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.
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Summary
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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.
DetailsCollapse All
Design and lead a go-to-market system that meets your goalsDesign and lead a go-to-market system that meets your goals
- Develop a customer-centric go-to-market strategy
- Analyze and select from different route-to-market options
- Understand the business model of the new D2C startups
- Design and manage a multichannel network
Build the capabilities needed to execute your go-to-market strategyBuild 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
- Manage tensions between channels
Expand your personal and professional networkExpand 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 and/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.
Program for Leadership Development participants earn 4 PLDA Points on completion of this program.
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Who Should Attend
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- Executives directly or indirectly responsible for their organization's go-to-market strategy and/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.
Program for Leadership Development participants earn 4 PLDA Points on completion of this program.
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.
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Learning and Living at HBS
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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
What You Will Learn
Through a rich learning experience that includes faculty presentations, case studies, small group discussions, data projects, 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.
Participants should expect to spend at least 9-12 hours on self-paced case preparation prior to attending the program. Case materials will be made available approximately two weeks prior to program start.
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What You Will Learn
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Through a rich learning experience that includes faculty presentations, case studies, small group discussions, data projects, 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.
Participants should expect to spend at least 9-12 hours on self-paced case preparation prior to attending the program. Case materials will be made available approximately two weeks prior to program start.
Key TopicsCollapse All
Serving customers and creating valueServing customers and creating value
- Understand your customers' diverse needs and wants
- Decide which segments you are best positioned to serve
- Build channel strategies for expanding your market reach and supporting your key marketing goals
Designing and implementing a winning go-to-market strategyDesigning 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 managementImproving 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 technologyLeveraging data and technology
- Explore how new technologies such as 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
- Grasp the elements of how "performance marketing" works
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.
Baker Foundation Professor, Malcolm P. Mcnair Professor of Marketing
Edgerley Family Associate Professor of Business Administration
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The HBS Advantage
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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 Chair
Baker Foundation Professor, Malcolm P. Mcnair Professor of Marketing
HBS Unit:MarketingFacultyEdgerley Family Associate Professor of Business Administration
HBS Unit:Technology and Operations Management