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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 machine could also display advertising or serve as a communication tool. In 2016, the company's new machine, the i3, had more potential than earlier models, due to enhanced reliability and displays that could allow Canibal to pursue new markets. Benoit Paget, CEO and founder of Canibal, must choose a growth path: which customer segment should he focus on? How should he position his product? What would be the implications of these choices for marketing and sales requirements, pricing, and funding?

In 2016 unforeseen Oil and Gas industry-wide demand slump drove ProdEng's average service rates down by more than 37%, with EBITDA margins falling from 50% to 24% in the second half of 2016. Although the Partners remained optimistic about ProdEng's long-term fundamentals and management team, the short-term challenges required that they act rapidly. However, they had divergent views on the path forward. Should they stay the course and focus on their core competencies or should they rethinking their approach to sales and driving profitability via spot contracts in a highly uncertain time?

In August 2017, Cumplo's Founder Shea and CEO Kirberg meet to discuss growth and strategy issues faced by this Chilean fintech startup. What sales and marketing strategy will best foster the compny's growth? Are changes needed in the product lineup? How and when should Cumplo begin to expand beyond Chile, to other countries in Latin America? The company raised $1.4 million in its first three years, mainly from individual investors, and then issued new shares for $3 million in 2015. By June 2017, Cumplo was debt-free, had achieved break-even, and had raised an additional $2.3 million.

In 2017, Jay Desai, the CEO of Boston-based health care technology company PatientPing, had to consider a number of interrelated pricing challenges. Founded in late 2013, PatientPing sold a software platform that allowed health care providers to receive real-time notifications ('Pings') when one of their patients was admitted to or discharged from a health care facility. Pings allowed providers to coordinate with one another to reduce costs and ensure that patients were receiving the highest quality of care. PatientPing sold its platform to a range of customers, from small skilled nursing facilities to large health systems, and management had to figure out how to optimally price the platform for the company's various customer segments. Students must consider whether PatientPing's pricing, sales team, and sales process are optimal based on the unique challenges of the health care industry. Additionally, students are asked to respond to three specific sales and marketing scenarios faced by Desai in mid-2017.

The founders of a start-up platform for publishers have developed preliminary personas of target customers, and are evaluating the implications for initial target buyers, messaging, and marketing programs.

Headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, Formlabs manufactures 3D printers used to print everything from prototypes and models to jewelry, dental, and sculpture molds. As Formlabs prepares to ship its latest model, the Form 2, Head of Customer Development and Services Luke Winston wonders which strategy will double sales. Should he focus on direct sales or add more channel partners?

Showpad is a growing startup whose founders are considering changes to spur growth. The options include changes to the product line, to pricing, and to sales management practices.

This case focuses on growth requirements for a company moving from its base in SMB customers (Small and Mid-Sized businesses) to Enterprise customers (companies with more than 500 employees). It examines the differences in buying processes, product requirements, after-sale services, and the implications for organizing and deploying sales resources at InsideSales.com.

The case, set in May 2016, discusses sales strategy and managing sales and service at Oversight Systems, an Atlanta, Georgia-based software firm that developed analytics for organizations to monitor their data for errors, fraud, and operational inefficiencies. Included is an overview of Oversight's founding and the evolution of its offering from customized software analytics to pre-packaged software-as-a-service (SaaS) bundles, called Insights on Demand (IOD). Oversight adapted its sales and service approach to better suit IOD by standardizing its prices, packaging, and product delivery, as well as its approach to sales, including the sales team's composition, compensation, and incentive structure. Over time, Oversight had engaged in a variety of channel partnerships, and some were more successful than others. The case examines the decision of whether to engage in a channel partnership with a major credit card company.

DataXu served marketers by buying digital advertising for brands using its demand-side platform. It sought a way to build a more predictable revenue stream in the very transactional media marketplace, and hoped that two new marketing analytics products would give it a more predictable revenue stream. But sales were behind forecast. DataXu's large brand and advertising agency clients found the new products interesting, but evidence suggested that their buying processes might be incompatible with the recurring sales model DataXu wanted to implement. Will DataXu need to change its sales organization, pricing approach, or hiring criteria to sell the new products?

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? Early stage founders, sales leaders, and marketing executives often face one, and sometimes all, of the above scenarios as they grow their ventures. This case presents three short vignettes, with three fictitious organizations, to facilitate a discussion around these important decisions.

