Managing Sales Teams and Distribution Channels

As digital technology continues to open up new distribution channels, customer demands—and sales strategies—are rapidly evolving. With multichannel networks becoming the norm, leaders must design a go-to-market strategy that sells the right products at the right time through the right combination of channels. In this hands-on program, you will improve your ability to optimize sales outcomes by developing and managing a high-performance multichannel network and sales force.

Summary: As digital technology continues to open up new distribution channels, customer demands—and sales strategies—are rapidly evolving. With multichannel networks becoming the norm, leaders must design a go-to-market strategy that sells the right products at the right time through the right combination of channels. In this hands-on program, you will improve your ability to optimize sales outcomes by developing and managing a high-performance multichannel network and sales force.

Key Benefits

Sales leaders must understand when to sell directly to a customer, to a retailer, to a customer through a distributor, or to a wholesaler that supplies a retailer. This sales team management program explores effective strategies for analyzing different route-to-market options, managing multiple channels, strengthening sales teams, and adapting to changing market dynamics. You will return to your company ready to implement an action plan that sets up your distribution channels—and your sales teams—to drive revenue and long-term success.

DetailsExpand All Collapse All

Design and lead a go-to-market system that meets your goals Design and lead a go-to-market system that meets your goals

Focus your customer strategy
Analyze and select from different route-to-market options
Design and manage a multichannel network
Minimize tensions between channels

Build the capabilities needed to execute your go-to-market strategy Build the capabilities needed to execute your go-to-market strategy

Improve sales team management by effectively recruiting, compensating, and motivating your sales force
Build strong relationships with distribution partners
Harness data and technology to optimize your strategy

Expand your personal and professional network Expand your personal and professional network

Extend your network by living and working with accomplished executives from various backgrounds, industries, and countries across the globe
Build relationships with a diverse group of peers who can provide wide-ranging insights into your business challenges and career decisions

Key Benefits

Details

Design and lead a go-to-market system that meets your goals

Focus your customer strategy
Analyze and select from different route-to-market options
Design and manage a multichannel network
Minimize tensions between channels

Build the capabilities needed to execute your go-to-market strategy

Improve sales team management by effectively recruiting, compensating, and motivating your sales force
Build strong relationships with distribution partners
Harness data and technology to optimize your strategy

Expand your personal and professional network

Extend your network by living and working with accomplished executives from various backgrounds, industries, and countries across the globe
Build relationships with a diverse group of peers who can provide wide-ranging insights into your business challenges and career decisions

Who Should Attend

Executives directly or indirectly responsible for their organization's go-to-market strategy or sales-force activities
Particularly appropriate for: Sales and channel leaders from midsize and large corporations, such as vice presidents of sales, marketing, or distribution; regional sales managers; channel managers; key accounts managers; and human resources managers

Attendance by multiple company representatives will foster teamwork and amplify the program's impact.

Participating Companies Have Included:

Adobe

Dassault

Filorga Cosmetics

Frutiva

GlaxoSmithKline

Google

Laticrete International

Mastercard Incorporated

Merck

Medtronic

Microsoft

Philips

Dive Deeper into the Experience

Inside the Classroom

See how exchange with faculty and peers yields new insights into critical business trends.

We Celebrate New Ways of Thinking. Are You Ready?

Thrive in a learning environment that welcomes diverse ideas and perspectives.

Discover more about business. And yourself.

Global perspectives > Leadership growth > Organizational impact.

Who Should Attend: Executives directly or indirectly responsible for their organization's go-to-market strategy or sales-force activities

Particularly appropriate for: Sales and channel leaders from midsize and large corporations, such as vice presidents of sales, marketing, or distribution; regional sales managers; channel managers; key accounts managers; and human resources managers

Attendance by multiple company representatives will foster teamwork and amplify the program's impact.

