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New research on sales from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including salesforce management, perfecting the sales pitch, and the impact of incentive plans on sales productivity.
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What Founders Get Wrong about Sales and Marketing

Re: Mark N. Roberge

Which sales candidate is a startup’s ideal first hire? What marketing channels are best to invest in? How aggressively should an executive team align sales with customer success? Senior Lecturer Mark Roberge discusses how early-stage founders, sales leaders, and marketing executives can address these challenges as they grow their ventures in the case, “Entrepreneurial Sales and Marketing Vignettes.”

Reaching Today's Omnichannel Customer Takes a New Sales Strategy

by Kristen Senz

For salespeople working harder than ever to stay ahead of customers' evolving buying habits, Frank Cespedes offers timeless advice in his new book, Sales Management That Works. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Predictions, Prophets, and Restarting Your Business

by Frank V. Cespedes

Businesses are starting to plan their re-entry into the market, but how do they know what that market will look like? Frank V. Cespedes warns against putting too much trust in forecasters. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Use Artificial Intelligence to Set Sales Targets That Motivate

by Michael Blanding

Setting sales targets has always been an inexact science, with serious consequences if done poorly. Using AI-based advanced analytics might be the answer, argues Doug Chung. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

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

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

When sales forces are well managed, firms can induce greater performance from them. For this study, the authors collaborated with a major multinational firm to develop and estimate a dynamic structural model of sales employee responses to various management instruments like compensation, training, and recruiting/termination policies.

Why Salespeople Struggle at Leading

by Dina Gerdeman

When salespeople become managers, they often do a horrible job. Four key steps can help them—and all soon-to-be managers—make the shift, says Frank V. Cespedes. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Two Million Fake Accounts: Sales Misconduct at Wells Fargo

Re: Suraj Srinivasan

Coming out of the financial crisis, Wells Fargo was one of the world’s most successful banks. But then its sales culture went wild, opening more than 2 million fake accounts. Suraj Srinivasan discusses what went wrong. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Overcoming the Challenges of Selling Brand New Technology (Hey, Need a 3-D Printer?)

by Michael Blanding

Selling technology that is new to the market involves tricky tradeoffs around prospect targeting, channels, and tactics. Frank Cespedes makes the point with 3-D printers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Cut Salaries or Cut People? The Best Way to Survive a Downturn

by Rachel Layne

When times are tight, companies usually respond with employee layoffs. But what if they held on to workers and cut their salaries instead? New research by Christopher Stanton and colleagues has the answer. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Analyzing the Aftermath of a Compensation Reduction

by Jason Sandvik, Richard Saouma, Nathan Seegert, and Christopher Stanton

This study of the effects of compensation cuts in a large sales organization provides a unique lens for analyzing the link between compensation schemes, worker performance, and turnover.

Do All Your Detailing Efforts Pay Off? Dynamic Panel Data Methods Revisited

by Doug J. Chung, Byungyeon Kim, and Byoung Park

Personal selling in the form of detailing to physicians is the main go-to-market practice in the pharmaceutical industry. This paper provides a practical framework to analyze the effectiveness of detailing efforts. The method and empirical insights can help firms allocate sales-force resources more efficiently and devise optimal routes and call-pattern designs.

For Women Especially, It Pays to Know What Car Repairs Should Cost

by Wendy Guild Swearingen

Consumers can negotiate cheaper auto repair prices by convincing service reps they know something about market rates—helping women overcome gender discrimination, according to recently published research by Ayelet Israeli and co-authors. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

What's the Ideal Frequency for a Sales Quota?

by Carmen Nobel

Sales reps feed on two forms of compensation: salary, and a bonus tied to achieving a periodic quota. Would a more frequent quota incentivize better numbers? Doug Chung and Das Narayandas offer some answers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Where Should We Build a Mall? The Formation of Market Structure and Its Effect on Sales

by Doug J. Chung, Kyoungwon Seo, and Reo Song

In spite of the recent surge in e-commerce, brick-and-mortar retail, specifically in the form of large-scale shopping malls, is still the dominant venue for consumer purchases in the developed world. The construction of mass-scale shopping malls has also experienced tremendous growth in newly industrialized countries such as China. This research provides a rigorous, yet practical, framework to understand and evaluate why retail stores join a shopping mall and how their decisions affect mall revenue. The model can be extended and applied to a number of settings where a decision maker must choose among alternative sites to construct a market, for example, for transportation hubs such as airports or train stations.

The Effects of Quota Frequency on Sales Force Performance: Evidence from a Field Experiment

by Doug J. Chung and Das Narayandas

This study of different sales quotas and their effect on sales performance at a major retail chain in Sweden finds that changing from a monthly to a daily quota plan increases performance mainly for low-performing salespeople.

Assortment Rotation and the Value of Concealment

by Kris Johnson Ferreira and Joel Goh

Assortment rotation is the retailing practice of changing the assortment of products offered to customers throughout a selling season. It is used by both brick-and-mortar and online retailers as a strategy for gaining competitive advantage. This paper studies assortment rotation in product categories such as apparel, accessories, and toys, where consumers typically make multiple purchases during a season. The authors identify and explain a new reason for retailers to frequently rotate their assortment: Consumers may purchase more products throughout the selling season if a retailer conceals a portion of its full product catalog from consumers by rotating its assortment. Aside from its scholarly contributions, the paper provides practical insights to retailers to guide their assortment rotation strategy decisions.

It Matters That Your CEO Doesn't Know Much About Sales

by Michael Blanding

Sales appears to be getting short-changed in the C-suite, says Frank Cespedes. What’s needed are more links between top executives and the customer-facing side of the business. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Do Incentive Plans for Exemplary Employees Lead to Productive or Counterproductive Outcomes?

by Carolyn Deller and Tatiana Sandino

This study of a mobile phone retail company shows that incentive contracts that selectively incentivize exemplary employees (that is, preferential incentive plans) may be helpful when companies want to motivate employees to pursue objectively measured goals in addition to relevant tasks not explicitly written into their contracts. However, preferential incentive plans may lead to unintended consequences if they trigger perceptions of inequity.

The Strategic Way To Hire a Sales Team

by Carmen Nobel

The equivalent of an entire sales force is replaced at many firms every four years, so it's critical that go-to-market initiatives remain tied to strategic goals. Frank Cespedes explains how in his book, Aligning Strategy and Sales. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

First Minutes are Critical in New-Employee Orientation

by Carmen Nobel

Employee orientation programs ought to be less about the company and more about the employee, according to new research by Daniel M. Cable, Francesca Gino, and Bradley R. Staats. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.