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    • COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      Cold Call
      A podcast featuring faculty discussing cases they've written and the lessons they impart.
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      • 06 Apr 2021
      • Cold Call Podcast

      Disrupting the Waste Industry with Technology

      Rubicon began with a bold idea: create a cloud-based, full-service waste management platform, providing efficient service anywhere in the US. Their mobile app did for waste management what Uber had done for taxi service. Five years after the case’s publication, Harvard Business School Associate Professor Shai Bernstein and Rubicon founder and CEO Nate Morris discuss how the software startup leveraged technology to disrupt the waste industry and other enduring lessons of professor Bill Sahlman’s case about Rubicon.  Open for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      Read the Transcript

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      Salesforce ManagementRemove Salesforce Management →

      New research on salesforce management from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including why it matters that your CEO doesn't know much about sales, and whether incentive plans for exemplary employees are counterproductive.
      Page 1 of 17 Results
      • 22 Feb 2021
      • Book

      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; Comment(s) posted.

      • 04 May 2020
      • Research & Ideas

      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; Comment(s) posted.

      • 22 Oct 2019
      • Research & Ideas

      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; Comment(s) posted.

      • 30 Jun 2019
      • Working Paper Summaries

      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.

      • 22 Apr 2019
      • Research & Ideas

      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; Comment(s) posted.

      • 06 Jun 2018
      • Research & Ideas

      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; Comment(s) posted.

      • 29 Apr 2018
      • Working Paper Summaries

      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.

      • 06 Jul 2017
      • Working Paper Summaries

      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.

      • 22 Mar 2017
      • Research & Ideas

      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; Comment(s) posted.

      • 25 Jan 2017
      • Working Paper Summaries

      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.

      • 21 Nov 2016
      • Research & Ideas

      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; Comment(s) posted.

      • 28 Mar 2016
      • Working Paper Summaries

      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.

      • 01 Apr 2013
      • Research & Ideas

      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; 16 Comment(s) posted.

      • 31 Oct 2011
      • Research & Ideas

      The Most Powerful Workplace Motivator

      by Carmen Nobel

      When evaluating compensation issues, economists often assume that both an employer and an employee make rational, albeit self-interested choices while working toward a goal. The problem, says Assistant Professor Ian Larkin, is that the most powerful workplace motivator is our natural tendency to measure our own performance against the performance of others. Open for comment; 33 Comment(s) posted.

      • 19 Nov 2010
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Do Bonuses Enhance Sales Productivity? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans

      by Doug J. Chung, Thomas Steenburgh & K. Sudhir

      Companies generally pay their sales staff with some combination of salary, commissions, and bonuses for meeting quotas-with sales force costs averaging about 10 percent of sales revenue in the United States. This paper aims to gain insight into the most effective way to design a compensation plan, concentrating on whether bonuses boost sales productivity and whether they should be awarded quarterly or annually. Research, focusing on the sales force of a large office supply company, was conducted by Harvard Business School professor Thomas Steenburgh and Doug J. Chung and K. Sudhir of the Yale School of Management. Key concepts include: Bonuses do increase productivity. Quarterly bonuses increase sales force productivity more than annual bonuses. Sales people tend to give up when far away from reaching a quota, but they don't slow down once a quota is reached-especially if a firm offers commissions for overachievement. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      • 22 Jul 2002
      • Research & Ideas

      Is Performance-Based Pricing the Right Price for You?

      by Benson Shapiro

      Not every industry or company can benefit from performance-based pricing. But where there is a fit, PBP can be a powerful tool that merges the interests of buyers and sellers, says Harvard Business School professor Benson Shapiro. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      • 01 Nov 1999
      • Research & Ideas

      John H. Patterson and the Sales Strategy of the National Cash Register Company, 1884 to 1922

      by Walter A. Friedman

      John H. Patterson's sales management techniques built National Cash Register into the dominant force in its industry and had a major impact on the development of modern selling. This excerpt from Business History Review looks at one aspect of the Patterson method. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

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