Participating Companies Have Included:

Adobe

Dassault

Filorga Cosmetics

Frutiva

GlaxoSmithKline

Google

Laticrete International

Mastercard Incorporated

Merck

Medtronic

Microsoft

Philips

Dive Deeper into the Experience

Inside the Classroom

See how exchange with faculty and peers yields new insights into critical business trends.

Watch the Video Watch the Video

We Celebrate New Ways of Thinking. Are You Ready?

Thrive in a learning environment that welcomes diverse ideas and perspectives.

Watch the Video Watch the Video

Discover more about business. And yourself.

Global perspectives > Leadership growth > Organizational impact.

Watch the Video Watch the Video

Learning and Living at HBS

When you participate in an Executive Education program on the HBS campus, you enter an immersive experience where every aspect of the learning model has been carefully designed to facilitate your growth. Your learning will take place on your own, in your living group, and in the larger classroom, driven by the renowned HBS case method.

Learning and Living at HBS: When you participate in an Executive Education program on the HBS campus, you enter an immersive experience where every aspect of the learning model has been carefully designed to facilitate your growth. Your learning will take place on your own, in your living group, and in the larger classroom, driven by the renowned HBS case method.

Admissions Criteria and Process

We admit candidates to specific sessions on a rolling, space-available basis, and encourage you to apply as early as possible. Although most programs have no formal educational requirements, admission is a selective process based on your professional achievement and organizational responsibilities.

Admissions Criteria and Process

Answering Your Questions

Our Program Advising team can help you at any stage of the admissions process—starting with identifying the program that best addresses your learning and development goals. Contact a program advisor via email or call 1.800.427.5577 (outside the U.S., call +1.617.495.6555).

Application Submission

We recommend that you apply at least four weeks before the program start date. You may use our online form or download an application. HBS maintains all application information in strict confidentiality. We acknowledge receipt of applications via email. In the unlikely event that you do not receive an acknowledgment, please email us at exed_admissions@hbs.edu or call us at +1.617.495.6226.

Application Review

To optimize the learning experience and maximize the exchange of ideas, our Admissions Committee makes selections that balance each participant's experience, scope of current responsibilities, and type of organization. HBS seeks candidates who reflect a broad range of industries, functions, countries, and backgrounds. We review applications monthly and will contact you via email with the Admissions Committee's decision.

Fee, Payment, and Cancellations

The program fee covers tuition, books, case materials, accommodations, and most meals. No payment is necessary until you have been accepted. Payment is required prior to the program start date. If you need to cancel or defer participation, you must submit your request in writing more than 30 days before the start of the program to receive a full refund. Cancellations or deferrals received 14 to 30 days prior to the start of the program are subject to a fee of one-half of the program fee. Requests received within 14 days are subject to full payment.

What You Will Learn

Through a rich learning experience that includes faculty presentations, case studies, small group discussions, simulations, and other exercises, you will explore key issues in distribution channel design, sales team management, multichannel management, and emerging channels. You will practice mapping customer flows, reviewing channel options, designing better distribution channels, and converting data insights into practical plans of action.

At the end of each day, you and your peers will divide into small groups to discuss key takeaways from the cases and how they directly apply to your respective organizations

What You Will Learn

At the end of each day, you and your peers will divide into small groups to discuss key takeaways from the cases and how they directly apply to your respective organizations

Key AreasExpand All Collapse All

Serving customers and creating value Serving customers and creating value

Understand your customers' diverse points of view
Decide which demographics you are best positioned to serve
Build strategies for expanding your market reach

Designing and implementing a winning go-to-market strategy Designing and implementing a winning go-to-market strategy

Shape your go-to-market strategy through "channel stewardship"
Develop an overarching strategy that guides the activities of the entire channel
Align your channel value chain to coordinate your partners' efforts and manage conflicts
Balance customers' needs with your distribution channel's capabilities
Optimize your route-to-market so that it best serves your customers and company
Determine marketing and distribution strategies for new products
Address channel conflicts and management issues in mature product categories

