STEPHEN M.

ROSS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Fall 2006

M310: Management of Sales Operations

Follett Carter

E-mail: follett@umich.edu
Phone: (415)336-8622 M
(734)222-0089 H

Class hours: Wednesdays, 7:00-10:00pm, Ann Arbor Room

E1530
Office Hours: before and/or after class by appointment
Conference calls also possible

Course Materials: Text, readings and case packet

Text:
Management of a Sales Force 11th Edition
Spiro, Stanton, Rich
McGraw Hill Irwin
ISBN: 0-07-239887-6

Course Description
M310 focuses on the selling organization. In a competitive world, having a
good sales team is crucial - there's no point in having a great product if you
cannot sell it! The sales force generates the revenue that enables the
operation of a company. The course begins with the discussion of the selling
process and the characteristics of successful sales representatives. It then
addresses the key elements to consider in building a sales management
structure and the operations of the structures elements. Specific topics
include: recruiting strategies, sales training requirements, sales organization
and management structures, sales territory creation, compensation plans,
motivation elements, quota, sales forecasting, sales process, sales force
automation and leadership skills. During the fifteen week course outside
speakers are used to bring a current business perspective to class
discussions. Case studies and problem exercises will also be used
extensively to expand discussions. In addition in order to provide a broad
view of many different sales operations problems, the class will be divided
into sales management teams with each team assigned to an existing
company VP of Sales. These teams will work with that executive via
telephone to understand the company’s business model, their financial
performance, their competition, their sales organization and specific sales
components such as territories, sales process and compensation plans. Each
of these teams will make a sales presentation to the class on their
company’s product. These executives will also identify a specific problem
that exists in their sales organization. The teams will gather information and
make recommendations on this problem and will present their findings and
recommendations in class.

Administrative details:
I am easiest to reach via e-mail or by my cell phone. Most individuals and
groups will also want to meet with me face-to-face. I will be available for
meetings from 5:30-7pm before class, although it’s valuable to make an
appointment . I am basically available all day Wednesday by appointment as
well. If none of these times are convenient for you, please do not hesitate to
suggest an alternative. Laptops should remain off during class. Please
adhere to this policy so we can get all of your attention. In addition I
expect all of you to be on time for our 7pm start.

Session 1 (Wednesday September 6)

Topic: Introduction to the Sales Environment
- Times are changing – internet impact on sales
- Personal selling
- Sales management organizational structures – line positions
and staff positions
- Sales force management challenges in the 21st century
Readings: Chapter 1
Mini case discussion: G.W. Pergault case 1-1
Teams formed

Session 2 (Wednesday September 13)

Topic: Strategic Sales Force Management and the Personal
Selling Process
- The marketing system and its environment
- Strategic planning at the company, marketing and sales force
levels
- Key success factors in selling
- Different types of selling jobs – Business to consumer,
business to business, simple, complex
Readings: Chapter 2 and Chapter 3
Mini case discussions: Cardinal Connectors case 2-1, Omnico Inc. case 3-1 and
Evaluating
Companies assigned to teams
Session 3 (Wednesday September 20)
Topic: Sales Force Organization
- Types of organizations: line, line/staff, functional, horizontal
- Geographic, product, market specialization
- Additional strategic alternatives – strategic account
management, buying centers/team selling, independent sales
organization, e-commerce and telemarketing
- Organizing to service national and global accounts
- Team selling
- Organizing for international sales
Readings: Chapter 4
Mini cases: Micro plastics case 4-2
Role play: Sales Call

Session 4 (Wednesday September 27)

Topic: Profiling, Recruiting, Hiring and Training Salespeople
- Sales force selection and strategic planning
- The different success traits for different sales positions
- Responsibility
- The interview process
- Training
Readings: Xerox Job Description Exhibit 5A
Readings: Chapters 5, 6 and 7
Mini case: Delta Products case 6-1
Mini Case: Imaginative Staffing case 7-2
Galactica case 5-1; Universal Computers case 6-4 possible discussion
Set order for buyer presentations

Session 5 (Wednesday October 4)

Topic: Training
Guest Speakers: Sara and Bill Minnis : Topic: Interpersonal Skills
Exercise: Internet Exercise page 214

Session 6 (Wednesday October 11)

Topic: Motivating a Sales Force
- Role motivation plays in sales performance
- Selecting motivational tools – financial/non-financial
- Role of Quota on motivation
Readings: Chapter 8
Sales call write ups due
Case Study: Eureka Forbes Ltd: Managing the Selling Effort A HBS 9-506-003
Guest Speaker: Jack Unroe, President CEO AI Executive: Sales Culture

Session 7 (Wednesday October 18)

Topic: Sales Force Compensation and Incentives
- Sales force compensation and strategy and budgets
- Advantages and limitations of compensation plans
- Ownership
- Sales incentives – sales meetings, sales kick offs, trips,
contests
Readings: Chapter 9 and 10
Guest Speaker: Jim Watson, CEO Reflex Security : Discussion The Importance
of Sales in Building an Company
Buyers sales presentation (20 minutes each)

