Sales Management and Getting your Beachhead Customers

Workload distribution

COURSE CONTENTS AND SCHEDULE
1. SESSION ONE (Monday 13 January 2020, 14:30-19:30)
Homework Reading: Quantifying the Value Proposition: Prepare the Feyzin Case (two pages).
Framework and Definition of High Value Sales and Sales Management.
Understanding and Selling to "the Jury".
How to Prepare For, and Carry Out, Top Notch Sales Calls, and Build Effective, Long Term Customer Relationships.
Integrated Value Pricing Arrangements which match the Value Delivered by your Solution as well as Internal Needs of Target Customers: Discussion in the context of the Feyzin case reading and preparation for Session Two.
Definition of an Effective Elevator Sales Pitch; Communicating your Pitch to top Decision Makers as prospective customers.
Quiz #1:
- Provide and comment upon the definitions of "Sales", "Jury", and "Value Proposition".
- Suggest and comment upon a Convenient, Effective, Customer-centric Pricing Arrangement for the Feyzin Opportunity. Use graphics to show how the money flows from the customer to your company.

2. SESSION TWO (Tuesday, 14 January 2020: 14:30-17:30)
Homework Reading: Spotfire Case and Questions.
Discussion of the Spotfire Case: how a startup company in a small city in Sweden was able to design, build, and deploy an effective global sales strategy, with a positive outcome.
Securing your first Beachhead Customers
The Power of Vertical Marketing
Note on Spotfire Case: This is a SALES STRATEGIES case, not a VC investing case. You do NOT need to read the financial exhibits, BUT please read the other exhibits carefully, but not the financials.
Recruiting, Managing and Building a World Class Sales Team, Discussion of Elevator Sales Pitches, Quantifying the Value Proposition, and Practice for the upcoming Thursday Evening Elevator Sales Pitching Competition.
Quiz #2:
- Describe some of the benefits and the power of Vertical Marketing.

- Suggest and comment upon how best to define and select some possible additional verticals in general, and specifically for Spotfire.

3. SESSION THREE (Tuesday, 14 January 2020: 17:30-19:30)
Building Mastery: Networking, Trade Shows, and Cocktail Party Mgt.
Homework reading:
"Cocktail Party Savvy gives high tech Entrepreneurs an Edge,? by Mary Schaefer" (we supply).
"The Science behind Successful Networking,? from Fast Company (we supply).
"The Jungle: Xs and Os Help Illustrate How Networkers Should Work a Room,? from The Wall Street Journal (we supply).
Practice your Elevator Sales Pitch

Note: At the conclusion of Session Three, you will have to decide whether you will select and pitch Feyzin, Spotfire pharma, or your own new business idea on Thursday evening, 16 January.
NOTE: THERE IS NO CLASS ON WEDNESDAY 15 JANUARY. YOU ARE EXPECTED TO USE THE TIME TO PREPARE YOUR HOMEWORK AND PITCHES. If you wish to propose your own business idea, you will need to have it approved in advance by answering these questions:
1. What is the problem your solution solves?
2. What is the economic benefit of solving that problem?
3. Who owns the problem? What is their job title and function?
4. Do they have budget and power to get the money to pay?

4. SESSION FOUR (Thursday, 16 January: 14:30-16:00)
Homework Reading: "Inbound Marketing" by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah (please read the entire book).
Discussion of the key concepts and framework of "Inbound Marketing" as a complement to other Sales Strategies. Consider where and how Inbound Marketing fits into the greater sales strategy and execution picture.
Practice your Elevator Sales Pitch
Quiz #3:
- What are the key concepts of the book "Inbound Marketing"?

- How will you apply these concepts in your company, or your next job?

NOTE: because of the late schedule for pitching, quiz #3 may be submitted by noon on Friday 17th, rather than the night before.

5. SESSION FIVE (Thursday, 16 January 2020: 17:00-20:30)
Warmly welcome Judges to the ELEVATOR SALES PITCHING EVENT.
Graded Elevator Sales Pitching Exercise: Prepare and present your chosen elevator sales pitch, one by one, to at least 8-10 judges, and receive real time feedback, with sample grades (not final).
Dress Code: Business, or crisp, elegant Business Casual.

6. SESSION SIX (Friday, 17 January 2020: 14:30-19:30)
Closing the Sale
Homework reading: "The Big Score,? an article from Fast Company Magazine
The concept of "Challenger? vs. "Defender
Course wrap up and next steps
Course Evaluation and feedback
Quiz #4:
- What are the key takeaway concepts from this course?

- How will you use these concepts in your next job, and in your career?

