IV. ANALYZING YOUR PROSPECTS BUYING CRITERIA. Different sales situations require different sales strategies. Buying criteria vary with industry, installed vendor, type of system installed and several other variables. HP's Competitive Programs Group has a tool to help you evaluate your prospect and build a successful sales strategy. The tool, HP's Win/Loss System, can be used to answer the following types of questions: What buying criteria are common for this industry? How should I influence the decision criteria for an HP win? What systems/services should I lead with? What should I close with? What are my competitors strengths? When should I walk? If you need more information about this sales tool, please give Ed Quarnstrom a call at (408) 447-0195. The following article reflects one of the tools many uses. V. TIPS FOR SELLING INTO APOLLO'S INSTALL BASE The following information was obtained from HP's Win/Loss System. As with other workstation customers, installed Apollo accounts place emphasis on hardware/software and vendor qualifications in making a buy desision. Based on feedback from 19 installed Apollo sites, Apollo customers place more emphasis on the following criteria than the typical 700 series account: 1. Reliability/uptime 2. Hardware/software functionality 3. Price 4. Adherence to standards 5. Compatibility with existing environment 6. Service of hardware/software Apollo accounts place slightly less importance on: 1. Technological leadership 2. Track record/references 3. Application feature set 4. Vendor's industry expertise/commitment 5. Software vendor reputation Apollo customers rate HP strongest in: 1. Reliability/uptime 2. Hardware/software performance 3. Serviceability of hardware/software Apollo users give a small advantage to Sun on: 1. Connectivity/networking 2. Hardware/software functionality 3. Application performance 4. Ease of use IBM has not made strong inroads into the Apollo base. IBM does show strengths in: 1. Overall vendor qualifications 2. Application feature set 3. Data base capabilities 4. Service and support When selling into the Apollo install base, the Win/Loss System suggests: 1. Lead with what's important - reliability, functionality, performance, and serviceability. 2. Close with your strengths - quality, reliability, performance, serviceability. 3. Sell hard to neutralize Sun's perceived advantages in networking, functionality, performance, and ease of use. Against IBM strengths of service and support. 4. If you can't meet the prospects applications needs, or can't address the compatibility issues, you might consider walking. Some comments from Apollo decision makers: "We bought HP because its the logical migration from Apollo machines. HP made it as easy as possible with software enhancements." "HP was selected because of its serviceability, professional services, and reputation. Commitment to industry standards and excellence." "We choose Sun because of compatibility with our existing environment. Our old system was broken and they delivered the new one in three days. One lesson learned after the Sun decision - the required software changes were more than we expected." If you would like to hear more about HP's Win/Loss System and how it can help provide sales tactics, please call Ed Quarnstrom at (408) 447-0195.