Session 8 (Wednesday October 25)

Topic: Sales Forecasting
- Estimating market potential and territory potential
- Sales forecasting methods
Readings: Chapter 12
Gartner note: Sales Forecasting is a Blend of Credibility and Facts
Guest: Tim Marken SVP Marquis Jets: Discussion Sales Forecasting
Buyers sales presentation (20 minutes each)

Session 9 (Wednesday November 1)

Topic: Creation of Sales Territories
- Designing territories
- Determine a basic control unit for territories
- Determine location and potential of customers
Readings: Chapter 13
Case Study: ENSR International HBS 9-503-075

Session 10 (Wednesday November 8)

Topic: Sales Process
- Pipeline management
- Commitment, Plan and Review, Operations Reviews
- Consequential management
Readings: Chapter 14
Mini case: Biolab Pharmaceutical Co. case 8-2
Mini case: Worldwide Security and Protection Systems case 9-3
Mini case: ID Systems 9-1
Session 11 (Wednesday November 15)
Topic: Topic: Sales Force Automation
- The key components and goals of CRM/SFA (Sales Force
Automation)
- The importance of market orientation
- Accountability and vision
- Alternative sales technology strategies for increasing
productivity
Guest Speaker: Joe Galvin, Group VP, Gartner - Topic: SFA and CRM
Readings: Gartner: Technology Can Accelerate the Key Elements of Sales
Productivity
Gartner: Increase SFA Adoption with Sales Process Mapping
Gartner: Sales Force Automation Functional Building Blocks
Mini case Seal Rite case 14-1

Wednesday November 22
No Class – Thanksgiving

Session 12 (Wednesday November 29)

Topic: Evaluating a Sales Persons Performance
- The importance of performance evaluation
- Procedures for discussing reviews
All company write ups due
Project Presentations: Team 1 and 2
Readings: Chapter 16

Session 13 (Wednesday December 6)

Topic: Business Ethics in Sales
- The legal ethic confusion in sales
Project Presentations: Team 3, 4 and 5
Readings: Chapter 17

Session 14 (Wednesday December 13)

Topic: Leadership
- The Leadership of Sales Management –
- Summary of key lessons learned
Project Presentations : Teams 6 and 7
Readings: Chapter 11
Final Case Study (Wednesday December 20)
The case study will be a take-home document. It will be made available on-
line after the last class December 13 and will be due electronically one week
later (December 20) although you are welcome to turn it in early if this
works better with your schedule. You will be asked to read a case study and
apply solutions to it. It is my intention that the case study be “doable” in
the length of a single class period (i.e., a single evening approximately 2-3
hours) but you may spend more or less time as you please. There is,
however, a word limit of 300 words for the main essay so the real time-
consuming task is prioritizing what you have to say rather than filling the
page.
Grade elements:
There are four components that will make up your grade:

Course Participation (30%)

Course participation is not quite the same as class participation. Course
participation is a student's overall positive contribution to the learning of the
class. It includes in-class participation; evidence of thoughtful preparation
prior to class; active interaction with the instructor to improve your learning
(via in-person meetings, or e-mail); and effective, considerate, and generous
contribution to your team. Your participation in the Q@A part of the team
presentations is a critical part of class participation. I aim to give you many
opportunities for excellent performance in the class through these various
outlets.
In particular,
--Attendance. Our lives keep us busy and sometimes too busy to attend
class. I do take attendance, so that I have an accurate record of your
participation; but I do not "require" attendance. However, if you're not in
class, it's pretty hard to make any useful comments. Occasionally a student
who has missed several classes but participated well in those he/she did
attend is surprised to find him/herself with a participation score weaker than
better-attending peers. A student who must miss class and cannot
compensate on course participation in some other way will do poorly on class
participation.
--Cold-Calling. An important part of supporting each other in class is
being prepared to answer that call in a thoughtful manner. I will call randomly
on class topics.
--Meetings and Emails. I will make time when it comes to an in-person
meeting. If you don't "get" a concept in class, you need to come in! Make me
explain it! If you are concerned about your in-class participation grade, you
need to come in so we can come up with a plan to make you more
comfortable in class. If you can't come in, e-mail your concerns. Unless you
specify otherwise, I will generally forward emails with substantive questions to
the class as a whole, so we can continue our discussion on-line. If you find
yourself at the end of class without a chance to have your say, or wake up in
the morning with a new idea about a case, e-mail me and we will use class
email to discuss it.
-- Team Evaluation. A great feature of teaching business students is that
they know the value and perils of working in teams. At the end of the term, we
will ask each team member to fill out a team evaluation form assessing their
teammates’ relative contribution to the case studies. If you are absent from a
lot of team meetings you can expect your teammates’ assessment of you to
suffer; this will definitely reduce your participation grade.
Exercise Discussions (10%)

We will use case studies/exercises covering such areas as sales forecasting,

territory allocation and compensation. Your findings and recommendations
will be discussed in class and your active participation is required.

