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All HBS Web
(115,710)
- Faculty Publications (320)
- Article
How B2B Companies Can Win Back Customers They've Lost
By: Frank V. Cespedes and León Poblete
Most research and training in sales focus on acquiring new customers. But winning back previous customers is increasingly important: mergers, choice in supply chains, and uncertainty about trade wars mean that B2B customers are constantly re-evaluating relationships...
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Cespedes, Frank V., and León Poblete. "How B2B Companies Can Win Back Customers They've Lost." Harvard Business Review (website) (June 3, 2019).
- April 2019
- Article
Being a Manager
- February 2019
- Case
Canibal—Play It Green!
By: Frank V. Cespedes, Joseph B. Fuller, Tonia Labruyere and Elena Corsi
In 2011, Canibal launched a machine that could sort and compress aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and cups. Users could play a jackpot-style game on the machine’s digital display, while disposing of their beverage containers and earning coupons or other rewards. The...
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Keywords:
Sales Growth;
Recycling;
Start-up;
Scaling;
Market Selection;
Sales;
Marketing;
Business Startups;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Segmentation;
Product Positioning;
Technology Industry;
France
Cespedes, Frank V., Joseph B. Fuller, Tonia Labruyere, and Elena Corsi. "Canibal—Play It Green!" Harvard Business School Case 319-089, February 2019.
- Article
Sales Managers Must Manage
A common complaint from C-level executives about their sales colleagues concerns the latter’s ability to manage, not sell. Nearly every firm has examples of successful salespeople who are poor managers because they persist in their behaviors as reps rather than...
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Cespedes, Frank V. "Sales Managers Must Manage." Top Sales Magazine (February 2019).
- January 2019
- Teaching Note
Pricing PatientPing
Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-017. PatientPing sells a software platform that allows health care providers to receive real-time notifications (“pings”) when one of their patients is admitted to or discharged from a health-care facility. The platform facilitates...
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- October 2018
- Case
BreezoMeter: Making Air Pollution Data Actionable
By: Frank V. Cespedes, Allison M. Ciechanover and Margot Eiran
The case focuses on an Israeli startup that provides actionable air pollution data and forecasts. The company has over 50 enterprise customers and its tool reached a million people daily in 67 countries. The co-founders wrestle with which markets and customers to focus...
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Keywords:
Startups;
Entrepreneurship;
Business Startups;
Pollutants;
Analytics and Data Science;
Sales;
Marketing;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Technology Industry;
Israel;
United States
Cespedes, Frank V., Allison M. Ciechanover, and Margot Eiran. "BreezoMeter: Making Air Pollution Data Actionable." Harvard Business School Case 819-058, October 2018.
- September 2018
- Case
ProdEng: Services for Oil & Gas Extraction
By: Frank V. Cespedes, Maria Fernanda Miguel and Mariana Cal
ProdEng is a venture created as part of a PE fund and provides oil field services in Argentina. In 2016, an industry-wide unforeseen oil and gas demand slump drove ProdEng’s average service rates down by more than 37%, with EBITDA margins falling from 50% to 24% in the...
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Cespedes, Frank V., Maria Fernanda Miguel, and Mariana Cal. "ProdEng: Services for Oil & Gas Extraction." Harvard Business School Case 819-003, September 2018.
- September 2018
- Article
Assembling the Sales Team
Data and analytical tasks have lengthened productivity ramp-up times in many sales contexts, making each hire a bigger sunk cost for a longer time. Most companies adopt two common practices: They hire on the basis of “experience” and/or look at their best reps and try...
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- August 2018
- Teaching Note
IguanaFix
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Thomas Eisenmann
Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-056. IguanaFix, based in Argentina, is a platform business that connects consumers with home improvement contractors. The founders are evaluating growth options and an investment offer. The case focuses on scaling issues for a venture...
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- August 2018
- Teaching Note
Magpie: Developing and Using Buyer Personas
Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-013. Magpie is a startup with a platform that allows publishers to natively tag the products discussed in their content and thus allows consumers to purchase those products without needing to leave that publisher’s web page. A key aspect...
