5. Out of the five companies that were involved only two of the companies did a good job meeting the company’s needs, and correctly identifying the key members in the buying center. The two companies were Caterpillar and Hyster. Both companies addressed the questions and concerns about the product while being able to meet with all of the key members in the buying center. Overall I feel that Caterpillar did the best job meeting all the needs of Colombia Industries, Inc. Caterpillar was able to meet with the users, gatekeepers, influencers, deciders, and the buyer. When the salesman from Caterpillar first met with Mr. West He gave a very thorough presentation, and asked Mr. West to describe all the features he was looking for in the forklift. Within three days the salesman showed up with the forklift that CI was interested in. This was sooner than any of the other competitors. He then proceeded to go over all the functions with the users and the mechanic. Both the users and the mechanic were very impressed with the lift and the knowledge of the salesman. After the demonstration the Caterpillar salesman was able to meet with Mr. West, Mr. Debre, and Ms Ogrosky. He went over all the characteristics and details again and explained to them why Caterpillar forklifts would benefit them while meeting all their needs. This was very important because theses individuals were the key members in the buying center and played a major roll in the final decision of purchasing the lifts. He also reminded them that parts for the Caterpillar lifts were easily available, and that the service facility was just a few miles away. This was very useful information because CI had problems in the past servicing and receiving parts for the Hyster lifts. Unfortunately Caterpillar was the most expensive forklift out of the five competitors, and did not offer a trade in value on CI’s