How Siebel product can cater to their organizational requirements
Q. What features of this particular interaction influence your opinion?

Meeting was not prior scheduled - Carman is not comfortable in

Lack of understanding about client’s drawing comparative with
needs, budget and requirements competitors until he knows of
could restrain the prospective deal their requirements

Not sure if Cathy Ridley is an Casual conversation might not

Influencer or Decider and degree of lead to conversion of deal
power that she holds in
organization
Q. Would your opinion of the right response change if the
circumstances were different?

If the meeting would have been prior arranged, it would have allowed Siebel’s time for -
a. Agenda to be framed
b. Sales Department could collect info about client’s needs, budget and requirements
c. Share technical details with CIO or department expert, better explain product and
associated benefits
d. Classification of Influencers, deciders, purchasers etc, aid targeting specific
personnel
Knowing your product, customizing it according to needs of customer and giving aiding
demonstration would have provided an edge
Q. How should Carman qualify the prospect?

● Carmen should ask opportunity-specific

questions to assess the requirements and
constraints. This will help him in satisfying
all of client’s needs rather than assuming.
● These should include budget - to know the
scale of the project, all the uses - to create
the best solution, number of end-users - to
scale according to the load, and delivery
time - to create a well-formulated timeline.
Q. If he asks for information, how will he use it?

01 03
Communicate Siebel’s superior Have a chance to justify the
quality over competitors expenses, if they exceed the
client’s budget

02 04
Customise the approach to the Clearly plan the project to satisfy
project according to the client’s all the needs before starting to
constraints and suggestions better allocate the resources
Q. Evaluate Carman’s interactions with the customer up to this point.
Is he doing a good job?

● Carman’s approach in building conversation was highly effective

● His understanding of the client and their requirements
● His pleasant demeanor and enthusiasm throughout the conversation was effective
● His demonstration of the product to Cathy helped her to understand the product better
● If he had known more about the requirements, he could have presented a custom solution
● He also tried to understand client’s budget by asking possible questions
● Overall Carman did a fair job in consumer interaction with Quick and Reilly
 Q. How effective is the Siebel Systems approach?
Define Develop Test and
Assessing the Turn Ideas into
Competitive Relationship Improve the
Opportunity Action
Strategy Strategy Plan

1. Is there an 1. Analyze 1. Identify key 1. Prove your value 1. Understand the

Opportunity? Competitor’s sales players 2. Retrieve missing Plan
2. Can we strategy 2. Analyse information 2. Test the Plan
Compete? 2. Determine your organisation 3. Insulate against 3. Improve the Plan
3. Can we Win? sales strategy 3.Define key roles competition
4. Is it worth 3. Anticipate in the buying 4.Minimize your
winning? Competitive process weaknesses
response 4. Determine 5.Emphasize your
4. Uncover current status strengths
implications for RS 5.Set RS
Q. How effective is the Siebel Systems approach?

Effective
Sales Pitch

Strategy Strategy Focuses on Delivers

developed also Building end to end
considering involved strong solutions
client needs competitor’ relationship
s close s with
analysis clients
PART 2
 QUICK AND REILLY’S PERSPECTIVE
1. BACKGROUND -
a. Initially Q&R had an unsophisticated sales communication system outsourced to ADP
b. In 1989, MDFS was set to capture inquiries,trigger outbound mailing and track results
c. By 1996, an established IT department was set to understand the It-related needs
d. In 1997, it was acquired by FleetBoston
2. ROLE OF BRADLEY
a. Bradley was building sales force automation systems for financial services firms
b. Q&R needed a lead tracking & fulfillment system for 100 offices,500 brokers, and 1M
consumers
c. Zitzner requested an RFP document and help them prepare the same
d. The company also offered to build an in house system for their requirements
3. THE WAY FORWARD-
a. With MDFS crashing in year 2000 due to the Y2K issue, the need for a new system arised
b. Cathy was interested in looking for on-shelf solution
Q. Put Yourself in Zitzner position as he picks up the phone. How
should he handle the conversation? What is his Objective in his call?
1. Zitzner must keep in mind that this is an introductory conversation with a potential client.
So focus must be on building rapport & gaining confidence before making a pitch
2. After achieving the initial rapport, he must try to gauge the requirements of Q&R
3. After understanding the client’s needs, he must talk about what Bradley systems can offer
to solve their problem
4. He must then try to convince Cathy to send a detailed RFP for further discussion
5. The following are the objectives that Zitner must focus on
a. Primary- Understanding customer needs, Explaining the suitable solutions to the
buyer Assure the client that they can provide excellent product & service that can
solve his/her problem
b. Optimistic - Convince her to meet in person for further discussion, Try to get a
detailed RFP from Q&R
PART 3
Q. How should Carman establish the roles of Burt and Capodilupo
in the transaction? How should he decide who plays the more
important role?
As mentioned in the case, Carman had a sense that Ron Capodilupo had a team
reporting to him with a background in system integration and with a strong
inclination for Oracle.

1. Carman must focus more on Ron as he and his team can act as the watchmen in
the present circumstances
2. Additionally to that, building up a great association with Ridley can end up being
productive as she can be the "champion" for this arrangement as she was the
underlying resource
Q. At this point the account is Oracle’s to lose. It particularly does
not want to lose to Siebel Systems. How should Oracle act?

The following steps can be put forward by Oracle:

1. Using the Siebel systems, the time and cost for training employees will be saved if
they decided to be with Oracle
2. Oracle can provide custom made services as per their requirements as they have
been associated with Quick and Reilly for a long time now. This has helped them
understand their requirements better
3. Considering their long term association from the past, a good discount can be
provided as a gesture of goodwill
4. Adding a little pressure on Ron as he was already in favour of Oracle
Q. Where did Carman go wrong? How did he come to miss his
numbers?

Carman’s action’s were backed by the thought of Burt and Capodilupo being the key
players and decision makers behind the buying process. He wasn't aware of the fact that
Tom Quick was also involved in this process.

Carman not performing a thorough background research and study on the hierarchy of
the company is where he went wrong. If he did, he wouldn't have missed the fact that it
was equally important to keep Tom in mind.
Q. How can Carman save the Quick & Reilly transaction without
injuring the FleetBoston relationship?

1. Carman could have helped speed up the deal of FleetBoston by helping with
the paperwork of the company.
2. He could have included FleetBoston in the buying process much earlier. This
would have helped in making the process much more transparent.
3. If this had happened, then Quick and Reilly could have easily signed the order
as they would know FleetBoston is involved in it.
Q. What is your advice to Carman? Could he have anticipated the call from the
FleetBoston manager? At this stage, how important is the FleetBoston
relationship to him? What do you think of Siebel Systems’ approach to customer
satisfaction? Is it a realistic one? Is it possible that customers can take advantage
of Siebel Systems because of its commitment to their satisfaction?

1. Carman should stand to Seibel System's morals and relinquish the seats worth
$1million on the off chance that he needs to
2. The core reason for Siebel Systems’ accomplishments in the market is due to it’s
Client Centricity Approach and that is ought to be kept all things considered and it
definitely works for any business model in the world that involves customers above all
3. They also need to have a strong overall set of laws/contract, due ingenuity community
and a characterized standard working method to keep the lines of authenticity clear to
avoid any unwanted scenario in the future from customers