Improving sales-force management Improving sales-force management

Learn how to recruit, structure, and compensate your sales force for the best outcomes
Diagnose and solve underperformance issues
Develop a system for evaluating and training employees
Understand how different compensation programs impact employees' motivation, productivity, behavior, and performance
Consider different strategies for pricing products and motivating sales teams

Leveraging data and technology Leveraging data and technology

Explore how robotics, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things impact sales strategies
Use data and intelligence to determine your strategic approach
Employ technology to better design, monitor, and manage your sales and distribution channels

Key Areas

Serving customers and creating value

Understand your customers' diverse points of view
Decide which demographics you are best positioned to serve
Build strategies for expanding your market reach

Designing and implementing a winning go-to-market strategy

Shape your go-to-market strategy through "channel stewardship"
Develop an overarching strategy that guides the activities of the entire channel
Align your channel value chain to coordinate your partners' efforts and manage conflicts
Balance customers' needs with your distribution channel's capabilities
Optimize your route-to-market so that it best serves your customers and company
Determine marketing and distribution strategies for new products
Address channel conflicts and management issues in mature product categories

Improving sales-force management

Learn how to recruit, structure, and compensate your sales force for the best outcomes
Diagnose and solve underperformance issues
Develop a system for evaluating and training employees
Understand how different compensation programs impact employees' motivation, productivity, behavior, and performance
Consider different strategies for pricing products and motivating sales teams

Leveraging data and technology

Explore how robotics, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things impact sales strategies
Use data and intelligence to determine your strategic approach
Employ technology to better design, monitor, and manage your sales and distribution channels

The HBS Advantage

Our Executive Education programs are developed and taught by HBS faculty who are widely recognized as skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors. Through their board memberships, consulting, and field-based research, they address the complex challenges facing business leaders across the globe.

Faculty Cochairs

Doug J. Chung

MBA Class of 1962 Associate Professor of Business Administration

HBS Unit:

Marketing

Read Full Bio

V. Kasturi Rangan

Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing

HBS Unit:

Marketing

Read Full Bio

Faculty

Ayelet Israeli

Assistant Professor of Business Administration

HBS Unit:

Marketing

Read Full Bio

The HBS Advantage: Our Executive Education programs are developed and taught by HBS faculty who are widely recognized as skilled educators, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors. Through their board memberships, consulting, and field-based research, they address the complex challenges facing business leaders across the globe.

Faculty Cochairs

Doug J. Chung

MBA Class of 1962 Associate Professor of Business Administration

HBS Unit:

Marketing

Read Full Bio

V. Kasturi Rangan

Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing

HBS Unit:

Marketing

Read Full Bio

Faculty

Ayelet Israeli

Assistant Professor of Business Administration

HBS Unit:

Marketing

Read Full Bio

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More Admissions Information

Program content, dates, fees, and faculty are subject to change. In accordance with Harvard University policy, Harvard Business School does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, sex or sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, age, national or ethnic origin, political beliefs, veteran status, or disability in admission to, access to, treatment in, or employment in its programs and activities.

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The Path to High-Performance Sales

Navigate the process of designing a better multichannel network.

Need Help? Contact Us:

Program Advising team

Email: executive_education@hbs.edu

Identify the Right Program for You

Program Finder

Request the Brochure

Download Brochure

The Path to High-Performance Sales

Navigate the process of designing a better multichannel network.

Need Help? Contact Us:

Program Advising team

Email: executive_education@hbs.edu

Identify the Right Program for You

Program Finder

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Summary

Summary

DetailsExpand AllCollapse All

Design and lead a go-to-market system that meets your goalsDesign and lead a go-to-market system that meets your goals Dropdown down

Build the capabilities needed to execute your go-to-market strategyBuild the capabilities needed to execute your go-to-market strategy Dropdown down

Expand your personal and professional networkExpand your personal and professional network Dropdown down

Design and lead a go-to-market system that meets your goals

Build the capabilities needed to execute your go-to-market strategy

Expand your personal and professional network

Who Should Attend

Who Should Attend

Learning and Living at HBS

Learning and Living at HBS