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- All HBS Web (254)
- Faculty Publications (208)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web (254)
- Faculty Publications (208)
- 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...
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Cespedes, Frank V., and David Mattson. "How a Fast-Growing Startup Built Its Sales Team for Long-Term Success." Harvard Business Review (website) (December 4, 2017).
- 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...
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- 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...
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Keywords:
SaaS Business Models;
Sales;
Management;
Business Model;
Salesforce Management;
Applications and Software;
Customer Relationship Management
Chung, Doug J. "How to Shift from Selling Products to Selling Services." Harvard Business Review 99, no. 2 (March–April 2021): 48–52.
- 19 Nov 2010
- Working Paper Summaries
Do Bonuses Enhance Sales Productivity? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans
- 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...
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Keywords:
Applications and Software;
Learning;
Emerging Markets;
Growth Management;
Salesforce Management;
Conflict Management;
Information Technology Industry;
Education Industry
Deighton, John A., and Laetitia Pouliquen. "Centra Software." Harvard Business School Case 502-009, July 2001. (Revised October 2002.) (request a courtesy copy.)
- 04 May 2020
- Research & Ideas
Predictions, Prophets, and Restarting Your Business
“Predictions are risky, especially about the future,” according to a popular expression. Still, business is inescapably about the future—that’s what managers’ decisions are about. In the current crisis, we have daily grand predictions about “new normals,” and View Details
Keywords:
by Frank V. Cespedes
- 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...
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Keywords:
Customer Relationship Management;
Employees;
Resignation and Termination;
Performance Evaluation;
Salesforce Management;
Alignment;
Pharmaceutical Industry
Cespedes, Frank V., and John T. Gourville. "Cabot Pharmaceuticals, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 510-030, August 2009. (Revised August 2012.)
- 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...
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Keywords:
Financial Management;
Financial Strategy;
Salesforce Management;
Marketing Strategy;
Accrual Accounting;
Business Cycles;
Forecasting and Prediction;
Insurance;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Insurance Industry
Healy, Paul M., and Jacob Cohen. "Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 100-037, November 1999. (Revised July 2003.)
- Web
Marketing Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research
the TIMS College of Marketing Award for the Best Article in Management Science and Marketing Science in 1985 for "A Theory of Salesforce Compensation Plans" (with A. K. Basu, V. Srinivasan, and Richard...
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- June 2017
- Case
Magellan Boatworks
By: John A. Quelch and James T. Kindley
Magellan Boatworks is a midsize manufacturer of customized, power "cruising yachts." In the face of economic and political uncertainty in late 2016, Magellan's VP of sales and marketing, Walt Robinson, wonders whether he should request a budget increase for 2017....
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Quelch, John A., and James T. Kindley. "Magellan Boatworks." Harvard Business School Brief Case 917-547, June 2017.
- October 2000 (Revised July 2001)
- Case
Avon Products (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine and Greg Rogers
The general manager of Avon Mexico, Fernando Lezama, must decide whether to promote a woman to the position of vice president of sales. If appointed, the candidate would be the first female in all of Latin America to hold an executive position and one of the first...
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Keywords:
Business or Company Management;
Leading Change;
Salesforce Management;
Organizational Culture;
Job Design and Levels;
Gender;
Management Teams;
Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;
Mexico
Paine, Lynn S., and Greg Rogers. "Avon Products (A)." Harvard Business School Case 301-059, October 2000. (Revised July 2001.)
- July 1990 (Revised October 1999)
- Case
Nordstrom: Dissension in the Ranks? (A)
By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston
In 1989, the performance measurement systems and compensation policies of Nordstrom Department Stores unexpectedly came under attack by employees, unions, and government regulators. The case describes the "sales-per-hour" monitoring and compensation system that many...
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Keywords:
Performance Consistency;
Performance Evaluation;
Compensation and Benefits;
Motivation and Incentives;
Labor Unions;
Salesforce Management;
Retention;
Growth and Development;
Industrial Products Industry;
Utilities Industry
Simons, Robert L., and Hilary Weston. "Nordstrom: Dissension in the Ranks? (A)." Harvard Business School Case 191-002, July 1990. (Revised October 1999.)