Project: (Group: 40%)

You will each be assigned to teams and as a team will work with a corporate
sales executive that will be provided to you. Your work with this executive will
be to understand their company, their product, their competitors, their
financials and most importantly their sales organization. The project is in 2 parts:

Part I: (15% for your presentation and 5% for your questions to other
groups).
Presentation (15%): Identify the key product (highest revenue, new product,
or a product important in some other way) of your company and the key
buyer for this product. Keep in mind any synergy in selling the key product
that you have identified and other products you may sell. Make a sales
presentation to this key buyer for your product (the class will act as the
buyer). The presentations are to be 15 minutes long and are to be
made in session 7 and 8 (Wed., Oct. 18 and Wed, Oct. 25). Do not do a
role play within your group as part of the presentation. Try to make the
presentation as real as possible -- use brochures, sample products, etc.
Questions will be asked throughout your 15 minute presentation, and you will
get an additional five minutes for questions at the end of your presentation.
Your grade for this presentation will be decided by the class.

Please hand the professor a paper copy of your presentation at the start of
class. Also, please e-mail a copy of the presentation to the professor.

2-5 page write-up: To foster lively discussion in class and to make the
sales presentations as realistic as possible, in session 6, Wednesday,
Oct. 11, a 2-5 page write-up (including exhibits) is due giving some
details of:
a) Your company
b) Your product
c) Competitive products available
d) The buyer
For d) “The Buyer”, please write a one page description of the key buyer.
Make sure to include a Table giving the advantages/disadvantages of your
product versus that of the competition. Remember to have an objective for
the Sales Presentation.

Please make a copy for the professor and for each of the other students. Note
that the buyers will be quite tough as in the real world.
Questions for other groups (5%): You should have thoroughly read the 2-
5-page write-ups for each of the groups and prepared questions for each
group. You can interrupt a group's presentation at any time with a legitimate
question. Try and really get into the role of the buyer.

Order of presentations both for Parts I and II decided in Session 4, Wed.

September 27.

Part II: (20%). Written report and presentation

Give a brief overview of the company's various divisions. For the divisions you
have chosen, provide the current
- sales organization structure (give a chart)
- size of sales force and territory
- motivation and compensation plans
- performance evaluation (if you want to use any forms, give
them in an Appendix)
- forecasting methodology
- quota assignment methodology
- hiring profile
- training programs

In addition, in discussion with this executive, a sales operations problem will

be identified for you as a team to problem solve and to present
recommendations. You have to be very specific about what you propose. If
you only report what the company currently does, and do not design a
structure from scratch, you have not done the project as assigned.

Full written report (10 pages maximum for text and 5 pages
maximum for exhibits): Due at the beginning of class in Session 13,
Wed., Nov 29. This applies to all groups irrespective of when you are
presenting. Please hand the professor a paper copy of your presentation at
the start of class on the day you are presenting. Also, please e-mail the
professor a copy of your presentation slides.

Instructions for all written Assignments: All written assignments should be

typewritten, double spaced, 12 font (NO LESS), with 1 inch margins on all
sides. Please make a copy for yourself.

PAPERS THAT DO NOT ADHERE TO THESE GUIDELINES ARE IN PERIL OF BEING

GRADED VERY POORLY.

Take Home Case Study (20%)

The case study will be a take-home project. It will be made available during
the last class and will be due electronically seven days later although you are
welcome to turn it in early if this works better with your schedule. You will be
asked to read a case study of my devising and apply the lessons learned
during class. The requested project be “doable” in the length of a single class
period (i.e., a single evening approximately 2-3 hours) but you may spend
more or less time as you please. There is, however, a word limit of 300 words
for the main essay so the real time-consuming task is prioritizing what you
have to say rather than filling the page.
Evaluation

Class participation 30%

Class exercise discussion 10%
Class team project 40%
Case study 20%

Major Due Dates

Session Day/Date Teams Task
6 October 11 All Assigned Company Sales Call Write
up – copies to class and professor in
paper format and electronically
7 October 18 1 through Buyers sales presentations – 20
3 minute presentations selling your
company’s product to the class
8 October 25 4 through Buyers sales presentations– 20
7 minute presentations selling your
company’s product to the class

13 November 29 All Assigned company write up on sales

structure and management issues
12-14 November 29 – All Final company presentations -
December 13 Teams 45 minutes each
15 December 20 All Final Case study write up sent to
professor electronically
Peer Evaluation Form

Please use this form to evaluate the contribution of all of the members of your
group by allocating 100 points across all members (including yourself). For
example, if you have a five member group and you believe that all members
contributed equally, you would give 20 points to each person. If you allocated the
points unequally, you must justify your allocation in the comment sections below.
Please turn in your complete evaluation form with your final exam. These
evaluation forms will be kept strictly confidential.

Points Member name

1. (you)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
100

Comments:
©Christie Nordhielm 2004. Used with permission of the author.