Transition at DataCo?

Frank V. Cespedes

Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | January 2017

Transition at DataCo?

Abstract

The founder of a data analytics company has several issues with his key business developer, an early hire who has been instrumental in building the firm. The DataCo case study illustrates a common situation in entrepreneurial ventures: an early sales hire does well but now “owns” the clients and that person may not be right for the next stage of growth. The teaching note examines the options available to the case protagonist, outlines a discussion flow, and provides suggestions and materials for a wrap-up lecture on the boundary-role tensions at the heart of the case. Teaching note for HBS No. 816-058.

Keywords: sales management; selling; entrepreneurial ventures; performance management; professional services; Salesforce Management; Sales; Marketing; Performance; Consulting Industry; United States; France;

Language: English

Format: Print

13 pages

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Citation:

Cespedes, Frank V. "Transition at DataCo?" Harvard Business School Teaching Note 817-096, January 2017.

Sales methodologies play an important role. A common approach in a sales force allows for consistency, dissemination of best practices, acceleration of learning, and it helps the firm to scale because management then has common metrics to monitor and evaluate. However, it’s rare that the same methodology is relevant across the buying situations encountered by salespeople in a market. This article discusses and provides examples of variables relevant to analyzing sales tasks and evaluating the relevance of a selling methodology: differences within an industry, within a category, and when target buyers change.

Common advice in sales is to provide insights to customers during sales calls. But this advice generally stays at the level of “tell people something they don’t already know” and results in sales conversations littered with many irrelevant factoids. This article provides examples of how salespeople develop and deliver resonant insights in customer conversations and why the framing of insights depends upon to whom they are talking and when in the sales cycle.

Most research and training in sales focus on acquiring new customers. But winning back previous customers is increasingly important: mergers, choice in supply chains, and uncertainty about trade wars mean that B2B customers are constantly re-evaluating relationships with suppliers and making changes. Meanwhile, large buyers account, on average, for over 25% of revenues at publicly traded firms, up from 10% in the 1980s. This article discusses how and why the process for reacquiring lost customers requires a different approach than acquiring new ones and illustrates the process and its implications via a case example.

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Transition at DataCo?

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