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It stands to reason that sales, the most social of business activities, would make use of social media. But few organizations have figured out how to do so in a smart, productive way. The authors--veteran salespeople and now sales trainers--offer insights to help companies and reps get maximum value from sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Social media's greatest potential, they note, is at the start of the sales cycle, during prospecting, opportunity qualification, and pre-sales-call research. Short messages sent via social media produce a much greater response than cold calling--and, even better, reps don't always have to start the conversation. In addition to building prospecting networks, they can set up keyword alerts and use tools such as HootSuite to pick up signals of need. At the back end of the cycle, social media tools are invaluable for maintaining relationships, which are often neglected in the pursuit of new sales. Organizational support can help, not just with training on mechanics and etiquette but also by providing engaging content to share. Yes, there are risks to using social media. But with clear policies, those risks can be mitigated. And as your customers increasingly come to expect social network engagement, the biggest risk of all is to stay on the sidelines.

A well-staffed sales function is vital to business success, but most MBA programs fail to offer any sales-related courses at all. As selling becomes more sophisticated and solutions-oriented, and good sales jobs go unfilled for lack of qualified applicants, the value of university-based sales education programs rises. But such programs face substantial barriers in gaining funding and recruiting talent. This, in turn, leads to a frustrating lack of scholarly research relevant to improving sales capabilities. The authors, members of the marketing department at DePaul University, demonstrate that partnering with industry is the surest route to success in establishing sales programs and enhancing their effectiveness. They offer the experience of DePaul's Center for Sales Leadership to demonstrate that when businesses provide input to curricula and encourage their salespeople to contribute to classroom discussions, the benefits flow both ways. Furthermore, demand for sales courses is rapidly increasing: When the center was founded, in 2004, it hoped to enroll 90 students a year. Today about 700 per quarter enroll in its various sales courses.

In this collection of short essays, six executives describe their sales-related success. Jim Koch, of Boston Beer, remembers visiting bars with cold beer in his briefcase: If he could get the manager to taste Sam Adams Lager, he'd make a sale. James Farley, of Ford, sees car salespeople as a cross between problem-solvers and concierges: They help customers figure out complicated electronics, and in China they may even provide rudimentary driving lessons. Susan Silbermann, of Pfizer, describes selling in Latin America, where drugstores are small and independent, advertising directly to consumers isn't allowed, and physicians spend time building relationships with salespeople. Duncan Mac Naughton, of Walmart, gives advice to potential vendors--no matter how small--on how to get their products onto his company's shelves. Phil Guido, of IBM, relates the company's move into solution selling, using as an example the city operation center IBM created for Rio de Janeiro. Suresh Goklaney, of Eureka Forbes, emphasizes the personalized approach of his company's 8,000 door-to-door salespeople, who draw the entire family into their demonstrations.

Direct selling, defined as a sales channel without a fixed retail location, was built on the premise of leveraging an individual's social networks. This industry is being redirected by embracing social media; here, the challenge lies in providing the benefits of face-to-face selling, augmented by social media. An examination of the Direct Selling News 'Global 100 Top Direct Sellers' found that Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter represent the most widely employed social networks in the industry. While 76% of direct sellers utilize social media for promotional purposes, 55% use it for recruiting new distributors and 42% use it for reactive purposes. Consumers are the most popular target for social media, followed by distributors and communities. Social media has evolved as a driver of strategy, and will become even more important in the future. Improved customer relationships are developing by listening and reacting to concerns. The transparency created by social media is enhancing trust and ethical organizational cultures. Finally, consumer brand communities are emerging that increase brand value.

Sociable Labs was conceived as a start-up business attempting to use friend recommendations to curate and recommend purchase opportunities on the internet. Much as his Facebook social events app helped friends discover events based on their friends' events, founder Nisan Gabbay wanted to show users what their friends were buying or "liking," in the hope that such knowledge would help guide their purchases and even enable merchants to use Facebook to help grow their sales. How would he discover what his customers needed and what they were willing to pay for?

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Most companies assume that the easiest way to grow is by investing overseas and that the developing world offers the best opportunities for boosting revenues and profits today. However, success abroad varies widely, and research shows that it's often tough to increase profits by investing abroad. A new study of the grocery retail industry reveals that with a few exceptions globalization's benefits have not accrued to retailers. Local retailers dominate most countries, and international players are absent from the largest retail markets. Moreover, every retailer that has ventured overseas has failed as often as it has succeeded. On average, the extent of internationalization doesn't have a significant effect on either retailers' revenue growth rates or profit margins. Rather, it's the home market's growth that is the primary driver of profit margins and sales growth. A few retailers have succeeded in going global by developing strategies that apply four retail-specific rules for globalization. Rule 1: The home market is the linchpin. Retailers can generate the resources they need to go global by applying innovative growth strategies at home. Rule 2: Always bring something new to market. Without an element of novelty, it will be difficult for retailers to overtake entrenched rivals. Rule 3: Differentiation is more important than synergies. Leveraging synergies globally and allowing each country unit to adjust to local needs is a critical balancing act. Rule 4: Timing is critical. Retailers would do well to stop planting flags and focus instead on a limited set of opportunities where they can establish operations of scale.

