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(4,067)
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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(4,067)
- People (5)
- News (810)
- Research (2,689)
- Events (20)
- Multimedia (48)
- Faculty Publications (1,850)
- April 2019 (Revised January 2025)
- Case
Clear Link Technologies, LLC: Driving Sales with Peer Effects
By: Christopher Stanton, Richard Saouma and Olivia Hull
The importance of a good peer or coworker is widely discussed, but understanding the glue that makes coworkers valuable is less understood. This case sheds light on the importance of peers and the practices and environments that make a group greater than the sum of its... View Details
Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Interactive Communication; Experience and Expertise; Decision Making; Training; Design; Compensation and Benefits; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Sharing; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Measurement and Metrics; Outcome or Result; Performance; Performance Improvement; Research; Sales; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives; Telecommunications Industry; Utah; United States
Stanton, Christopher, Richard Saouma, and Olivia Hull. "Clear Link Technologies, LLC: Driving Sales with Peer Effects." Harvard Business School Case 819-072, April 2019. (Revised January 2025.)
- January 2021
- Article
Sales Hiring Is Hard to Do (Don't Make It Harder)
By: Frank V. Cespedes
In the aggregate, hiring in sales is more expensive than many companies’ cap-ex decisions. But it rarely gets the same attention and companies fail to deal with challenges inherent in sales hiring. Unlike many other business functions, there is no easily identified... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V. "Sales Hiring Is Hard to Do (Don't Make It Harder)." Top Sales Magazine (January 2021), 38–39.
- October 1992
- Background Note
Managing Sales Interfaces: Developments in Practice
By: Frank V. Cespedes
Keywords: Salesforce Management
Cespedes, Frank V. "Managing Sales Interfaces: Developments in Practice." Harvard Business School Background Note 593-047, October 1992.
- March 1982
- Supplement
Airframe Industry (L): Cumulative Aircraft Sales
Keywords: Aerospace Industry
Shapiro, Benson P. "Airframe Industry (L): Cumulative Aircraft Sales." Harvard Business School Supplement 582-012, March 1982.
- Research Summary
Strategy Implementation: Role and Management of the Sales Force
My research concerns the role and management of the sales force as agents of a firm's business strategy and not only as individual or team contributors to profitable growth. This work takes the form of course development, teaching and workshops in HBS executive... View Details
- December 2019 (Revised March 2020)
- Teaching Note
Sales Force Management at Nobel Ilac
By: Doug J. Chung
Teaching Note for HBS No. 519-067. View Details
- October 2005 (Revised February 2006)
- Supplement
Sales Force Integration at FedEx (D)
Godes, David B. "Sales Force Integration at FedEx (D)." Harvard Business School Supplement 506-032, October 2005. (Revised February 2006.)
- 16 Nov 2010
- News
Seasonal prices are boosting retail sales
- August 2022 (Revised March 2025)
- Case
Wasabi Technologies (A)
By: N. Louis Shipley and Mel Martin
After launching a successful hot cloud storage company, Founder and CEO David Friend is ready to scale the venture rapidly. Wasabi Technologies had focused primarily on direct sales, but an opportunity to pivot to channel sales was on the horizon. The company’s major... View Details
Keywords: Direct Sales; Channel Sales; Information Management; Sales; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Divisions; Information Technology Industry; United States
Shipley, N. Louis, and Mel Martin. "Wasabi Technologies (A)." Harvard Business School Case 823-021, August 2022. (Revised March 2025.)
- July 2017
- Article
The Four Stages to Becoming an Excellent Front-Line Sales Manager
By: Frank V. Cespedes
Sales occupations account for more than 10% of the total U.S. labor force, and that official estimate is almost certainly low: In an increasingly service economy, many people who do business development for a living are not listed as “sales” for reporting purposes.... View Details
Keywords: Salesforce Management
Cespedes, Frank V. "The Four Stages to Becoming an Excellent Front-Line Sales Manager." Quotable (July 2017).
- Research Summary
Incorporating Price and Inventory Endogeneity in Firm-Level Sales Forecasting.
Forecasting firm-level sales is a key activity in top-down planning in most organizations. In the retailing industry, firms can use inventory and price to stimulate demand. Hence, standard time series methods for sales forecasting can be improved by incorporating... View Details
- 21 Nov 2016
- Research & Ideas
It Matters That Your CEO Doesn't Know Much About Sales
CEOs need to roll up their sleeves and learn more about the customer-facing sides of their businesses, like sales. Source: AlexBrylov Let’s face it: To most C-suite executives, sales processes are often an afterthought or a somewhat... View Details
Keywords: by Michael Blanding
- September 24, 2024
- Article
4 Steps That Can Optimize Your Sales Process
By: Frank V. Cespedes, Scott Peterson and Daniel Weinfurter
Sales is a performance art where outcomes matter, so most advice here focuses on closing the sale. But a close is the result of actions and choices that occur earlier in the process: how much time and effort to spend on customer discovery (understanding what and to... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V., Scott Peterson, and Daniel Weinfurter. "4 Steps That Can Optimize Your Sales Process." Harvard Business Review (website) (September 24, 2024).
The Effects of Quota Frequency: Sales Performance and Product Focus
This study investigates the comprehensive and multidimensional effects of quota (goal) frequency on sales force performance. The study provides a theory of salespeople’s behavior—aggregate effort and the product type focus—in response to the temporal length of a... View Details
- 28 Nov 2009
- News
The Flaws in Holiday Sales Forecasts
- 18 Jun 2024
- News
Valuable Tips for Improving Sales Hiring
- 27 Sep 2021
- News
How Nimble Is Your Sales Planning?
- February 2011 (Revised May 2011)
- Case
Marlin & Associates and the Sale of Riverview Technologies
By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff
Riverview Technologies was a Stockholm, Sweden-based company that had developed software hedge funds. After spending more than a year in an organized sale process, the winning bidder had become increasingly difficult to work with and the closing had been substantially... View Details
Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Negotiation Deal; Negotiation Offer; Negotiation Process; Business and Shareholder Relations; Financial Services Industry
Ruback, Richard S., and Royce Yudkoff. "Marlin & Associates and the Sale of Riverview Technologies." Harvard Business School Case 211-083, February 2011. (Revised May 2011.)