This case study is comprised of two vignettes about startup companies considering whether and how to change their sales compensation plans. ElMenus.com is a restaurant app venture in Egypt seeking to lower customer churn while confronting new competition. BigBelly is a'smart'waste receptacle venture that is changing its business model. The case allows for the comparison and contrast of the roles of sales compensation in different ventures with different sales funnel activities. The case also allows for an overview of all the core components of sales compensation.

The founder of a data analytics company, Stefan Brecht, has several issues with his key business developer and head of marketing and sales, Tamara Smithson. Smithson, an early hire who had been instrumental in building the firm operates as an individual contributor, is hesitant to delegate tasks and clients, and, as Brecht sees it,'often puts client affairs ahead of company needs and procedures.'Brecht is evaluating different options for dealing with the situation.

A data analyst at Basecamp is evaluating the results of pricing research and its potential implications for the venture's latest version of its project management software product.

IguanaFix is a rapidly scaling Latin American startup that provides an online platform that connects consumers with home improvement contractors. The founders have acquired customers through both B2C and B2B methods. But in seeking to grow and scale the business, they now must make decisions about the relative emphasis on building their consumer brand or its B2B partnerships, and the implications for product offerings and marketing methods ranging from search engine marketing and Facebook ads to sales and account management.

In April 2015, Ian Shakil and Pelu Tran, co-founders of Augmedix, are discussing how to grow their emerging health care startup. The company's sole product, also called Augmedix, streams video of doctor-patient interactions to remote medical scribes, thus freeing doctors from the burden of having to manually input information into an electronic medical record (EMR) and giving them additional time to focus on patients. Shakil and Tran had grown the company by allowing any qualified doctor or health system to use the service, but are now discussing whether they should segment the market and focus on a particular type of client. They also wonder whether Augmedix's current pricing appropriately reflects the value their service provides. Lastly, the two want to discuss how to staff and structure the company's nascent sales function as Augmedix grows.

Supplement to case 817018.

In the wake of a highly successful quarter, senior managers of Airborne Express, the third largest player in the express mail industry, review the firm's competitive position. Airborne has survived, and recently prospered, in an industry with significant economies of scale even though it is much smaller than industry giants Federal Express and United Parcel Service. The case challenges students to understand Airborne's unusual position. Detailed data allow students to analyze Airborne's relative cost position, the fit among its activities, the differences between Airborne and its rivals, and the evolution of its industry. Using these analyses, students make recommendations concerning the firm's pricing policy, its globalization efforts, and a partnership with a related company. Designed to be taught in a course on business-unit strategy.

Lawrence Coburn and Pankaj Prasad, co-founders of the event solution startup DoubleDutch, have to make a significant decision about their young company's sales function. DoubleDutch's key product was a mobile application (app) and event management platform that customers could use to better engage and connect with their event participants (e.g. attendees at a conference, employees at a quarterly sales meeting), and also to obtain detailed information from these participants to deliver a better future experience, understand how the event was received, and receive large amounts of valuable data. The company was growing quickly and rapidly adding new customers, but Coburn and Prasad wanted to make sure that in the drive to add new customers, existing clients whose contracts were expiring were not'slipping through the cracks'when it came time to renew. But who within the company should be responsible for renewals? Sales? The customer success team that helped customers develop and deploy the product? Or an entirely new team dedicated solely to renewals?

The Clef case focuses on the issue of turnover in a firm's sales force. Students must analyze the factors contributing to turnover as well as the role of the field sales force in Clef's profitable business strategy. Among other things, the Clef case illustrates that managing field marketing requirements entails managing individual people but also a certain aggregate call capacity and a set of sales tasks determined by business strategy. In turn, that analysis of strategy-sales linkages often changes students'minds about what to do about turnover in Clef's sales force.

In late 2012, the management team of Myomo, a startup which had designed a unique myoelectric arm brace for patients with dysfunctional arms, was deciding which of the three sales models the company had tested to pursue as its sales strategy going forward. Each model had its own unique merits and risks. The team planned to fully examine each strategy to determine how to best get the brace into the hands of those who needed it most, the patients, and identify which one enabled Myomo to grow.

Supplement for case 813104

The'Andrew Sullivan and Faraway Ltd'case series focuses on entrepreneurial selling, and is based on an older case study,'Deaver Brown and Cross River Inc.'(9-394-042). It concerns two entrepreneurs, Andrew Sullivan and Hope Abasi, who have designed an innovative pushchair (baby stroller) and, a year later, are looking for an order from a large retailer. The case requires students to prepare, deliver, and evaluate Sullivan's sales calls on two important retail buyers, Sam Cartwright of Mothercare and Anthony Pierce of John Lewis. The main case provides relevant background information about Faraway's market opportunity, business model economics, and scaling requirements. The (B) case provides information about Sam Cartwright's view of his job and supplier issues. The (C) case does the same for Anthony Pierce.