Studies have always shown that the adage "There's no such thing as bad publicity" is wrong. It turns out, though, that sometimes the saying has merit. By studying sales of books reviewed in the New York Times, Jonah Berger of the Wharton School demonstrates that if a product is relatively unknown, even the most scathing publicity can help the bottom line by making people aware of the product's existence. This is good news for smaller and unknown producers, who might want to allow some bad press or to make controversial moves that risk incurring it.

When the dot-com bubble burst 10 years ago, the ensuing collapse wiped out half of all online retailers. Today, e-commerce is well established and much digital retailing is now highly profitable. As it evolves, digital retailing is quickly morphing into something so different that it requires a new name: omnichannel retailing. The name reflects the fact that retailers will be able to interact with customers through countless channels--websites, physical stores, kiosks, direct mail and catalogs, call centers, social media, mobile devices, gaming consoles, televisions, networked appliances, home services, and more. If traditional retailers hope to survive, they must embrace omnichannel retailing and also transform the one big feature Internet retailers lack--stores--from a liability into an asset. They must turn shopping into an entertaining, exciting, and emotionally engaging experience by skillfully blending the physical with the digital. They must also hire new kinds of talent, move away from outdated measures of success, and become adept at rapid test-and-learn methodologies. A successful omnichannel strategy should not only guarantee a retailer's survival--no small matter in today's environment--but also deliver a revolution in customers' expectations and experiences.

What are the timeless truths of advertising? How can agency leaders manage their teams, creative talent, and clients? To answer these and other questions, the mythology of the "Golden Age of Advertising" is examined and analyzed herein. Specifically, using ad-man Don Draper-protagonist of the fictional but already culturally iconic television series Mad Men-as a mythic archetype, lessons are extracted for contemporary advertising practitioners. Ten timeless rules are proposed and explicated in the areas of managing intra-agency leadership processes, managing creative processes, and managing client relationships.

The authors describe how the new science of social network analysis helps pharmaceutical companies determine which doctors have the most influence on other doctors' prescribing preferences and would be the most valuable potential customers for pharma companies to target. The tool has great potential in other fields as well.

The sales representatives at Designs by Kate (DBK) sell private label jewelry at hosted parties and through online social media channels. They are also responsible for recruiting, training, and managing new sales reps. CEO and founder Kate Creevey designed the commission plan to encourage sales reps to build teams and become "leaders" for their teams. The strategy has been very successful over the company's first five years. Now the CEO is concerned that growth in top-line revenue is slowing, possibly due to an unwillingness by current sales representatives to build and manage their own sales teams. A survey reveals that many sales reps believe their incomes from jewelry sales decline when they add members to their sales teams due to increased competition for hosting parties within the same geographic area. The CEO must revisit the commission structure to determine if it is still an effective incentive. The case includes a quantitative assignment that students should complete as part of case analysis.

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Companies spend billions of dollars on internet-generated sales leads, but most are far too slow to follow up on them.

As Stefan Brosick, Director of Global Product Strategy wondered whether Doosan would benefit from an immediate re-branding, or if other branding strategies might be more effective, regional issues began to emerge. The challenge of selecting the optimal strategy (keep the IR brand, co-brand, extended retention, immediate re-brand) was compounded by international product and channel differences. These differences in turn affected key tactical branding decisions. Resolving these differences would impact not only which of the four brand transformation strategies to pursue but also whether they should be implemented globally or customized regionally. Learning objectives: The case illustrates the complexities of developing global branding strategies for companies with established lines of business throughout the world. Analyses of market similarities and differences for various branding elements can be conducted, leading to global standardization versus regional customization strategy decisions.

The Namaste case is a story of how Kellogg alumni couple Gary and Denise Gardner grow their Namaste-branded hair care line from production at the family's kitchen table into a formidable $80 million empire within a 14-year period. The Gardners come from a longtime hair care business lineage, the Soft Sheen dynasty, started by Gary's father decades earlier. Soft Sheen was ultimately sold to hair care giant L'Oreal for over $100 million. The Gardners claim Namaste's growth occurred through listening to the needs and desires of customers for healing hair care products that reminded them of nourishing household remedies. The hair care line became a leader in its industry but faced the dilemma of how to expand sales in new markets, especially international markets such as South Africa and Nigeria.

This case shows George Lassiter's revised forecast based on "George's T-Shirts" (UV0680) and "George's T-Shirts Addendum" (UV0689).