Publications

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October 2013 (Revised April 2015)
Case

Myomo: Getting Sales in Motion

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Shikhar Ghosh and Matthew Preble

In late 2012, the management team of Myomo, a startup which had designed a unique myoelectric arm brace for patients with dysfunctional arms, was deciding which of the three sales models the company had tested to pursue as its sales strategy going forward. Each model... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Marketing Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Care and Treatment; Business Startups; Sales; Growth and Development Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry

February 2020
Case

Drift: The First Sales Hire

By: Mark Roberge

David Cancel and Elias Torres, the co-founders of Drift, scaled their business to thousands of users and hundreds of thousands in revenue. However, they were falling short of the annual revenue target they communicated to the board of directors. Having scaled the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Salesforce Management; Selection and Staffing

October 2005 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Sales Force Integration at FedEx (A)

By: David B. Godes

Federal Express' (FedEx) recent acquisition of RPS--a ground delivery firm--gave the firm the potential to offer a single source for a client's delivery needs. However, to deliver on this potential, the firm needed to deliver the integrated solution through a single... View Details

Keywords: Horizontal Integration; Salesforce Management; Transportation; Compensation and Benefits; Transportation Industry

Article

Four Ways to Build a Productive Sales Culture

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Steven Maughan

This article distinguishes sales efficiency (SE) initiatives (e.g., CRM, training, and KPI dashboards) from sales optimization (SO) decisions (e.g., aligning sales tasks with business strategy, customer selection, and deployment of sales resources across... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Sales

October 2011 (Revised March 2012)
Case

Cottle-Taylor: Expanding the Oral Care Group in India

By: John A. Quelch and Alisa Zalosh

Brinda Patel, director of oral care products for the India division of a consumer home-care product company, develops a data-driven marketing plan for toothbrushes. She believes her plan can support a 20% increase in unit sales based on rising demand for modern... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting; Budgeting; International Marketing; Product Planning ＆ Policy; Sales Promotions; Marketing Plans; Products; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Emerging Markets; Forecasting and Prediction; Advertising; Product Launch; Budgets and Budgeting; Product Development; Consumer Products Industry; Health Industry; India

March 1990 (Revised November 1999)
Case

MCI Communications: Planning for the 1990s

By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston

Concentrates on the evolution of MCI's strategy-setting process following a period of dramatic growth. Opportunistic strategies during MCI's early years have given top managers a dislike of formal strategic planning and a strongly-held belief in top down strategy... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Growth and Development; Planning; Strategic Planning; Growth Management; Business or Company Management; Competition; Alignment; Communications Industry

March 1992
Case

Amgen, Inc.: Planning the Unplannable

By: Nitin Nohria

By the early 1990s, Amgen--a pharmaceutical company started little over a decade ago as Applied Molecular Genetics--was within range of becoming a billion-dollar company. With two extremely successful biotechnology drugs on the market, Amgen stood as the largest and... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Strategic Planning; Success; Risk and Uncertainty; Pharmaceutical Industry

October 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Supplement

Outotec (B): Action Plan

By: Robert J. Dolan and Doug J. Chung

Outotec was a market leader in providing mining solutions to large mining companies. The company’s specialization and proprietary technology created value for its customers and helped the firm differentiate from its competitors. Yet, Outotec was not pricing or... View Details

Keywords: Value-based Pricing; Bargaining Power Of Buyers; Marketing; Segmentation; Price; Policy; Sales; Management; Value Creation; Mining Industry

08 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

The Strategic Way To Hire a Sales Team

describes a selling situation, and the assignment is to plan a day, select target customers, and develop a sales pitch. The required work helps to check for motivation and preparation skills. At the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

September 1996 (Revised April 1998)
Case

Mobil USM&R (B): New England Sales and Distribution

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The general manager of a local gasoline/distillate sales and distribution business unit must communicate a new strategy to the unit's 300 employees. An initial strategic planning exercise identified a high-priority list of opportunities that blended the parent... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Adoption; Strategic Planning; Customization and Personalization; Management Practices and Processes; Growth and Development Strategy; Measurement and Metrics; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Evaluation; Energy Industry; Mining Industry; United States

22 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

Use Artificial Intelligence to Set Sales Targets That Motivate

Setting the right sales targets for employees is a difficult balancing act, with long-term consequences on growth and morale. Setting a target too low, making it easily achievable, might cause an an employee to not put in the effort.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

December 15, 2015
Article

Don't Turn Your Sales Team Loose Without a Strategy

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Steve Thompson

When formulating a strategy, markets and segments are typically important categories. But only customers buy. Hence, for most firms, de facto strategy and much resource allocation are the aggregate result of the deals their salespeople close. However, few firms clarify... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Salesforce Management

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27 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

Want a Happy Customer? Coordinate Sales and Marketing

The sales force can no longer passively accept and execute plans from marketing. Account managers, product managers, and advertising managers need to work together to protect profits and enhance volume in... View Details

Keywords: by Benson Shapiro

22 Mar 2017
Research & Ideas

What's the Ideal Frequency for a Sales Quota?

spend more than $800 billion annually on those efforts. Sales compensation plans are at the center of all this activity, the primary tool managers use to motivate and incentivize salespeople. View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

28 Jun 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Alignment in Cross-Functional and Cross-Firm Supply Chain Planning

Keywords: by Santiago Kraiselburd & Noel Watson

October 2017 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Medicetra Medtech Company, Inc.

By: Doug J. Chung

Medicetra MedTech Company is a dental equipment distributor, and senior management is deciding whether to implement a new incentive compensation program for the sales force. For many years, Medicetra had paid salespeople only a fixed salary. Although the current plan... View Details

Keywords: Sales Compensation; Sales Force Retention; Employee Fairness; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Retention; Fairness; Performance Improvement