Selling and Buying Processes

Course Module in Sales Management

Course Modules help instructors select and sequence material for use as part of a course. Each module
represents the thinking of subject matter experts about the best materials to assign and how to organize
them to facilitate learning.
Each module recommends four to six items. Whenever possible at least one alternative item for each
main recommendation is included, as well as suggested supplemental readings that may provide a
broader conceptual context. Cases form the core of many modules but we also include readings from
Harvard Business Review, background notes, and other course materials.
1. Overview of suggested content (HBS case unless otherwise noted)
Title

Author

Product
Publication
Number
Year
1a. B2B Selling and Buying Processes: Professional Services

Pages

Teaching Note

Mini USA

Godes

508041

2007

21p

--

Alternative: Hale & Dorr

Godes

505005

2005

16p

508117

Supplement: Major Sales:

Bonoma
R0607P
2006
Who Really Does the
Buying? (HBR article)
1b. B2B Selling and Buying Processes: Software and IT Services

13p

--

Scriptlogic: Point, Click,

Done!

Steenburgh

508114

2008

24p

--

Alternative 1: Infosys
Technologies, Ltd.
(IIMB case)
Alternative 2: SaleSoft, Inc.
(A)

Narus &
Seshadri

IMB315

2006

14p

IMB316

Narayandas

596112

1996

22p

598020

Supplement: Business
Anderson &
Marketing: Understanding
Narus
What Customers Value
(HBR article)
2. B2C Selling and Buying Processes

98601

1998

11p

--

New York Life and

Immediate Annuities

Rotemberg &
Gourville

510040

2009

22p

510094

Alternative 1: Avon.com (A)

Godes

503016

2002

15p

503093

Alternative 2: Cyworld

Gupta & Han

509012

2008

18p

510028

Supplement 1: Customer
Has Escaped (HBR article)
Supplement 2: Consumer
Behavior Exercise (A) (F)

Nunes &
Cespedes
Deighton &
Fournier

R0311G

2003

12p

--

596039

1995

2p
(each)

597041

3. Major Accounts: Buying and Sales Processes

Siebel Systems, Parts 1, 2,
and 3

Deighton &
Narayandas

504087

2009

9p
4p
7p
14p

Alternative1: Miles Everson

at PricewaterhouseCoopers
Alternative 2: Entrepreneurial
Sales Strategies
(Kellogg case)

Eccles & Lane

KEL529

2010

10p

KEL530

507039

2006

11p

--

Lay, Hewlin &

Moore

R0903C

2009

11p

--

Cespedes &
Gourville
Cotte & Yang

510030

2009

10p

--

903A09

2003

17p

803A09

Ledingham,
Kovac &
Simon
Kinni

R0609H

2006

10p

--

U0402B

2004

5p

--

509049

2009

21p

510043

and Avaya (A)

Steenburgh,
Avery &
Dahod
Godes

508048

2008

23p

508082

Alternative: Microsoft
Canada (Ivey case)

Barclay &
Mark

905A15

2005

4p

805A15

Supplement 1: Ending the

War Between Sales and
Marketing (HBR article)
Supplement 2: Sell Yourself!
(HBS exercise)

Kotler,
Rackham &
Krishnaswamy
Steenburgh,
Norton

R0607E

2006

15p

--

507045

2006

2p

507069

Supplement 1: Personal
Selling and Sales
Management (HBR article)
Supplement 2: In a
Downturn, Provoke Your
Customers (HBR article)

503021,
503022,
503023
410062

2002

MayberryMcKissack &
Robinson
English
Steenburgh

412022

4. Sales and Strategy

Cabot Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Alternative: Jindi Enterprises:
Finding a New Sales
Manager (Ivey case)
Supplement 1: New Science
of Sales Force Productivity
(HBR article)
Supplement 2: How Strategic
Is Your Sales Strategy?
(HBP newsletter)
5. Capstone Materials
Hubspot: Inbound Marketing
and Web 2.0

II. Rationale for selecting and sequencing the items in this module
The complexities of selling and buying processes are examined in this module.
Section 1a looks at B2B selling and buying processes in professional service firms. The module opens
with Mini USA, a case that focuses on the buying process entails. The case puts the students into the

roles of the seller (an advertising agency) and the buyer (MINI USA) and asks them to develop a sales
strategy for advertising services. The alternative case, Hale and Dorr, can help students to understand
the different types of networks business marketers face and must manage along with developing a
general working knowledge of social networks. Section 1b moves the study of the sales and buying
process to the context of software and IT services. The main case, Scriptlogic, will allow students to
debate the merits of going after new customers by building an enterprise sales force or mining the
existing customer base with an inside sales force that already has a lot on its plate. The alternative
Infosys case illustrates the process of consultative selling and can also be used as the basis of an inclass selling exercise. The second alternative, SalesSoft, may help students to enhance their
understanding of the buying process.
Section 2 examines the selling and buying processes in B2C interactions. New York Life and Immediate
Annuities explores the selling of a complex and potentially important financial product to an end customer
that is relatively uninformed and via a channel that may be less than fully supportive. As an alternative
study, Avon examines the dilemmas facing a company that is considering modifying its traditional
approach leveraging a large independent direct-selling organization by exploring direct sales to the
consumer via the Web. The second alternative case, Cyworld, looks at a Korean social networking site
which began with no business model in mind and struggled to find a way to make money.
Section 3 introduces the subject of buying and selling processes with major accounts. Siebel Systems
describes the details behind a multi-million dollar software sale. The fortunes of the sale rise and fall as
the Siebel account manager faces multiple obstacles. The case is presented in three parts, with
opportunities to debate the account managers choices and actions at each stage. The alternative case,
Miles Everson at PricewaterhourseCoopers, examines the role of the client relationship manager.
Students learn about key success factors and challenges associated with an ongoing association
between a relationship manager and his or her client.
Section 4 embarks on an investigation of the relationships between sales and strategy. Cabot
Pharmaceuticals raises issues in aligning strategy and sales systems, performance evaluation criteria,
and on-going performance management processes in field selling situations. The alternative case, Jindy
Enterprises, looks at the impact of the departure of a companys top sales representative. The CEO must
find a replacement whose skills align with important aspects of the companys strategy.
Section 5 offers cases that are appropriate capstone materials for this module. The main selection is a
pairing of cases that, together, look at sales and buying processes in a small company and a large
company. The first case of this pairing, Hubspot, introduces the concept of inbound marketing, pulling
customer prospects toward a business through the use of Web 2.0 tools and applications like blogging,
search engine optimization, and social media. The second of this pair, Avaya, looks at the efforts of the
vice presidents of marketing and sales of a $7 billion telecommunications firm to build a demand
generation engine. To achieve this goal requires understanding and improving the way that marketing
and sales departments work together. A supplemental exercise, Sell Yourself!, helps students to develop
an effective sales pitch for their greatest assetthemselves while broadening their understanding of
how salespeople sell products and services.