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- August 2018
- Case
Performance Improvement Consulting and Hi-R-Me: Making Sales Calls
By: Frank V. Cespedes and David Mattson
This case study focuses on a professional services firm (“Performance Improvement Consulting”) and its sales calls on Hi-R-Me, a potential client. The case is supplemented by videos showing the initial contact call, a follow-up discovery call, and a face-to-face...
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Cespedes, Frank V., and David Mattson. "Performance Improvement Consulting and Hi-R-Me: Making Sales Calls." Harvard Business School Case 819-043, August 2018.
- August 2018 (Revised February 2019)
- Case
Shindigz
By: Frank Cespedes
Shindigz provides party and celebratory items for various occasions and events through its branded online channel, through third-party retail and wholesale channels, and external online marketplaces. The case focuses on pricing challenges facing a venture with an...
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Keywords:
Ecommerce;
Pricing;
Price;
Strategy;
Decision Making;
Brands and Branding;
Distribution Channels;
E-commerce;
Consumer Products Industry
Cespedes, Frank. "Shindigz." Harvard Business School Case 819-010, August 2018. (Revised February 2019.)
- July 2018
- Teaching Note
Cumplo.com
Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-039. Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-039. Cumplo is a Chilean-based fin-tech startup that provides investors and small businesses with opportunities to access loans and investments in ways distinct from traditional financial institutions in...
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- June 2018
- Case
Meridian Systems
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Michael J. Roberts
The Meridian Systems case focuses on a start-up in the restaurant point of sale (POS) systems market. In early 2018, Meridian is getting ready to roll out a POS system based on a new technology—a tablet-based, Wi-Fi-enabled POS system (the "tablet" system, or...
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Keywords:
Business Startups;
Sales;
Strategy;
Salesforce Management;
Organizational Structure;
Technological Innovation;
Marketing Strategy
Cespedes, Frank V., and Michael J. Roberts. "Meridian Systems." Harvard Business School Brief Case 918-533, June 2018.
- June 2018
- Teaching Note
Meridian Systems (Brief Case)
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Michael J. Roberts
Teaching Note for HBS No. 918-533. The key issues discussed in the Meridian teaching note concern sales force deployment: decisions about how to focus sales efforts with respect to territories, customers, and products. The teaching note explains the strengths and...
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- June 2018
- Supplement
Meridian Systems, Spreadsheet for Instructors (Brief Case)
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Michael J. Roberts
- June 2018
- Supplement
Meridian Systems, Spreadsheet for Students (Brief Case)
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Michael J. Roberts
- May 2018
- Article
The Changing Craft of Selling
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Tiffani Bova
This article draws on two surveys: one with more than 3,100 sales professionals about trends affecting the role(s) of sales in their companies, and the other with over 7,000 consumer and business buyers about their expectations when dealing with sales people. The...
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- April 2018
- Teaching Note
Formlabs: Selling a New 3D Printer
By: Frank Cespedes
Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-001. Formlabs is a venture that manufactures and sells 3D printers used in a variety of industries and applications. As the young company prepares to ship its latest model, the head of Customer Development is tasked with developing a...
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Keywords:
3D Printing And Manufacturing;
Sales Channel Development;
Sales Strategy;
Entrepreneurial Management;
Product Engineering;
Prototype;
Prototyping;
Entrepreneurship;
Product Launch;
Information Infrastructure;
Business Startups;
Customers;
Technological Innovation;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Technology Adoption;
Marketing Channels;
Marketing Strategy;
Product Positioning;
Demand and Consumers;
Sales;
Salesforce Management;
Technology Industry;
Computer Industry;
Manufacturing Industry;
United States;
Massachusetts;
Europe;
Asia
- April 19, 2018
- Article
4 Ways to Improve Your Content Marketing
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Russ Heddleston
In the past decade, content marketing has become a widely established practice. Companies have hired writers and chief content officers to run departments as well as create blogs and other materials—in the process, some have assured sales people that content marketing...
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Cespedes, Frank V., and Russ Heddleston. "4 Ways to Improve Your Content Marketing." Harvard Business Review (website) (April 19, 2018).