Course Learning Objectives

COURSE SUMMARY
- Improving the effectiveness of Sales and Sales Management processes and the overall speed of decision making in customers, large and small, is consistently cited by business experts as one of the highest priorities, year after year. In the current tough climate, every purchase by any prospective customer, especially a beachhead customer, must be triple-justified at all levels of management. This means that having the best ROI-based sales approach is essential to shortening the sales cycle and therefore to the growth and survival of most young, aspiring firms.

- This course is designed to enable ambitious future innovators and tech entrepreneurs to be more effective in establishing long term, dependable, profitable, referenceable, and mutually beneficial customer relationships, to achieve sustainable global growth.

- Roughly 70-80% of the CEOs of the 5000 largest companies came up through sales.

- "Everywhere in the world, the company with the best sales force usually wins, even if their competitors have better technology. -- "Howard Anderson, Founder, Yankee Group

- "Everyone wants to eat meat, but there are very few consistently successful hunters." - Jim Brown, NFL Hall of Fame

COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- In today's tough environment, your company must be excellent at sales, customer acquisition, and customer retention, or else you will not survive.

- Effective high value sales techniques and customer relationship management is a science, not an art: it can be learned and promulgated throughout the organization.

- You must be able to quantify the value proposition and express it in numbers.

- Succinct, 55-second elevator sales pitches are essential.
- Setting higher expectations for your sales and customer support team can be very motivating and will likely increase both your customer and employee satisfaction, and retention.

- The CEO is the top sales person. Sincere commitment to solving customer problems is key. If your CEO is not passionately committed to delivering significant value to customers, then either he/she should leave the company, or else you should find another place to work, because the company will not succeed.

- Long-term strategic customer relationships can provide a key, dependable source of sustainable competitive advantage for your company.

Description	%
Oral Participation	20
Exam	40
Group Project on Development of the Sales Function	40

Assessment criteria

Pledge:
Students registering for this intense elective course are asked to sign a pledge that they will prepare all the homework before the course classes begin, and that they will not have any other activities except for the classes and the quizzes, which take place every day for five days in a row.
- Specifically, students will pledge not to exceed one glass of wine per day, finish their dinner and wine by 9 p.m., be in bed by 10 p.m. and lights out at 11 p.m. each day.
- Birthdays and other special days will be celebrated only after all five classes are completed.
- The quiz for each day's class will be submitted on the same day as the class, by email. It is preferred to be submitted by 8:30 p.m. [20:30] and for sure before the "lights out? 11 p.m. deadline each day.
This pledge has been discussed with dozens of students who took the course, and they all agree it is reasonable and advisable. If you do not feel you can sign and live up to this pledge, then probably it is not a good idea to enroll in this intensive elective course this time.
No later than Sunday noon, 12 January 2020, students need to send an e-mail to Professor Ken Morse ken.morse@esade.edu and to the course Teaching Assistant laia.garriga@alumni.esade.edu asserting that they have understood the pledge and to confirm their full attendance in every class.

ASSESSMENT AND GRADING

Description %
Class preparation and participation 50%

Quizzes 25%

Elevator Sales Pitching Exercise, with judges from the local innovation ecosystem. 25%

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
Case and Book discussions in class will be highly interactive. You must be well prepared for each class every day, and you should contribute positively: 50% of your grade depends on high quality class participation.
Elevator Sales Pitching will be undertaken 1-on-1 with judges from the Barcelona innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem. 25% of your grade depends on the elevator sales pitching exercise.
Daily Quizzes account for 25% of your grade.

Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Required and optional readings:
Cases:
1. AspenTech Case (Feyzin Plant - 2 pages) [we supply]
2. Spotfire Case (HBS; Gothenburg) [we supply].

Books:
1. "Inbound Marketing", by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah (Please READ the ENTIRE BOOK). Students SHOULD BUY the latest version of the book themselves. It can be found on amazon.com or Kindle.
Authors: Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah.

Articles:
1. "Cocktail Party Savvy gives high tech Entrepreneurs an Edge,? by Mary Schaefer" (we supply).
2. "The Science behind Successful Networking,? from Fast Company (we supply).
3. "The Jungle: X's and O's Help Illustrate How Networkers Should Work a Room,? from The Wall Street Journal (we supply).
4. The Big Score", an article from Fast Company magazine (we supply).

YouTube Movie:
1. Watch the following YouTube video: Elevator Pitch Session at ESADE Creapolis for Full Time MBA Students, by Ken Morse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYfyHiIuOIY

Type:	OP	Curs:	1	Period:	S semester
ECTS Credits:	2 ECTS

Sales Management and Getting your Beachhead Customers (19CIE85561)

General information

Type:

Curs:

Period:

ECTS Credits:

Teaching Staff:

Prerequisites

Workload distribution

COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO PROGRAM

Course Learning Objectives

ASSESSMENT

ASSESSMENT BREAKDOWN

Assessment criteria

Bibliography

Timetable and sections

Timetable