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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.

Supplement to case 817018.

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.

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.

Marcus Crosby, President of Cilkray Graphics, convened an emergency meeting with Cilkray's senior managers in order to respond to an unexpected development. Cilkray sold three lines of specialized graphics processing units (GPUs). Each line targeted a segment of the professional market for Hosted Virtual Desktops (HVDs). Grovex, Cilkray's key competitor, had just announced the impending launch of the GSpeed, a new GPU. It said that the GSpeed would exceed the performance of competitive products, including Cilkray's most advanced product line, the CP3000. Industry rumors suggested that the GSpeed's price would be 20% to 30% below that of the CP3000. Crosby and his team saw two options. Cilkray could drop the CP3000's price immediately. It could also delay its planned release of its new CK300, scheduled for December 2013, in order to make its products more competitive. Crosby and his team had to decide what Cilkray should do next.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 916512.

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?

Studies show that only a fraction--perhaps less than 10%--of companies' strategic plans are effectively executed. One reason is that C-suite strategists, years removed from customer contact, may have an obsolete vision of the company-customer interface. The author's research reveals four steps companies can take to improve the alignment between strategy and sales.

The Senior Vice President of FormPrint's Medical Products business unit is considering issues raised by the upcoming introduction of a new 3D printing system, the Ortho500, which could print custom exoskeletal orthopedic splints, braces, and casts that conformed to a patient's body. The potential market extended beyond large urban hospitals (the Ortho's existing market) to high-volume outpatient offices in the U.S., with a long-term goal of expanding internationally. The product represents an important new market opportunity for FormPrint's Orthopedic business unit, but requires a new approach to marketing and sales. The immediate issue is whether the product should be sold by FormPrint's existing orthopedic sales force or by independent sales representatives. Other issues include the role of the Ortho500 in the company's global marketing strategy and the need for better marketing-sales coordination in a changing healthcare marketplace. If the Ortho500 failed to meet sales targets, bonus compensation would be reduced and the department could face layoffs. The case focuses on a core marketing decision-direct vs. indirect channels of distribution-and raises important issues in strategy development and implementation. The FormPrint case is ideal for use in courses on marketing strategy, marketing organization, B2B marketing, or new product development.

Selling and Marketing in the Entrepreneurial Venture discusses key aspects and challenges of selling and marketing in an early-stage or new venture. The Reading explains how to identify and test a venture s potential with early adopters, how to identify core customers, and how to integrate selling and marketing activities in a new business. It also sheds light on how entrepreneurs can sharpen their understanding of customers, as well as gain valuable insights into the venture s product or service, by conducting visits with potential customers. In addition, this Reading provides an in-depth example of a relatively young company that discovers a need to redefine who its best customers should be. The Reading dispels myths about what defines an effective salesperson and explores basic aspects of integrating selling and marketing in a venture, including applicable uses of the sales funnel framework, multi-channel mapping, and how to make decisions about the company s go-to-market system. A supplementary reading offers deeper insight into the considerations that potential customers evaluate in deciding whether to switch from a product or service they are currently using to one offered by a new venture. A second supplemental section analyzes the selling and marketing challenges faced by the founders of an engineering startup and the strategies the founders formulate and execute to surmount those challenges and drive growth in the business.

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.

"Business-to-Business Marketing" provides a comprehensive review of the fundamental concepts and theories related to aspects of business-to-business (B2B) marketing. B2B marketing refers to exchanges of goods and services between institutions rather than to individuals or end consumers. Compared to business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers, B2B marketers face distinct challenges rooted in the nature and needs of customers' buying criteria, purchasing processes, and strategic considerations. This Reading discusses five core elements of B2B marketing: 1. Links between business-to-business marketing and business strategy. 2. The impact of market and account selection. 3. The complexity of buyer behavior. 4. The need to understand and communicate buyer benefits. 5. The importance of organizational alignment.

The Clique Pens Writing Implements division of U.S. Home is a manufacturer of a full line of pens, pencils, markers, and art supplies. Despite solid sales, division president Elise Ferguson has seen gross margins drop from 42% in 2010 to just over 36% in 2012 as a result of various discounts, allowances, and other off-invoice deals. She is now considering a move away from these discounts in favor of Market Development Funds (MDF), which would be used explicitly to promote retail merchandising activity for Clique and in theory provide the company with more control of trade promotional dollars to influence consumer behavior. Along the way, Ferguson must consider the structure and problems of various trade promotions and the conflicting needs of her sales and marketing departments. This case introduces basic elements of promotion and pricing policy and the challenges of marketing through major mass retailers.

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.

The CEO of SafeBlend Technologies must set a price for the company's environmentally friendly fracturing fluid additive. The firm is negotiating a new contract with its biggest client, Bristol Natural Gas. For the past two years, SafeBlend has been the sole provider of additives to Bristol due to aggressive negotiation and limited competition. New competitors are entering the market, and the CEO believes one competitor is prepared to offer Bristol a chemical-free additive for 50% less per gallon than SafeBlend. Anticipating lower bids from competitors, he considers reducing the price in the new contract to maintain the relationship with Bristol-despite the impact on revenue. However, the competition may not be able to supply enough additive to meet all of Bristol's needs, so he also considers the impact of setting a more competitive and profitable price that assumes losing only a portion of Bristol's business.

Spreadsheet Supplement for Product #914513