Supplement for case 813104

Provides practical guidelines for conducting market research to explore and validate demand for entrepreneurial offering. Explains how the research objectives of entrepreneurs might differ from those relevant to managers evaluating product or service offerings to established markets. For each of several research techniques, specifies conditions under which the technique is most likely to yield valuable insights; describes how the technique should be adapted for use in an entrepreneurial context; and offers tips and cautions about applying the technique. The techniques include customer surveys, usability tests, market trials, split tests, and Net Promoter Score. Appendices discuss the use of focus groups and conjoint analysis in an entrepreneurial context. The Note is therefore suitable for use in MBA, Executive Education, Field Study, or project contexts where the focus is startups, new business development, product development, or innovation.

Provides practical guidelines for conducting customer visits to explore and validate demand for an entrepreneurial offering. Reviews conditions under which visits will yield superior insights, compared to other research methods. Describes criteria for selecting visit sites; how to plan for visits; how to conduct them most effectively; and how to debrief after visits. The note is therefore relevant to MBA, Executive Education, Field Study, or project contexts where the focus is startups, entrepreneurial management, new product development, business development, or innovation.

This note discusses how some firms (start-ups and established companies) maximize customer value and profits via their pricing processes. It is aimed at companies that compete on the basis of performance initiatives rather than absolute cost advantages and low price. It is suitable for use in courses or modules in Pricing, Entrepreneurial Management, Strategy, or Marketing.

In 2008, concert producer and promoter Live Nation, faces a decision about its strategy in light of the tumultuous changes in the music industry and the increasing power of the major artists. As the music business once again recreates itself in response to new technologies and consumer needs, this major player is considering focusing on its principal business of concert booking and related revenue, or moving forward with its efforts to take advantage of new opportunities in the music industry by forging comprehensive, and often expensive, relationships with artists and other clients.

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 vigorously, and Cabot's vice president of sales is asked to investigate the matter and to decide what, if anything, to do about it. The case raises issues in aligning strategy and sales systems, performance evaluation criteria, and on-going performance management processes in field selling situations.

This case study provides an overview of Intuit's growth and, in particular, the sales and service initiatives that historically fueled the company's growth from start-up to a corporation. It also outlines certain processes and cultural values, as well as specific employee and leadership behaviors, that provided the foundation for those initiatives.

This case study provides an overview of Intuit's growth and, in particular, the sales and service initiatives that historically fueled the company's growth from start-up to a corporation. It also outlines certain processes and cultural values, as well as specific employee and leadership behaviors, that provided the foundation for those initiatives.

Curled Metal Incorporated has declining sales, but has developed a new product (curled metal pile driver pads) that, in field tests, deliver customer benefits that are many times CMI's manufacturing costs. Joseph Fernandez and Rajiv Sanwal of CMI's Engineered Products Division are responsible for formulating a strategy for the new product. A key issue is the price to charge for the pads. The case raises issues of analyzing market potential, aligning price with business strategy, and the implications of a price on development and execution of integrated strategic options.

In the wake of a highly successful quarter, senior managers of Airborne Express, the third largest player in the express mail industry, review the firm's competitive position. Airborne has survived, and recently prospered, in an industry with significant economies of scale even though it is much smaller than industry giants Federal Express and United Parcel Service. The case challenges students to understand Airborne's unusual position. Detailed data allow students to analyze Airborne's relative cost position, the fit among its activities, the differences between Airborne and its rivals, and the evolution of its industry. Using these analyses, students make recommendations concerning the firm's pricing policy, its globalization efforts, and a partnership with a related company. Designed to be taught in a course on business-unit strategy.

This case is meant to be used in conjunction with the extant'Cola Wars'case studies. It outlines the global positions of Pepsi and Coca-Cola as of 2008 in the soft drink market, and then provides an overview of their competitive situations in three markets: Mexico, China, and India. The case raises the issue of whether any or all of these markets are a) structurally attractive for soft drink firms, and b) if so, how can Pepsi best'catch-up'with Coca-Cola in a given market.

Hearts On Fire, a successful branded diamond producer, established the position of Brand Development Manager (BDM) to build the company's presence, sales, and relationships with its retail customers. After 1 year, the CEO, CFO and President must evaluate the impact of the BDM on retail customers, the type of person required to be successful in this position, internal coordination issues with the company's sales force, and the financial returns versus other uses of capital for the company. The case raises issues in aligning business strategy and sales management systems, motivating and managing resellers, people selection, and financial analysis of alternatives.