- October 2016
- Case
The Quiet Ascension of LA Fitness
By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth
In 2016, LA Fitness was the largest chain of non-franchised fitness clubs in North America, operating 676 clubs, serving 4.9 million members, and generating revenues of over $1.9 billion. Founded by Chinyol Yi, Louis Welch, and Paul Norris in 1984, the privately held...
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Keywords:
LA Fitness;
Health Clubs;
Fitness;
Gyms;
Chain;
Exercise;
Personal Training;
Retention;
Bally Total Fitness;
24 Hour Fitness;
Planet Fitness;
Buildings and Facilities;
Acquisition;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Business Model;
For-Profit Firms;
Customers;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Customer Satisfaction;
Demographics;
Age;
Gender;
Income;
Residency;
Borrowing and Debt;
Capital;
Capital Structure;
Cash;
Cash Flow;
Cost;
Private Equity;
Financial Condition;
Financial Liquidity;
Financing and Loans;
Investment Return;
Price;
Profit;
Revenue;
Geographic Location;
Geographic Scope;
Multinational Firms and Management;
Business History;
Employees;
Recruitment;
Selection and Staffing;
Human Capital;
Contracts;
Business or Company Management;
Goals and Objectives;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Market Entry and Exit;
Operations;
Service Operations;
Leasing;
Private Ownership;
Problems and Challenges;
Sales;
Salesforce Management;
Situation or Environment;
Opportunities;
Sports;
Strategy;
Business Strategy;
Competition;
Competitive Strategy;
Competitive Advantage;
Corporate Strategy;
Expansion;
Segmentation;
Information Technology;
Mobile Technology;
Technology Platform;
Health Industry;
United States;
California;
Los Angeles
Wells, John R., and Gabriel Ellsworth. "The Quiet Ascension of LA Fitness." Harvard Business School Case 717-424, October 2016.
- April 1988 (Revised September 1992)
- Case
Frito-Lay, Inc.: The Backhaul Decision
Prior to the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, companies with private trucking fleets were generally prohibited from selling transportation services to other companies. The deregulation of the trucking industry in 1980 allowed private carriers to offer for-hire transportation...
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Keywords:
Cost Management;
Revenue;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Marketing Strategy;
Distribution;
Service Operations;
Sales;
Salesforce Management;
Transportation;
Food and Beverage Industry
Hammond, Janice H. "Frito-Lay, Inc.: The Backhaul Decision." Harvard Business School Case 688-104, April 1988. (Revised September 1992.)
- January 2021
- Article
Sales Hiring Is Hard to Do (Don't Make It Harder)
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...
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Cespedes, Frank V. "Sales Hiring Is Hard to Do (Don't Make It Harder)." Top Sales Magazine (January 2021), 38–39.
- 31 Oct 2011
- Research & Ideas
The Most Powerful Workplace Motivator
Any parent can tell you that a surefire way to turn joy into rage is to offer your child a big candy bar—and then turn around and offer an even bigger one to his sister. Suddenly, a special treat turns into a great injustice. "Hey! How come she got more? That's not...
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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...
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Keywords:
Management Teams;
Salesforce Management;
Customer Relationship Management;
Emerging Markets;
Nutrition;
Performance Effectiveness;
Business Strategy;
Commercialization;
Health Industry;
Middle East;
Africa
Martinez-Jerez, Francisco de Asis, and Rachel Sha. "Nutricia Middle East: Measuring Sales Force Effectiveness." Harvard Business School Case 106-063, April 2006.
- 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...
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- 2015
- Case
Fine Harvest Restaurant Group (cases A and B)
By: Clara (Xiaoling) Chen, Kenneth A. Merchant, Tatiana Sandino and Wim A. Van der Stede
The Fine Harvest Restaurant Group cases A and B examine a company's design of a new system to evaluate the performance (and determine the bonuses) for its restaurant managers. Fine Harvest had traditionally evaluated restaurant managers based on store margins and had...
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- 25 Oct 2016
- First Look
October 25, 2016
2016 University of Chicago Press Innovation Equity: Assessing and Managing the Monetary Value of New Products and Services By: Ofek, Elie, Eitan Muller, and Barak Libai Abstract—This book bridges the gap between what academics know, and...
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Keywords:
Sean Silverthorne