Publications

February 2011 (Revised December 2014)
Case

RentJuice

By: Thomas Eisenmann and Liz Kind

RentJuice, founded in mid-2008, provided a subscription software service—sold via phone and live online webinars—that allowed real estate professionals like brokers and agents to manage and market rental listings, communicate with clients, and complete transaction... View Details

Keywords: Renting or Rental; Product Launch; Applications and Software; Property; Business Startups; Salesforce Management; Product Marketing; Real Estate Industry; Information Technology Industry

February 2016 (Revised June 2016)
Case

Janalakshmi Financial Services' HR Dilemma

By: Doug J. Chung and Radhika Kak

Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), an Indian microfinance institution, had grown rapidly by providing financial products to its main customer base, the urban poor. However, the company was facing several challenges. JFS’s productivity was declining, and it was... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Sales; Strategy; Financial Services Industry

Article

How a Fast-Growing Startup Built Its Sales Team for Long-Term Success

By: Frank V. Cespedes and David Mattson

It’s common for leaders of sales teams to focus almost exclusively on short-term tactics and current operations while failing to think and act in a way that supports the longer-term needs of their businesses—and it’s hard to fault them. The biggest problem with a... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Salesforce Management; Management Practices and Processes

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08 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, August 8, 2017

subsumed by the other three. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53024 August 2017 Obstetrics & Gynecology Relationship Between Labor and Delivery Unit Management Practices and Maternal Outcomes By:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2001 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Centra Software

By: John A. Deighton and Laetitia Pouliquen

Centra is a pioneer in software eLearning. It is debating how to modify its go-to-market strategy, adding telesales to improve sales force productivity. At the same time, its market is evolving, and management thinks it may be about to "cross the chasm" in Geoffrey... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Learning; Emerging Markets; Growth Management; Salesforce Management; Conflict Management; Information Technology Industry; Education Industry

30 Jun 2019
Working Paper Summaries

The Comprehensive Effects of Sales Force Management: A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Selection, Compensation, and Training

Keywords: by Doug J. Chung, Byungyeon Kim, and Byoung G. Park

November 1999 (Revised July 2003)
Case

Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.

By: Paul M. Healy and Jacob Cohen

Pre-Paid Legal Services' business model reveals two key issues--managing the sales force and sales growth and managing claims. Students analyze the economics of the business and consider how to measure firm performance, how to evaluate and reward the sales force, and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Salesforce Management; Marketing Strategy; Accrual Accounting; Business Cycles; Forecasting and Prediction; Insurance; Business Growth and Maturation; Insurance Industry

21 Jun 2022
HBS Case

Free Isn’t Always Better: How Slack Holds Its Own Against Microsoft Teams

Commission. A year later, in July 2021, Slack was acquired by Salesforce, the world’s largest customer-relations management software company. Butterfield and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff shared the same goal:... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Information Technology; Technology

08 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

The Strategic Way To Hire a Sales Team

Too often, there's a huge gap between a company's overall business strategy and the way its salesforce operates in the field. In fact, says Frank V. Cespedes, articles and books about strategy rarely take sales into consideration at all.... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

April 2006
Case

Nutricia Middle East: Measuring Sales Force Effectiveness

Nutricia's Middle East and African region is transitioning from a trading to a customer focus. CEO Ernest Vandenbussche must decide how to market infant milk formula most effectively in a region where the information environment is much less rich than in other... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Salesforce Management; Customer Relationship Management; Emerging Markets; Nutrition; Performance Effectiveness; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Health Industry; Middle East; Africa

August 2013
Teaching Note

Nutricia Middle East: Measuring Sales Force Effectiveness

By: F. Asis Martinez-Jerez

Nutricia's Middle East and African region is transitioning from a trading to a customer focus. CEO Ernest Vandenbussche must decide how to market infant milk formula most effectively in a region where the information environment is much less rich than in other... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Customer Relationship Management; Commercialization; Management Practices and Processes; Salesforce Management; Nutrition; Performance Evaluation; Information Management; Health Industry; Africa; Middle East

01 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

First Minutes are Critical in New-Employee Orientation

the opportunity for self-expression is indeed directly related to employee retention. Lessons For Businesses For employers, the implications of the findings are pretty clear: "Given that the standard, organization-focused approach of employee socialization is so... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Web Services; Service; Telecommunications

22 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

Use Artificial Intelligence to Set Sales Targets That Motivate

data, the algorithm learns to predict the outcome from the input data. Unsupervised learning. In this case, using unlabeled data, the algorithm learns the inherent structure from the input data. Either machine learning approach is only as good as the humans who are... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

September 12, 2017
Article

What's the Right Kind of Bonus to Motivate Your Sales Force?

By: Doug J. Chung and Das Narayandas

Companies typically compensate their sales force by using some combination of salary, commission, and bonuses, but executives are often unsure which incentives provide the best motivation. Should bonuses be tied to quotas or should they be given unconditionally? Is it... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Salesforce Management

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March 1990 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Mary Kay Cosmetics: Sales Force Incentives (A)

By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston

Describes the incentive system by which Mary Kay Cosmetics motivates the sales force of 200,000 independent agents who comprise the firm's only distribution channel. Illustrates the powerful effect on sales-force behavior that results when creative types of employee... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Cost Management; Salesforce Management; Distribution Channels; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

September 2016
Supplement

ZenRecruit: Sales Coaching and Performance Reviews

By: Mark N. Roberge

Amara Kaggwa leads the small but rapidly expanding sales team at ZenRecruit, a recruiting software application used by small businesses. Armed with six months of sales performance metrics, Kaggwa is preparing for her monthly performance conversations with two... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Salesforce Management; Applications and Software; Employees; Performance Evaluation; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry

Article

How to Shift from Selling Products to Selling Services

By: Doug J. Chung

Only a few years ago, most software companies sold seat licenses for their products, charging customers on the basis of head count. But today, software is typically provided using cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) models that charge customers fees for... View Details

Keywords: SaaS Business Models; Sales; Management; Business Model; Salesforce Management; Applications and Software; Customer Relationship Management

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14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

As economies reopen after forced shutdowns caused by COVID-19, managers around the world are faced with a dual challenge: keep the workforce safe while preserving business viability in an evolving and volatile market. How should... View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

August 2009 (Revised August 2012)
Case

Cabot Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

By: Frank V. Cespedes and John T. Gourville

Traces the 12-year career of a pharmaceutical salesperson, Bob Marsh, from recruitment to termination. Marsh has had an uneven career with Cabot Pharmaceuticals and eventually is asked to resign. Following his termination, a number of Marsh's former customers complain... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Employees; Resignation and Termination; Performance Evaluation; Salesforce Management; Alignment; Pharmaceutical Industry