Examines Wal-Mart's development over three decades and provides financial and descriptive detail of its domestic operations. In 2003, Wal-Mart's Supercenter business has surpassed its domestic business as the largest generator of revenues. Its international operation seems poised to become the next growth driver for the company as it marches toward the trillion dollar sales mark. But problems are starting to surface even as the company is winning recognition as the number one company in the Fortune 500--unions keep pressuring Its minimum-wage employees and allegations of gender discrimination are alleged.

The management team of an industrial equipment supplier is debating the company's method of compensating salespeople. Different executives have offered different alternatives to the current method of straight salary plus expenses. Each option has different implications for business strategy, organization, control systems, and sales management requirements. As a result, the case raises issues and analytics relevant to topics such as aligning strategy and organization, strategy implementation, and cross-functional incentive systems as well as sales management.

Traces the 12-year career of a pharmaceutical salesperson, Bob Marsh, from recruitment to termination. Mr. Marsh has had an uneven career with Cooper Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CPI) and, after a probationary period, is asked to resign. Following his termination, a number of Marsh's former customers complain vigorously, and CPI's vice president of sales is asked to investigate the matter and to decide what, if anything, to do about it. A rewritten version of an earlier case by D.A. Newton.

Concerns the early stages of a major-account program at MCI, a telecommunications firm seeking to penetrate the corporate-account market. Among the issues are: 1) coordination of field sales efforts with national account selling efforts; 2) sales strategy for major accounts; and 3) core sales-management decisions: the selection of account teams, demarcation of account responsibilities, compensation plans, and training issues.

Discusses the typical strengths, vulnerabilities, and key management skills associated with three common forms of marketing organization: a product-focused organization, a market-focused organization, and a functionally-focused organization. It considers how the nature of marketing activities varies in each form, the types of skills that are (and are not) developed in each form, and key success factors required to manage within each organization of marketing activities.

Discusses certain general issues that affect sales-management requirements in most companies: 1) the nature of the salesperson's'boundary role'in the organization, and 2) the relevance and limits of compensation policies as a key means of affecting the salesperson's effective performance of that role. Also presents concepts and perspectives useful in analyzing sales situations encountered in case studies and on the job.

Actmedia provides in-store advertising and promotions for consumer packaged goods sold in supermarkets. Between 1983 and 1986, the company has grown to $65 million in sales revenues, added additional products and services, new channels for those products and services, and additional sales and service personnel. The president of the company faces issues concerning sales organization and sales management in the context of rapid recent growth and the resource-allocation requirements of future growth plans. These decisions require close attention to the nature of the services provided by Actmedia, the buying process for these services at consumer-goods and advertising firms, and the informal managerial norms at a rapidly growing, family-run company.

In June, 1984, a vice president at Turner Construction Co. must decide whether to approve a construction project being considered by one of Turner's territorial offices and how to manage that territory general manager's apparent reluctance to pursue another account that has important strategic value for Turner. A key issue is the appropriate marketing organization for the firm: Turner is highly decentralized geographically (in order to maximize operating efficiencies and presence in local markets), but buying behavior in some important market segments is increasingly national and centralized. The case also provides much information about the selling process and account/project management tasks in the general contracting business.

Describes a process for forecasting market demand for an emerging technology--cellular radio. The student must critically evaluate the demand model and the market estimates, and modify them as appropriate in order to develop a marketing plan and budget.

Written as an introduction to a module in the second-year MBA course, Marketing Implementation. Discusses issues encountered in the selling and management of major accounts. The topics covered include: 1) reasons for the increasing importance of major account management in sales management and marketing strategy, 2) a framework for account selection, 3) a review of concepts useful in analyzing buying behavior in major-account sales situations, 4) an overview of stages in the development of buyer-seller relationships, and 5) key issues in sales coordination.

Written as an introduction to a module concerning channel management for the second-year MBA elective in Marketing Implementation. Discusses: 1) reasons for the growth of multichannel systems in marketing efforts, 2) key components and choices in channel management, 3) major factors that affect producer-reseller relations, and 4) a framework for analyzing common trade-offs between control and resources in most distribution systems.

Written for a module in the Marketing Implementation course (second-year MBA elective). Offers a framework for considering relevant factors that affect sales force deployment and criteria for measuring sales effectiveness and the conduct of field marketing efforts.